1970 Born in Rochester, New York
1987 Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, New York
1991 B.A., Studio Art and Contemporary Art History, Bennington College, Vermont
1996 M.F.A., Studio Art, University of Illinois, Chicago
Lives and works in Muir Beach, California
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
• Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico. Nine Years of Slope-Walking. (10 December 2021 – 26 April 2021)
• Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin. ĉielarka aktivec. (12 September – 14 November)
• Large Glass, London. la malplena ĉambro estas bela. (11 September – 14 November)
• Cample Line, Thornhill, Scotland. Acts for placing woolen and linen. (13 August – 19 September)
• The National Exemplar, Iowa City. HELEN MIRRA / JOHN DILG. Curated by Katie Rashid. (2-person exhibition) (1 August – 10 September)
2019
• Berkeley Museum of Art, California. No Horizon: Helen Mirra – Sean Thackrey. (2-person exhibition) (3 July – 25 August)
• Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe, Germany. ein freundlicher Nein / a friendly No. (3 – 17 May 2019)
2018
• NHMX, Nordenhake, Mexico City. Nueve años caminando en las laderas (Nine years of slope-walking). (17 November – 15 January 2019)
• Peter Freeman, Inc, New York. Bones are spaces. (8 November – 22 December)
• Large Glass, London. A Coin in Nine Hands - Part 7: Standard Incomparable, Helen Mirra (Stripes). (7 June - 7 July)
• Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm. *. (24 May – 21 June)
2017
• Large Glass, London. A Coin In Nine Hands – Part 3. (5 December 2017 – 13 January 2018)
• Andriesse Eyck Galerie, Amsterdam. Voluntary Weathering. (9 September – 14 October)
• Incident Report, Hudson, New York. INCIDENT 100. (Autumn 2017)
• Kunst Meran / Merano Arte, Italy. gehen, weben / camminare, tessere. (21 July – 1 October)
• Andriesse Eyck Galerie, Amsterdam. Variable Weather. (16 June – 29 July)
2016
• Highline, New York. Helen Mirra, Half-smiler. (3 – 14 October)
2015
• Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm. Helen Mirra. (20 August – 26 September)
2014
• Peter Freeman, Inc., New York. Waulked. (11 September – 25 October)
• Culturgest, Lisbon. Edge Habit. (7 June – 14 September)
• Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hourly Directional. (24 April – 6 June)
• MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hourly Directional, with Ernst Karel. (7 February – 6 April)
2013
• Raffaella Cortese, Milan. Field, Western Japan. (26 September – 16 November)
2012
• Taka Ishii, Tokyo. Hourly directional field notation, Bretagne. (10 November – 8 December)
• Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich. gehend (Field Recordings 1 - 3). (23 February – 6 May)
2011
• Peter Freeman Inc., New York. Field Notation. (6 October – 12 November)
• Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany. gehend (Field Recordings 1-3). (20 September - 20 November). Exhibition travelled: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (27 November 2011 – 29 January 2012); Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (23 - 29 April 2012)
• Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm. Field Index 3. (26 May – 26 June)
2009
• Galerie Nelson-Freeman, Paris. Conscience de pierre. (14 November 2009 – 22 January 2010)
• Meyer Riegger Galerie, Berlin. 33 Bergwanderwege. (29 April – 6 June)
• Taka Ishii, Kyoto. Case Study: Swiss Bird Houses. (10 January – 14 February)
2008
• Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm. Quarry. (17 February – 20 March)
2007
• Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe, Germany. Waldau. (9 March – 14 April)
2006
• Peter Freeman, Inc., New York. Break Camp. (9 November – 20 January 2007)
• University of Chicago, Illinois. Instance the Determination. (27 April 2006 – June 2009)
• Galerie Nelson-Freeman, Paris. Käuzchensteig. (25 February - 7 Aril)
2005
• PIAC (Piattaforma internazionale arte contemporanea), Ragusa, Italy. Helen Mirra. (24 September – 30 November)
• Donald Young Gallery, Chicago. Laws of clash, 247. (26 May – July)
• DAAD Galerie, Berlin, Germany. Cloud, the, 3 (23 March – 13 May)
2004
• Dallas Museum of Art, Texas. Concentrations 45: Helen Mirra: Sudden and creeping violence. (7 October – 2 January 2005)
• Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe, Germany. Miscellaneous papers. (21 May – 1 July)
• Peter Freeman, Inc., New York. Helen Mirra: Hewn third. (4 March – 17 April)
2003
• University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California. Matrix 209: 65 Instants. (23 November – 25 January 2004)
• Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Helen Mirra. (21 March – 19 April)
2002
• DYG Projects, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago. Arrow. (22 November 2002 – January 2003)
