biography
Helen Mirra was born in 1970 in Rochester, New York.
She lives and works in West Marin, 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 West Marin, 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
public exhibitions

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.
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

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
Helen Mirra on Imi Knoebel
2007
Dia Art Foundation Artists on Artists Lecture Series
