Jac Leirner Hip Hop, 1998/2025

Hip Hop (1998/2025), a site-specific installation, is comprised of a horizontal line made from hundreds of pieces of adhesive tape, in different widths, colors and thickness. All iterations of the work vary, and are hence unique; on the occasion of the exhibition Ensemble at Esther Schipper Berlin (2025) Leirner introduced a new motif, "scratch," a sequence of parallel, diagonal bars interrupting the horizontal line.

The installation, while paying homage to Piet Mondrian’s penultimate painting Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942–43), takes its name from the unruly beats that jumped from New York’s Bronx onto the world stage. In its materiality, the work testifies to the music genre’s sticky sociality: once emerging from Black and Brown block parties, today, hip hop continues to celebrate the intersection of drums, voice, and dance. By combining chromatic confrontation and square elongation, Leirner translates the phonetic of the name “hip hop” into space.