Hasta La Ideas

Run in place: A rendering of Monica Bonvicini’s glass and stainless steel sculpture commissioned for London’s Olympic Park. (Courtesy Olympic Delivery Authority)

It’s shaping up to a be quite a year for Monica Bonvicini. Next month, the Venice-born, Berlin-based artist’s video “No Head Man” (2010) will be shown in the Venice Biennale just as one of her sculptures debuts in Venice at Glasstress 2011, where artists, architects, and designers ranging from Zaha Hadid to Pharrell Williams will express themselves in glass. Meanwhile, over in London, the Olympic Delivery Authority has tapped Bonvicini to create a new permanent piece of public art for the city’s Olympic Park. She had something of a running start on the commission. “Exactly 10 years ago, I had a solo show titled ‘RUN, TAKE one SQUARE or two’ which included the song ‘Running Dry’ by Neil Young and reminded people of the famous Velvet Underground song ‘Run Run Run,’” says Bonvicini. “When I was asked to submit a proposal for the Handball Plaza in the Olympic Park, I was inspired by the many uses of the park and it was a natural choice to return to these works and the word ‘run.’” Her glass and stainless steel sculpture, which will be installed later this year, consists of a trio of thirty-foot-tall letters that spell “run.” Their mirror-like surface will change throughout the course of the day, and come nightfall, glow with internal LED lighting. We see a Nike commercial in its future.

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