Kaari Upson: Dollhouse

“Dollhouse – A Retrospective” is the first major museum exhibition dedicated to Kaari Upson following her death in 2021. Organised by Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with Kunsthalle Mannheim and MASI Lugano, the exhibition is generously supported by The Obel Family Foundation.
Upson was widely recognised as one of the most significant American artists of her generation. Her multidisciplinary practice spanned sculpture, drawing, performance, video, and painting. Despite a career cut short by illness, Upson produced a powerful and deeply personal body of work that explores themes such as identity, the body, memory, emotional trauma, and human relationships.
The exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of her artistic output, including key works from 2000 to 2021. Upson’s practice often merged autobiographical elements with fictional narratives, resulting in a visual language that is both intimate and unsettling. Her installations frequently incorporate fragmented and exaggerated representations of body parts, household items, and recurring characters, blurring the line between personal memory and collective symbolism.
Working at the intersection of abstraction and figuration, Upson manipulated scale and material to create cast sculptures and drawings that evoke both the familiar and the uncanny. Her art is characterised by its psychological depth and its engagement with the tensions between inner and outer worlds, fantasy and reality.
“Dollhouse – A Retrospective” positions Upson’s work within a broader art historical context, highlighting its dialogue with figures such as Louise Bourgeois, Mike Kelley, and Cindy Sherman. The exhibition reflects on the continuing relevance of her practice and its impact on contemporary art.