The work of German sculptor Inge Mahn reverses the steadfast principles of the readymade and the traditional concepts of sculpture. Mahn’s approach to everyday life and objects is that of often distorting or displacing reality, reacting and remaining, nevertheless, closely to our architectural and social environment. Mahnmahl-Mahnmal consists of a table set with a tablecloth and three cakes and seven sentinels waiting to sit down. Everything is coated in plaster, giving the entire installation a raw and fragile impression. The scenery resembles an official banquet where the columns – reminiscent of soldiers with their helmet-shaped tops – seem to guard the cakes. This technique of giving dead items lively features, switching between object and subject, marks a recurring theme in Mahn’s works. The title plays on the German word for ‘memorial,’ underlining its inherent historic statement, while simultaneously making a pun on the artist’s surname. Mahnmahl-Mahnmal was exhibited at Künstlerhaus Hamburg in 1978 for the first time, and was presented at Mahn’s solo exhibition at Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, in 1990.
