Hon – en katedral byggd av: Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Per Olof Ultvedt

Beskrivning

Moderna Museet, Stockholm. 1966. Typography: Hultén, Melin & Österlin.  (Moderna Museets utställningskatalog No. 54). 8 pages, 52 black & white illustrations. 3 biographies. (58 x 38 cm), newspaper print with glued folds, additionally folded to approx. DIN A4. Front page illustration: working sketch. Rare and extremely fragile catalogue, here in best condition, but not, as often, perfectly folded. (Lutz Jahre 17 – 1966, John Melin till exempel page 25).

Exhibition: Stockholm, Moderna Museet, June 4 – September 4, 1966 (80,000 visitors)

As early as 1962, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Per Olof Ultvedt were involved in the Amsterdam exhibition project Dylaby (dynamic labyrinth), where nine spatial installations by various artists were shown to mark the departure of director Willem Sandberg. Pontus Hultén, who had been involved in the project as an advisor, wanted a collaborative work for his museum and invited several artists. This resulted in ”Hon”, a large walk-in sculpture (6.10 x 28.70 x 9.15 m) depicting a reclining woman with her legs spread. From the outside, it resembled the brightly painted Nanas by Niki de Saint Phalle. The interior of the sculpture was designed by Jean Tinguely and Per Olof Ultvedt. The entrance was in the vagina, a cinema was in one arm, a moving wooden brain was in the head, a planetarium in the right breast, a milk bar in the left, a Banc des amoureux with sound in the knee, a viewing platform on the stomach and a gallery of fake pictures in one leg. Things like a pay phone, a snack machine, a radio sculpture and even a postcard Piennale (works of the museum on postcards) were also represented. ”Hon” was realized at relatively short notice, which is why there was little time for publication and a newspaper brochure was published (colour illustration). Later, however, a detailed book (b/w illustration) was published in which the five-week work phase, the three-month exhibition and the three-day dismantling were documented with many pictures and press reactions. The project had been kept absolutely secret in the museum beforehand, and only the people involved were allowed to know about it, as Hultén feared that rumours could lead to the daring exhibition being closed before it even opened. An unexpectedly positive article in Time Magazine, which appeared early on, had a predominantly positive influence on the local press, although some of the expected outraged reactions did not fail to materialize, and there were many voices that called ”Hon” obscene or even the world’s biggest whore.