Untitled (wheelchair II)

Untitled (wheelchair II)

1999
Artist
Mona Hatoum, Lebanese, 1952-
Born: Beirut, Lebanon
Work Locations: London, England, Berlin, Germany
Object
sculpture
Medium
stainless steel and rubber
Accession Number
2015.641
Credit Line
Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum

Mona Hatoum 
Untitled (wheelchair II), 1999
Stainless steel and rubber
Edition 3 of 3 
Gift from Vicki and Kent Logan to the Collection of the Denver Art Museum, 2015.641 
© Mona Hatoum

Dimensions
height: 37 1/4 in, 94.6150 cm; width: 19 in, 48.2600 cm; depth: 25 in, 63.5000 cm; height: 37 1/4 in, 94.6150 cm; width: 19 in, 48.2600 cm; depth: 25 in, 63.5000 cm
Edition
Edition 3 of 3
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art
This object is currently on view

Mona Hatoum began her career in the 1980s as a video and performance artist but over the course of her career has increasingly focused on installation and sculpture. Her emotionally charged narratives  concentrate on the human figure and convey a sense of entrapment, whether physical, social, or political. Hatoum transforms everyday domestic objects like chairs and utensils into strange or dangerous versions that engage her viewers in a conversation about the conflicting emotions of desire and revulsion, fear and fascination, or attraction and danger.

“Untitled (Wheelchair II)” is a chair with four small wheels at the base of each leg. Hatoum has altered the familiar object to comment on the implications the familiar object may possess. The unpadded chair leans forward, precariously threatening the comfort of any occupant. The small wheels demand a second person to push the chair, but the handles have been sharpened so that the grips are saw-like and punishing to anyone tasked with the job. 

Hatoum was born in 1952 in Beirut, Lebanon and has lived and worked in London since 1975. She attended the Byam Shaw School of Art, London and earned her MFA from the Slade School of Art, London in 1981.

Exhibition History
  • "In Limbo"— Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, University of Denver [01/13/2013 - 03/11/2005]
  • "Material World"— Denver Art Museum [03/10/2013 - 01/04/2015]
  • "Mona Hatoum: Terra Infirma"— The Menil Collection [10/13/2017 - 2/2512018] and Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts [ 4/6/2018 - 8/11/2018]