Ocean and Caffeine, a solo show of Cosima von Bonin

About

Magasin III Museum & Foundation for Contemporary Art in Stockholm is pleased to announce Ocean and Caffeine by Cosima von Bonin, the third exhibition in its permanent satellite space in Jaffa, Greater Tel Aviv, since it opened in January 2018. The solo exhibition will feature seven works by von Bonin, created between 2001 and 2018, and will allow a profound review of the artist's long-term fascination with the ocean, the different life forms that inhabit it and the relationships between those two and human beings. Ocean and Caffeine will open April 11th and run through August 30, 2019.

An artist of international renown, Cosima von Bonin was born in 1962 in Mombasa, Kenya, raised in Austria, and has lived for decades in Cologne, Germany. von Bonin is known for her large-scale, mixed-media installations that incorporate sculptural pieces, textile “paintings" and sound, as well as film, video and performance. She is inspired by popular and vernacular culture, folk art, fashion, hip-hop, techno and personal experiences. Although at first glance they might seem as amusement parks for grownups, von Bonin's work oscillates between humor and darkness, playfulness and urgency, fantasy and terrifying reality.

Ocean and Caffeine, curated by Karmit Galili from Magasin III Jaffa, features seven works by von Bonin, four of which are part of Magasin III’s collection. Item (2001) is an 11-meter long boat dressed in an impressive, tailor-made fabric cover. The work was produced especially for Magasin III’s 2001 exhibition, Free Port. Seasons in the Abyss (2006) features an octopus, a recurring marine species in von Bonin's work, made of fabric and glass. Deprionen: A Voyage to the Sea (2006) is a large-scale “textile painting” measuring 3.19 meters long and 3.57 meters wide.

HERMIT CRAB IN FAKE ROYÈRE & MVO'S HERMIT CRAB [FAKE ROYÈRE] (2010), a work accompanied by music from contemporary composer Moritz von Oswald, features another marine species, a hermit crab leisurely lounging on a chair originally designed by noted interior designer Jean Royère, part of a set of whimsical garden furniture commissioned from him in 1958 by Princess Shahnaz, daughter of the Shah of Iran. The show’s concluding group of works include WHAT IF IT BARKS 5 (PETITE VERSION WITH BLUE UKULELE), WHAT IF IT BARKS 6 (PETITE VERSION WITH BLACK UKULELE), and WHAT IF IT BARKS 7 (COFFEE POT VERSION) (all 2018), which continue the artist’s exploration of marine motifs, with dressed up mackerels and surfing boards from the the 70’s.

“Ocean and Caffeine is a wonderful and unusual opportunity for local and international audiences alike to view an important selection of works spanning some 20 years in the career of this fascinating artist. In addition to being von Bonin’s first ever exhibition in Israel, it is also the first time that Magasin III Jaffa is showing works from the museum’s comprehensive collection, housed in Stockholm,” says the show’s curator, Karmit Galili.