Monument to Vulnerability IV (Stoning of the Devil), 2024

Current geopolitical events bring to the surface a profound sterilization of meanings, questioning the museum and cultural complex in general, and how we are or are not an active part of a process of transformation. For Monia Ben Hamouda, this was the catalyst for her 2024 neon installation Monument to Vulnerability IV (Stoning of the Devil). Reading, ‘History is happening / right now / outside these walls / yet we stand here / trying so hard / to understand it / through a / million-year-distance’, the sentiment expresses the hardship of the historical present in its vast complexity.

Direct and unwavering, Ben Hamouda addresses the slowness and distance required to reach the museum sphere as a huge challenge despite the strong immediacy. Grounded with spices and fine powders canonical to the artist’s shamanic practices, the sculptural installation requires us to reflect on the concept of historical temporality and compels us to deal with the present with the same reflection we devote to the historical past.

This work was originally conceived for the exhibition EXPOSURE. Art, culture, and fashion in and out of the showcase curated by Katya Inozemtseva and Sara Rizzo at MUDEC Museum of Cultures, Milan, 2024.