Dream Machine

Action, sculpture, stage and film, as well as models of walk-in architecture, make visible Niki de Saint Phalle's autobiographical worldbuilding, her vision of a world shaped by women, and her collaborative way of working. Out of the social explosive force of her art and her simultaneous longing for harmony emerged an ambivalent body of work that made the French-American artist internationally successful already during her lifetime and continues to gain relevance to this day. The early 1960s offered little room for independence. All the more determinedly, Niki de Saint Phalle, amid an art scene dominated by men, shaped a world that grew out of her inner self: In dreams, magical beings and space-filling Nana figures, the artist negotiates very real ideas of social change.