Esther Ferrer
Nationality
ES
Year of birth
1937
Biography
A leading figure in performance art since the 1960s, Esther Ferrer has developed an approach centred on ephemeral action rather than the production of permanent objects. A member of the experimental collective ZAJ from 1967 to 1996, she has also worked across photography, installation, drawing and sculptural constructions inspired by prime numbers and π, in an approach she has sometimes described as one of “rigorous absurdity”. Her performances and exhibitions have been presented in museums, art centres and festivals throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. She represented Spain at the Venice Biennale in 1999 and has held major solo exhibitions at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona (1984), FRAC Bretagne in Rennes (2013), MAC VAL in Vitry-sur-Seine (2014), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (2017–18), the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2018), and FRAC Franche-Comté in Besançon (2024). She has also presented numerous performances and lectures at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Her many honours include Spain’s National Prize for Plastic Arts, the Velázquez Prize, and the Bernard Heidsieck Honorary Prize awarded by the Centre Pompidou.
