Manon Awst is a Welsh artist who makes sculptures, installations and performances exploring themes of place, identity and landscape. Awst grew up in Anglesey, and studied Architecture at the University of Cambridge. She lived in Berlin and collaborated with German artist Benjamin Walther between 2007-2017. Besides her art career, Awst also writes poetry.

Biography

Growing up on Anglesey in North Wales, speaking Welsh as her first language, Awst attended

Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern is a co-educational secondary school in Bodedern, Anglesey, Wales first opened in 1977. It is a bilingual establishment run by Anglesey County Council. History Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern opened on 6 September 1977 and the he ...

and went on to study Architecture at Cambridge University. She was awarded the Architecture Scholarship at the

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Eur ...

in 2004 before moving to Berlin as part of the art collective Pankof Bank, with artist Simon Fujiwara and architect Sam Causer. Their main projects were ''Pankof Bank Architects'' at the Architecture Foundation, London and ''Suppermarket'' for Deptford X festival, 2005. From 2006 she worked as part of artist-duo Awst & Walther, exhibiting in the

Boros Collection The Boros Collection is a private collection of contemporary art by Karen and Christian Boros, which has been on display since 2008 in a World War II era bunker (called the ''Reichsbahnbunker)'' in Berlin, Germany. The collection comprises ar ...

, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg,

Kunstverein Nürnberg The Kunstverein Nürnberg (art association Nuremberg, official name "Kunstverein Nürnberg - Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft e.V.") is a venue for exhibitions of contemporary art. The association was founded in 1792 and is Germany's oldest arts assoc ...

, Cass Sculpture Foundation and National Museum Cardiff. In 2013-15 she studied Artistic Research at the Royal College of Art, London and received a Creative Wales Award from the

Arts Council of Wales The Arts Council of Wales (ACW; cy, Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru) is a Welsh Government-sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales. Established within the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1946, as the Welsh Arts ...

in 2015, establishing a studio in Caernarfon. She is also known as a Welsh poet, having been a founding member of the female poet group and participating regularly at events such as Y Talwrn and Ymryson y Beirdd.

Awst & Walther

Manon Awst and German artist collaborated for over ten years, making spatial, diverse and challenging artworks. They were commissioned by the German Embassy, London to create an installation to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 2009. 'Work in Progress' was a huge ice wall which stopped the traffic on Belgrave Square, London on the 9th November 2009. In 2010 they received a Fellowship for Artists from the Henry Moore Foundation for a residency at the , Berlin and were also resident artists at Meetfactory, Prague following an award from the Goethe Institute. Two of their installations ''Latent Measures'' and ''The Line of Fire'' were part of the second

exhibition at the bunker in Berlin from 2012-2016. Other major works include ''Ground to Sky'', Berlin and ''Gap to Feed'', a permanent installation on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin made from thousands of mussel shells collected on the

Menai Strait The Menai Strait ( cy, Afon Menai, the "river Menai") is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales. It varies in width from from Fort Belan to Abermenai Point to from ...

, North Wales. They have a permanent installation ''Far and Wide'' located at

Nant Gwrtheyrn Nant Gwrtheyrn is a Welsh Language and Heritage Centre, located near the village of Llithfaen on the northern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd, in northwest Wales. It is sometimes referred to as 'the Nant' and is named after the valley wh ...

, which was originally made for an interdisciplinary forum at Barclodiad y Gawres, Anglesey. In 2019, Distanz Verlag published the catalogue ''Awst & Walther'', a comprehensive monograph showcasing the sculptures and creative interventions the artists created over a decade.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Awst, Manon 1983 births Living people 21st-century British sculptors 21st-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh women artists 21st-century Welsh women writers Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from Anglesey People educated at Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern Welsh expatriates in Germany Welsh installation artists Welsh women poets Welsh women sculptors Women installation artists

Biography

Awst & Walther

Further reading

References

External links