• Whitney Museum of American Art: Contemporary Series, New York. Declining Interval Lands. (September 21 – 8 December)
2001
• Meyer Riegger Galerie, Art 32 Basel, Switzerland. Miller's Views, Statements. (13 – 18 June)
• The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Illinois. Sky-Wreck. (6 May – 24 June)
2000
• Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe, Germany. Beforsten. (23 September – 4 November)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
• Kunsthalle Schirn Frankfurt, Germany. Walk. (18 February – 22 May)
2021
• /, San Francisco. Arboreal. (26 March – 26 June)
2020
• GAK, Bremen, Germany. Was machen Sie um zwei? Ich schlafe. (19 September – 20 December)
• Martin Janda, Vienna. Sedimentations: Brushing History Against the Grain. Curated by Noit Banai. (5 – 26 September)
• Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin. ORTHODOX ABSTRACTION. (27 June – 29 August)
• Luis Adelantado, Valencia, Spain. On the Ground. (15 May – 4 September)
• Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland. The Quiet Show. (6 February – 2 May 2020)
2019
• Essex Street, New York. Concerning superfluities. (1 November – 22 December)
• Marcelle Alix, Paris. Marcelle Alix ouverte. (30 October – 30 November)
• Meyer Riegger, Berlin. Come Together. (29 June – 3 August)
• Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo. 25th Anniversary Group Exhibition. (25 June – 27 July)
• Modern Art Vyner Street, London. Katinka Bock, Esther Kläs, Helen Mirra, Hayley Tompkins. (7 March – 13 April 2019)
• Stiftung Konzeptuelle Kunst, Soest, Germany. A Day’s Work. (27 January – 13 April)
2018
• Large Glass, London. In the Labyrinth. (8 February – 5 April)
• Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois. a body measured against the earth. Curated by Jared Quinton. (21 August 2018 – 7 April 2019)
• DePaul Art Museum, Chicago. DPAM Collects: Happy Little Trees and other Recent Acquisitions. (26 April – 5 August)
• Doyers, New York. A Simple Fraction. Organized by Debra Singer. (13 January – 18 March)
• Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Matrix do Tempo Real. Curated by Jacopo Visconti (13 January –18 March)
2017
• Large Glass, London. A Coin In Nine Hands – Part 3. (5 December 2017 – 13 January 2018)
• Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Frieburg, Germany. For Eternity – Archival Strategies in Art. (8 October 2017 – 25 February 2018)
• Fjord, Philadelphia. To chance, to wander. (13 April – 27 May)
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Listen Here: the Art of Sound. (8 March – 5 September)
• Serralves Museum, Portugal. Serralves Collection: 1960 – 1980. (8 May 2017 – 28 January 2018)
2016
• Bennington College, Vermont. VBS (violet burning sunset). (20 September – 16 October)
• Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland. I Went to the Woods: The artist as wanderer. (23 July – 6 November)
• Fondation d’entreprise Hermés, Brussels. Ballistic poetry. (23 April – 2 July)
• Large Glass, London. Suchness. Helen Mirra / Allyson Strafella. (14 April – 24 June)
• Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin. Helen Mirra & Allyson Strafella. (15 January – 5 March)
2015
• MAC Gas Natural Fenosa Museum, Coruña, Spain. Monumental Narratives: Figures, Landscapes and Rituals. (17 December 2015 – 1 May 2016)
• La Criée centre d'art contemporain, Rennes, France. L’Épais Réel (Into The Real). (11 December 2015 – 21 February 2016)
• Menil Collection, Houston. Apparition: Frottages and Rubbings from 1870 to Now. Curated by Allegra Pesenti. (11 September 2015 – 3 January 2016)
•Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry – le Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine, France. tout le monde. (11 September – 6 December)
•Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York. Ordering Nature. (12 June – 31 July)
• Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe, Germany. five colors. (with Anne Callahan) (6 June – 18 July)
• DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts. Walking Sculpture 1967– 2015. (9 May – 13 September)
• Aspen Art Museum, Colorado. Second Chances. (20 March – 28 June)
• Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Apparition: Frottages and Rubbings from 1870 to Now. Curated by Allegra Pesenti. (7 February – 31 May)
2014
• Luciana Caravello, Rio de Janeiro. Falso movimento. (12 December 2014 – 17 January 2015)
• Large Glass, London. Indeterminacy. (28 November 2014 – 27 February 2015)
2013
• Churner and Churner, New York. Dust Breeding. (27 June – 9 August)
• The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto. Postscript. (21 June – 2 September)
• Various Small Fires, Los Angeles. Tehachapi. (25 May – 29 June)
• CA2M, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid. Sin Motivo Aparente. (9 May – 16 October)
• Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg. L’Image papillon (The Butterfly Images). (23 March – 8 September)
• PROJECTSD, Barcelona. Map, Record, Picture, Sculpture. (19 March – 26 April)
• FRAC Ile de France/Le Plateau, Paris. Paint It Black. (14 March – 12 May)
• Passatge Mercader 8, Barcelona. Patricia Dauder, Helen Mirra, Guillaume Leblon and Christoph Weber. (8 March – 19 April)
2012
• MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the Holocene. (18 October 2012 – 6 January 2013)
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver. Postscript. (12 October 2012 – 3 February 2013)
• ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, Arken, Denmark. Treffpunkt: Berlin. (11 May – 22 July)
• Jeanine Hofland Contemporary Art, Amsterdam. There was a country where they were all thieves. (4 May – June 7)
• Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo. Unfinished Journeys. (16 March – May 20)
• FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France. Formes Breves, Autres, 25. (27 January – 8 April)
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona. economy of means: toward humility in contemporary sculpture. (21 January – 29 April)
2011
• Kunstverein, Frankfurt. Arte Essenziale. Curated by Fedrico Ferrari. (3 November 2011 – 1 January 2012)
• Arp Museum, Remagen, Germany. Belvedere: Why is Landscape Beautiful? (9 September 2011 – 4 March 2012)
• Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Switzerland. Science & Fiction. (20 July – 6 November)
• Firth Street Gallery, London. Look with all your eyes, look. (15 July – 30 September)
• Kunsthaus Graz, Austria. Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World). Curated by Katrin Bucher Trantow and Peter Pakesch. (11 June – 4 September)
• Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy. Essential Art. Curated by Federico Ferrari. (11 April – 1 January 2012)
• Franco Noero, Torino, Italy. Five Easy Pieces. (24 February – 2 April)
• Diapason Gallery, New York. Swiss mountain transport systems: Ernst Karel and Helen Mirra. (8, 15, 22, & 29 January)
2010
• Daadgalerie, Berlin. Die Natur ruft! with Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Jimmie Durham, Douglas Gordon, Christine & Irene Hohenbüchler, Bethan Huws, Mario Merz. (30 October – 4 December)
• LaM - Lille Métropole Muse, France. Habiter poétiquement le monde (The World as Poem). Curated by François Piron. (25 September – 30 January 2011)
2009
• Abtart, Stuttgart, Germany. (Z)ART. Curated by Jan Hoet. (13 October – 31 January 2010)
• MARTa, Herford, Germany. Pittoresk - Neue Perspektiven auf das Landschaftsbild. (3 October – 31 January 2010)
• About Change Collection, Berlin. Chapter Four: World Wraps. (19 September – January 2010)
• Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm. Livsformer/Life Forms. (16 September – 10 January 2010)
• Glassell School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Reduced Visibility. (4 September – 15 November)
• Musée d’art moderne de Saint-Etienne Métropole, France. Fragile. (16 May – 16 August)
• Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. The Quick and the Dead. Curated by Peter Eleey. (24 April – 24 September)
• le Credac, Ivry-sur-Seine, France. Le Travail de riviere. (4 February – 29 March)
• Intershop Tower, Jena, Germany. How to Work Better: Das Büro im Atelier. Curated by Christiane Rekade. (23 January – 28 February)
2008
• KW Instititure for Contemporary Art, Berlin. Political/Minimal. (November 2008 – 25 January 2009)
• Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany. Observing beast, time, evolution: Kunst und Naturwissenschaft. (7 September – 2 November)
• Yvon Lambert, Paris, France. Ready-.Made. (27 June – 6 September)
• ZKM, Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany. Vertautes Terrain. Aktuelle Kunst in/über Deutschland. (22 May – 12 October)
• Museo ARCOS, Benevento, Italy. Italia Italie Italien Italy Wlochy. (20 March – 31 August)
2007
• Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin. Drawing a Tiger. (28 September – 24 October)
• Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo. No Context. with Gardar Eide Einarsson, Sean Landers, Darren Bader, Hiroshi Teshigawara. (30 June – 21 July)
• MARTa, Herford, Germany. Marta Schweigt. Garde le silence, le silence te Gardera. (7 June – 14 October)
• Peter Blum Gallery, New York, United States. Art and Languag, with Stephanie Brooks and Ian Wilson. (11 May – 23 June)
• National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo. Dump: Postmodern Sculpture in the Dissolved Field. (5 March – 19 August)
• Inova (Institute for Visual Art), Milwaukee. Place of the Transcommon. (2 February – 16 March)
2006
• Galerie Lelong, New York. Spectrum. (9 December 2006 – 28 January 2007)
• Mary Mary, Glasgow. Planting the Tele. (25 November 2006 – 13 January 2007)
• Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe, Germany. Into a Journey. (5 November – 9 December)
2005
• Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Ontario. Variations on the Picturesque. (10 December 2005 – 19 March 2006)
• Creative Time, the High Line, New York. The Plain of Heaven. Curated by Peter Eleey. (14 October – 20 November)
• White Columns, New York. Odd Lots: Revisiting Gordon Matta Clark’s “Fake Estates". (9 September – 18 October)
• Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. Set. with Lisa Lapinski and Yuki Kimura (20 August – 10 September)
• Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam. Tropical Abstraction. (10 June – 21 August)
2004
• Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York. Material as Metaphor. (10 December 2004 – 15 January 2005)
• Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg. Formalismus. Moderne Kunst, heute. (9 October 2004 – 9 January 2005)
• Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. Fine Words Butter No Cabbage. (29 August – 2 October)
• Galerie Kamm, Berlin. Black Friday: Exercises in Hermetics. (10 July – 11 September)
2003
• Sculpture Center, New York. Paper Sculpture. (7 September – 7 December)
• Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland. Land, Land! (18 January – 9 March)
• Meyer Riegger Galerie, Karlsruhe, Germany. There’s no land but the land. (17 January – 28 February)
2002
• Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany. Zusammenhänge herstellen. (29 June – 25 August)
• Galerie Georg Kargl, Vienna. Waiting for the Ice Age. (19 January – 9 March)
2001
• Block Museum, Chicago. Seems: Integrations with the Physical and Social Periphery of the Museum. (23 September – 10 December)
• ApexArt, New York. Making the Making. (5 January – 3 February)
2000
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Age of Influence. (23 September – 10 December)
• Donald Young, Chicago. Sound, Video, Film. (5 May – 10 June)
1998
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. Trance. (6 October 1998 – 10 January 1999)
1997
• Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany. Some Kind of Heaven. (20 February – 27 April). Exhibition travelled: South London Gallery, London (4 June – 13 July)
1996
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. Up Close and Personal. (31 December 1996 - 2 March 1997)
• The Renaissance Society, Chicago. Persona. (10 March - 21 April). Exhibition travelled: Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
AWARDS
2013 Artist-in-Residence, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
2011 IASPIS (International Artists Studio Program in Sweden), Stockholm
2008-2009 Stiftung Laurenz Haus Residency, Basel
2007 Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue, New York
2007 International Studio Program, Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo
2005 Artist in Residence, Berliner Künstlerprogramm, DAAD, Berlin
2004 Alpert Ucross Residency Award, Wyoming
2003 Artist in Residence, University of California at Berkeley, California
2001 Driehaus Individual Artist Award, Chicago
1999 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award
1997-1998 Macdowell Residency, Peterborough, New Hampshire
1996 Jessica Holt Award, University of Illinois, Chicago
1995-1996 University Fellowship, University of Illinois, Chicago
PUBLIC PROJECTS
2011 Farbenweg, indirekter, Universalmuseum, Graz, Austria
2010 GSA Art in Architecture U.S. Border Station Project, Warroad, New Mexico
2006 Instance the Determination, public project, University of Chicago, Illinois
FILMS AND VIDEOS
Arrow, 2002, video projection/sound including sub woofer, 28min
81N, 2001,16mm, color, silent, 11min
52°N, 1999,16mm, color, silent, 11min
Songs 1-9, 1998, b&w video, single channel, silent, continuous loops
Third, 1998, b&w video projection with live sound, 45min
Untitled film, 1996, color, silent, 1min
Schlafbau,1996 b&w video projection, sound, 13min
I, Bear, 1995, color video, sound, 6min
The Ballad of Myra Furrow, 1994, b&w video, sound, 5min
PUBLICATIONS
Gehend (Berlin: argobooks, 2013)
Cloud, the, 3 (Zürich: Christoph Keller Editions/JRP Ringier, 2007)
Helen Mirra im Grunewald (Berlin: DAAD, 2006)
Sky-wreck (Chicago: The Renaissance Society, 2002)
Field Geometry (Chicago: Explain, 2000)
Names & Poems (Chicago: Whitewalls, 1999)
Alow (Chicago: Herkimer, 1999)
Along, Below (Chicago: Herkimer, 1999)
Stowaway (Chicago: Herkimer, 1996)
SELECTED COLLECTIONS AND MUSEUMS
The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
Dallas Museum of Art, Texas
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France
FRAC Ile-de-France, Paris, France
FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France
FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, Dunkirk, France
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York