This steel globe, approximately the size of a person’s height and arm span, tilts at the same angle as the earth with its continents traced in red neon. The cage-like structure and fierce glow present our world as a universal danger zone, powerfully evoking global conflicts, border tensions, and the climate emergency. 

Mona Hatoum’s work contends with complex issues of displacement, marginalisation, and systems of control. Whether through sculpture, installation, or performance, Hatoum balances the specific and the general to draw out cultural and political contexts that carry much wider, universal concerns.

Throughout her career, Hatoum has explored themes of instability through the image of the world map. This steel globe tilts at 23.5 degrees, matching Earth’s actual axis and its continents buzz with an intense, seemingly dangerous energy. The title Hot Spot conveys multiple meanings: political and military conflict zones, geological hotspots, and global warming. Positioned here near rising sea levels, the cage-like structure and fierce glow of continents traced in red neon present a volatile, overheating world. Hatoum portrays the globe as one interconnected hot spot, powerfully evoking geopolitical conflicts, border tensions, and the climate emergency as issues that affect us all.

Hatoum was born in Beirut in 1952 to a Palestinian family. She has lived and worked in London since 1975.

Please do not touch or get too close to the neon sculpture.

Curated by Melissa Blanchflower, Senior Curator.

With thanks to Mona Hatoum and her studio and The David and Indrė Roberts Collection.

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