Dedicated to the Polish sculptor Alina Szapocznikow (b. 1926, Kalisz, Poland, d. 1973, Passy, France), Body Languages offers a rare opportunity to get to know the oeuvre of one of the most fascinating artists of the twentieth century who, in spite of her innovative artistic output, has only become known internationally in the last two decades. The central focus of Szapocznikow’s sculptural and graphic works is on the human body, through which she uncompromisingly thematizes the fragility of existence and the paradoxes of life. Her untiring investigation of unconventional sculptural practices, materials, and forms assures her a status as one of the pioneering female sculptors who made fundamental contributions to an expansion of the sculptural.

Body Languages brings together more than 80 sculptures and drawings and investigates her work from the mid-1950s until shortly before Szapocznikow’s early death at the age of 46. The central focus of the exhibition is on the sensorily disquieting and humorously provocative oeuvre which the survivor of the Holocaust develops during her most experimental phase from the mid-1960s, in the context of occurrences in contemporary art and with regard to her own biographical experiences. The exhibition sheds light on Szapocznikow’s turning away from traditional figurative sculptures and evolving towards her objets maladroits (“awkward objects”), the title that she herself gives to her later works.

Curated by Ute Stuffer and Prof. Dr. Ursula Ströbele. A collaboration between the Kunstmuseum Ravensburg and the Musée de Grenoble.