Alexandra Mir's 2,529 Sports Trophies on Display at South London Gallery

Alexandra Mir's installation 'Triumph' (2009), comprising 2,529 sports trophies collected from Palermo residents, is being shown at the South London Gallery from July 27 as part of the group exhibition 'Pursuit of Perfection: The Politics of Sport'. The work originated from a newspaper ad in Sicily seeking old trophies, resulting in a vast archive of objects dating from 1940 onward. Mir, of Polish origin and a Swedish and US citizen now based in London, lived in Palermo and created the piece for a 2009 exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. The installation transforms the trophies into a monumental ready-made, arranged on pedestals to form a landscape of contemporary micro-ruins, blending conceptual rigor with narrative delicacy and nostalgic undertones.