Hendl Helen Mirra

Works

Laden2003

ink on cotton

11 × 96 cm

Murder, 1782005 (detail)

ink and milk paint on cotton

1,6 × 280 cm

Pet hypothesis, 222005 (detail)

ink and milk paint on cotton

1,6 × 205 cm

Waalweg2017

linen, wool

37,5 × 22,5 cm

Straw Fold 1322016

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

Hourly Directional Field Notation, 9 January, Arizonan Sonoran Desert2012

watercolor on linen

155 × 155 cm

Hourly Directional Field Notation, 16 January, Arizonan Sonoran Desert2012

watercolor on linen

155 × 155 cm

Biography

Hendl Helen Mirra was born in 1970 in Rochester, New York.

She lives and works in West Marin, California.
She works with Galleria Raffaella Cortese since 2013.

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.

Hendl 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.

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Gallery Exhibitions

Public exhibitions

Spora
10 May 2023 – 10 May 2025
Swiss Institute
Du vent au vent
25 February – 18 September 2022
Musee Departemental D'Art Contemporain Chateau De Rochechouart, Rochechouart, France
Nueve años caminando en las laderas
10 December 2020 – 25 April 2021
Museo de Arte Zapopan, Zapopan, Mexico
Acts for placing woolen and linen
13 August – 19 September 2020
Cample Line, Thornhill, Scotland
No Horizon: Helen Mirra and Sean Thackrey
3 July – 25 August 2019
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley
Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time
4 October 2018 – 13 January 2020
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Matriz do Tempo Real
13 January – 18 March 2018
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo
Starting from Desert: Ecologies on the Edge
9 June – 19 June 2018
MOCA Yinchuan, 2nd Yinchuan Biennale, China
Gehen, weben / Camminare, tessere
22 July – 24 September 2017
Kunst Meran / Merano Arte, Merano
Ellen Lesperance, Helen Mirra, Traversing
5 June – 11 September 2016
Armory Center for the Arts, Los Angeles

Press

Bałka e Mirra: attraverso lo specchio
Antinomie
November 7, 2022
Helen Mirra : une œuvre radicale, écologique et contemplative
Le Journal des Arts
March 30, 2022
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
A So-called Artist: An Interview with Helen Mirra
Buddhistdoor Global
June 27, 2019
Helen Mirra and Sean Thackrey at BAMPFA: Seeing overlooked beauty in the everyday
Berkeleyside
July 10, 2019
Gianni Pettena & Helen Mirra Merano Arte, Italy
Frieze
November-December 2017
"This is my interest anyway - to not-demand" - Interview with Helen Mirra
Metropolis M
September 8, 2017
Helen Mirra
Artforum
January 2014
Reference Material
Frieze
November-December 2006

Publications

Escritura-a-través
Helen Mirra
Merve Verlag
Mexico City
2018
Helen Mirra: Edge Habitat Materials
Edited by Alise Upitis
WhiteWalls / University of Chicago Press
Chicago
2014
Gehend
Helen Mirra
Argobooks
Berlin
2013
Helen Mirra: Cloud, the, 3
Edited by Christoph Keller
JRP Ringier
Zurich
2007
Helen Mirra Im Grunewald Berlin
Helen Mirra
Berliner Künstlerprogramm / DAAD
Berlin
2006
Names & Poems
Helen Mirra
WhiteWalls
Chicago
1999

Videos

Acts for placing woollen and linen
2020
Helen Mirra on Imi Knoebel
2007