La Vie Moderne

Anthea Hamilton’s works oscillate between kitsch and sublime, between sculpture and installation, between scenery and performance. The artist describes his works as “performative sculptures” that are characterized by a certain theatricality, fruit of the space of the works and the juxtaposition of atmospheres and effects of surprise, masks and pretense.

Anthea Hamilton develops a real staging: both sculptures and pieces of furniture, its Fruity seats (chairs fruity) invite relaxation as well as the lascivious feminine silhouettes on a colored background which they are adorned. If Anthea Hamilton’s works oscillate between kitsch and sublime, the sets she sets are intended to accommodate what the artist calls “performative sculptures”.

Anthea Hamilton also creates a performance called Kar-a-utra, echoing the car prototype with the evocative name designed by the designer Mario Bellini in 1972 – which consisted of a mobile environment where it was possible to “sleep, smile, talk head-to-head, get up, admire the sun, take pictures, play cards, drink and eat, make love, buy a horse and a piano on the way “… Played throughout the Biennale in the exhibition spaces by a small group disguised as mimes, Kar- a-sutrais a conversation aloud from an eminently political question: “What are your requirements for a shared living space? “. As a result of Bellini’s “utopian mobile space”, members of the group imagine they are living in this potential environment – and then develop a set of shared gestures as a way of communicating their ideas and responses.