Was Madonna really Karen Kilimnik's friend or was it just something Kilimnik made up? In one of her best known installations ''Madonna Before she got Famous" Kilimnik exhibited a collection of the world famous star's old unwanted belongings. When second hand clothes (grunge) later became high fashion in the beginning of the 1990s it finally became clear that one did not need to be dressed in haute couture to feel like a princess inside. If the models on the catwalk fit in on a back street in Brooklyn then Karen fits in equally well in Vogue, a fact that makes it all the easier for her to continue to fantasise about her circumstances. Karen Kilimnik is drifting between different worlds and identifies herself with anyone who is sufficiently attractive. Kilimnik uses her experiences of our contemporary media society to investigate its symptoms. Kilimnik's work is not only about fantasies but also about making visible the relationships between power and identity.

More Karen Kilimnik at Y-1:
Karen Kilimnik September -97