Steve McQueen: Sunshine State

Steve McQueen: Sunshine State is the title of the important retrospective dedicated to the Turner Prize and Oscar-winning British artist, filmmaker and screenwriter. For Pirelli HangarBicocca, McQueen has conceived a site-specific exhibition project and a new selection of works that unfolds in the Navate and Cubo spaces, and on the exterior of the building. The video installations and works are expanded in the exhibition spaces, creating a visual and sound experience that immerses the visitor in an unprecedented space-time dimension.

″Sunshine State“ 

″Sunshine State” exhibition is organized in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, where the artist had presented a first version, titled ″Steve McQueen”, in 2020. The title of the exhibition evokes the artist’s new work, Sunshine State (2022), commissioned and produced by the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2022, which will have its world premiere at Pirelli HangarBicocca. The video is a reflection on the beginnings of Hollywood cinema and the influence that it has had on the perception of issues of identity.

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Steve McQueen: Sunshine State presents numerous works and videos through a non-chronological path. They testify to the artist’s gaze on the human condition and touching on contemporary themes such as identity and sense of belonging. Among these, “Static” (2009), in which close-up images of the Statue of Liberty generate disorientation by questioning the symbolic meaning of the monument; “Western Deep” (2002) as a reflection on the inhuman conditions of South African miners; “Caribs’ Leap” (2002) on the French conquest of Grenada; “Charlotte” (2004) and “Cold Breath” (1999) as true intimate and material explorations of the human body. Finally, the sculptural work “Weight” (2016) made for an exhibition at Reading Prison in England.