© Schirn Kunsthalle Frank­furt 2009 Foto: Norbert Miguletz
© Schirn Kunsthalle Frank­furt 2009 Foto: Norbert Miguletz

ALEKSANDRA MIR. TRIUMPH

Alek­sandra Mir was born in Poland, grew up in Sweden, moved to New York, and has resided in Palermo for several years. And it is in Palermo, or more precisely, in a Sicilian daily news­paper, where her project Triumph had its start--in the form of a want ad run by the artist herself.

She was inter­ested in the trophy, an object whose history reaches back to our distant cultural past and which today, awarded chiefly at sporting events, is among the everyday items of our society. Within just a few months, more than 2500 trophies were collected, cleaned, and archived. Although the trophies are contem­po­rary mass-produced arti­cles, each one is indi­vid­u­al­ized by means of an engraving and tells a personal story that refer­ences a specific event. Triumph, Alek­sandra Mir's first solo exhi­bi­tion in Germany, presents this collec­tion, and has thus become an archive of popular culture and part of contem­po­rary history.

CATALOG

It is in a Sicilian daily news­paper, where Alek­sandra Mir's project Triumph had its start-in the form of a want ad run by the artist herself. She was inter­ested in the trophy, an object whose history reaches back to our distant cultural past and which today, awarded chiefly at sporting events, is among the everyday items of our society. More than 2500 trophies were collected. Although the trophies are contem­po­rary mass-produced arti­cles, each one is indi­vid­u­al­ized by means of an engraving and tells a personal story.