biography
Helen Mirra was born in 1970 in Rochester, New York.
She lives and works in Muir Beach, California.
Mirra’s practice has consistently been formally minimal, using simple materials while engaged with maximal ideas about perception and participation as a person on this particular planet. In a practice synthesized with the activity of walking and an ethic of non-harm, she has produced works in a range of forms. Mirra’s open attitude has evolved alongside her appreciation for ancestors and peers across disciplines who have been committed to directness, gentleness and critical inquiry.
Helen Mirra was born in 1970 in Rochester, New York.
She lives and works in Muir Beach, California.
Mirra’s practice has consistently been formally minimal, using simple materials while engaged with maximal ideas about perception and participation as a person on this particular planet. In a practice synthesized with the activity of walking and an ethic of non-harm, she has produced works in a range of forms. Mirra’s open attitude has evolved alongside her appreciation for ancestors and peers across disciplines who have been committed to directness, gentleness and critical inquiry.
Helen Mirra select solo and two-persons exhibitions include: Du vent au vent, Rochechouart (2022); Nueve años caminando en las laderas, Museo de Arte Zapopan (2020); No Horizon, BAMPFA, Berkeley, California (2019); Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere, Kunst Meran / Merano Arte, Meran (2017); Hourly Directional, with Ernst Karel, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (2014); Gehend (Field Recordings 1-3), KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2011).
Her work has been included in group exhibitions and institutions such as: Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo (2018); Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2018); MCA Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago (2017); Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2013); Nasjonalmuseet Oslo (2012); Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia (2011); Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2011); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2008); Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas (2004); Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley (2003); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2001). Mirra took part in the 50th Biennale di Venezia (2003) and in the 30th Biennal of São Paulo (2012). In 2020 she was the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship.
gallery exhibitions
images
Waalweg, 2017
linen, wool
37,5 × 22,5 cm
Bale edging carbon copy, 2016
Linen, wool
32 × 26,5 cm
Straw Fold 132, 2016
Installation view of Helen Mirra & Allyson Strafella, fieno fieno fieno, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, via Stradella 7, Milan, 2016
132 rectangular straw bales
Each bale approx. 45 × 90 × 35 cm
Straw Fold 132, 2016
Installation view of Helen Mirra & Allyson Strafella, fieno fieno fieno, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, via Stradella 7, Milan, 2016
132 rectangular straw bales
Each bale approx. 45 × 90 × 35 cm
6th walking comma, 29 May, Cajas, 2014
black and white photo and text
26 × 42,4 cm; 27 × 43,4 × 3,4 cm framed
5th walking comma, 2 October, Cortina, 2013
black and white photo and text
28 × 43 cm; 29,5 × 44,5 × 3,4 cm framed
6th walking comma, 8 October, Bärental, 2013
black and white photo and text
26 × 42,4 cm; 27 × 43,4 × 3,4 cm framed
Hourly Directional Field Notation, 6 January, Silver Creek, 2012
watercolor on linen
155 × 155 cm
Hourly Directional Field Notation, 9 January, Arizonan Sonoran Desert, 2012
watercolor on linen
155 × 155 cm
Hourly Directional Field Notation, 10 January, Organ Pipe Wilderness, 2012
watercolor on linen
155 × 155 cm
Hourly Directional Field Notation, 16 January, Arizonan Sonoran Desert, 2012
watercolor on linen
155 × 155 cm
Murder, 178, 2005 (detail)
ink and milk paint on cotton
1,6 × 280 cm
Pet hypothesis, 22, 2005 (detail)
ink and milk paint on cotton
1,6 × 205 cm
public exhibitions
Musee Departemental D'Art Contemporain Chateau De Rochechouart
Rochechouart, France
Du vent au vent
25.2 – 18.9.2022
Photo: Aurélien Mole
Musee Departemental D'Art Contemporain Chateau De Rochechouart
Rochechouart, France
Du vent au vent
25.2 – 18.9.2022
Photo: Aurélien Mole
Museo de Arte Zapopan
Zapopan, Mexico
Nueve años caminando en las laderas
10.12.2020 – 25.4.2021
Museo de Arte Zapopan
Zapopan, Mexico
Nueve años caminando en las laderas
10.12.2020 – 25.4.2021
Cample Line
Thornhill, Scotland
Acts for placing woolen and linen
13.8 – 19.9.2020
Photo: Mike Bolam
Cample Line
Thornhill, Scotland
Acts for placing woolen and linen
13.8 – 19.9.2020
Photo: Mike Bolam
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
University of California
Berkeley
No Horizon: Helen Mirra and Sean Thackrey
3.7 – 25.8.2019
Photo: Glen Cheriton. Courtesy of BAMPFA
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
University of California
Berkeley
No Horizon: Helen Mirra and Sean Thackrey
3.7 – 25.8.2019
Photo: Glen Cheriton. Courtesy of BAMPFA
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
University of California
Berkeley
No Horizon: Helen Mirra and Sean Thackrey
3.7 – 25.8.2019
Photo: Glen Cheriton. Courtesy of BAMPFA
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Boston
Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time
4.10.2018 – 13.1.2020
Photo by Stewart Clements. Standard Incomparable (partial), organized by Helen Mirra, 2015-2016. Installation view: Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
São Paulo
Matriz do Tempo Real
13.1 – 18.3.2018
MOCA Yinchuan
2nd Yinchuan Biennale
China
Starting from Desert: Ecologies on the Edge
9.6 – 19.6.2018
Photo: Huang Yachen. Credits: MOCA Yinchuan
Kunst Meran / Merano Arte
Merano
Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere
22.7 – 24.9.2017
Photo: Ivo Corrà
Kunst Meran / Merano Arte
Merano
Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere
22.7 – 24.9.2017
Photo: Ivo Corrà
Kunst Meran / Merano Arte
Merano
Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere
22.7 – 24.9.2017
Photo: Ivo Corrà
Kunst Meran / Merano Arte
Merano
Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere
22.7 – 24.9.2017
Photo: Ivo Corrà
Kunst Meran / Merano Arte
Merano
Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere
22.7 – 24.9.2017
Photo: Ivo Corrà
Armory Center for the Arts
Los Angeles
Ellen Lesperance, Helen Mirra, Traversing
5.6 – 11.9.2016
Armory Center for the Arts
Los Angeles
Ellen Lesperance, Helen Mirra, Traversing
5.6 – 11.9.2016
Armory Center for the Arts
Los Angeles
Ellen Lesperance, Helen Mirra, Traversing
5.6 – 11.9.2016
press
Virtual walk-through: Standard Incomparable an international project begun by Helen Mirra comprising 65 weavings made by weavers in 16 countries
FAD Magazine
April 6, 2020
Helen Mirra and Sean Thackrey at BAMPFA: Seeing overlooked beauty in the everyday
Berkeleyside
July 10, 2019
"This is my interest anyway - to not-demand" - Interview with Helen Mirra
Metropolis M
September 8, 2017
publications
Escritura-a-través
(Mexico City: Merve, 2018) paperback, 278 pages
Merve Verlag
Mexico City
2018
Helen Mirra: Edge Habitat Materials
WhiteWalls / University of Chicago Press
Chicago
2014
Gehend
Argobooks
Berlin
2013
Helen Mirra: Cloud, the, 3
JRP Ringier
Zurich
2007
Helen Mirra Im Grunewald Berlin
Berliner Künstlerprogramm / DAAD
Berlin
2006
Names & Poems
WhiteWalls
Chicago
1999
video
Acts for placing woollen and linen
2020
Solo exhibition at Cample Line, Cample, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, UK Video scripted and narrated by Lucy Dale, filmed by Emma Dove
