The Hague, 27 September 2021

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Lara Schnitger uses textiles as a form of expression. In her work she uses the evocative power of the material and symbols from everyday life, she gives them political meaning and transforms them into outspoken feminist statements. She often builds both suggestive, intimate sculptures and architectural installations in which texts also play an important role. Like much of her work her new bronze sculpture This princess saves herself is both humorous and politically charged. "... Princesses in fairy tales are always saved by a prince. This Princess takes care of herself! She doesn't need a man. It's time we changed those old-fashioned fairy tales!!!," Schnitger said, of course also referring to the Dutch princesses who are actually living in The Hague.

Prior to the unveiling of the sculpture, Lara Schnitger will present Suffragette City, a sculptural procession championing women’s rights, following a tradition of artists’ street performance and protest marches. The procession is an act of solidarity and is both playful and political; and an imperative demand for equality and safety. Similar performative protest marches took place in a.o.: New York, Basel, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Paris, Berlin and Sydney. In now coming soon to The Hague!

Lara Schnitger (1969, lives and works in Los Angeles) studied at the Kitakyushu Centre for Contemporary Art, Japan; Ateliers 63, Amsterdam; Academie Vyvarni Umeni, Prague and The Royal Academy of Art The Hague. Her work is shown internationally in a.o. Kunsthaus Dresden; FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims; Museum Het Domein, Sittard; Kunstwerke, Berlin; the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Power Plant, Toronto; and the Royal Academy in London. It was featured at the Liverpool Biennial in 1999 and the Shanghai Biennial in 2002. In 2019 she was approached to design public art works for The Chelsea Highline and Hudson Yards, and in 2018 for Sydney Laneway Projects.

An exhibition of work by Lara Schnitger opens at Annet Gelink Gallery in Amsterdam on Saturday 16 October.

The Sculpture Gallery in The Hague is a concept and design by P. Struycken, commissioned by contemporary art center Stroom Den Haag. Through its permanent character and yearly commissions it offers a unique format for art in public space and offers a cross section of Dutch sculpture since the early 1990s. Curator of The Sculpture Gallery is artist André Kruysen. Project supervisor on behalf of Stroom is Vincent de Boer, advisor and coordinator art and public space. The commission for the next sculpture was given to Yvonne Dröge Wendel.

More information on the program, the route of the procession, etc. will follow shortly. For questions or an interview request, please contact Hildegard Blom, press and communication Stroom Den Haag, pers@stroom.nl / +31 70-3658985 or +31 06-24255772.