Marge Monko

In 2012 the Henkel Art.Award. went to Estonia for the first time. Film and photo artist Marge Monko – born in 1976 in Tallinn – was awarded the prize of 7,000 Euros and two exhibitions. From October 25,  2013 she gave insight into her work at mumok. The historical change over from communism to capitalism and the associated transformation of social roles lies at the centre of her interest. The artist carefully researches the everyday history of work in its political context and subjects it to a critical and analytical examination from a woman’s perspective. In the process, the propaganda and pathos of communist ideology undergoes revision just as much as the belief in progress embedded in the capitalist striving for profit.

The erstwhile promises of communism and its industrial culture of happiness, satisfaction and self-determination are recognised as hollow gestures destined to decay. They now return in changed conditions and new manifestations, in career-oriented, neoliberal elites. Thus as early as 2009, in the video work Shaken Not Stirred, Monko engaged in sketching the ruptures in the life of her female protagonist who, although she conforms to the image of a successful business woman, is revealed as a failure in her private life and leads a deeply frustrating existence in surroundings which exhibit deeper fissures between the different social strata than ever before. 

Curated by Rainer Fuchs