ENG (FR below)

Julie Béna, born in 1982, is a graduate of the Villa Arson in Nice and attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academie at Amsterdam. In 2012-2013, she was part of le Pavillon, the research laboratory of le Palais de Tokyo. In 2018, she was nominated for the Prix AWARE women art prize.
She is represented by Gallery Joseph Tang (Paris) and Gallery Polansky (Prague).

Julie Béna’s work is made up of an eclectic set of references, combining contemporary and ancient literature, high and low art, joking, and seriousness, parallel times and spaces. Comprising sculpture, installation, film, and performance, her work often seems to float in an infinite vacuum, unfolding against a fictional backdrop where everything is possible. Over the past years, Béna has developed a range of personal cosmologies in which she stages seemingly banal characters and objects that have enigmatic conversations and interactions with each other. From Pantopon Rose, a character taken from William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, to Miss None and Mister Peanut, a disembodied floating wig and the iconic monocled anthropomorphic peanut, Béna lends her characters a singular agency and voice—they are defined by what they are not.

Béna had solo exhibitions at Villa Arson, Nice (2021); Kunstverein Bielefeld (2020); Kunstraum, London (2020); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2019); CAPC musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux (2019); the Amparo Museum, Puebla, Mexico (2019); and CAC Passerelle, Brest, FR (2017). Her work has recently been exhibited at the Biennale de Rennes, FR; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, FR; Polansky Gallery, Brno, CZ; 1646, The Hague, NL; C art C Madrid, ES; Bozar, Brussels, BE; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and San Francisco; Protocinema, Istanbul, TR, and Chapter NY, New York, US. Béna has staged numerous performances, including at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR; ICA, London, UK; M Leuven, BE; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR; and Performa NY, US.

She also took part in many residencies within the past years including Fonderie Darling, Montréal; Futura, Prague; ISCP, New-York, Moly Sabata, Sablons; CCF, Surabaya; Rupert, Vilnius; INI project, Prague.

In 2017, she published her first book with Montez Press, called “It need to be tender and to be whipped”, launched in Paris, NY and San Francisco. In 2019, at the occasion of her solo exhibition at Jeu de Paume, her first catalogue is published.

---

FR

Née en 1982, Julie Béna est diplômée de la Villa Arson à Nice et a fréquenté la Gerrit Rietveld Academie à Amsterdam. En 2012-2013, elle a fait partie du Pavillon, le laboratoire de recherche du Palais de Tokyo. En 2018, elle a été nominée pour le prix AWARE women art prize.
L'œuvre de Julie Béna est constituée d'un ensemble éclectique de références, alliant littérature contemporaine et ancienne, high et low art, plaisanterie, et sérieux, temps et espaces parallèles. Composé de sculptures, d'installations, de films et de performances, son travail semble souvent flotter dans un vide infini, se déployant sur une toile de fond fictive où tout est possible.
Béna a eu des expositions personnelles à la Villa Arson, Nice (2021); au Kunstverein Bielefeld (2020); à Kunstraum, Londres(2020); au Jeu de Paume, Paris (2019); au CAPC musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux (2019); au Amparo Museum, Puebla, Mexico (2019); ou au CAC Passerelle, Brest, FR (2017). Son travail a été récemmentmontré à black cube nomadic, Denver, US, au centre d'art Parraga, Murcia, Espagne, à la Biennale de Rennes, FR; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, FR; Polansky Gallery, Brno, CZ; 1646, The Hague, NL; C art C Madrid, ES; Bozar, Brussels, BE; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and San Francisco; Protocinema, Istanbul, TR, and Chapter NY, New York, US. Béna a crééde nombreuses performances pour de nombreux lieuxcomme le Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR; ICA, Londres, UK; M Leuven, BE; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR; and Performa NY, US.

Béna a pris part ? de nombreuses résidences incluant la Fonderie Darling, Montreal, CA; Futura, Prague, CZ; ISCP, New York, US; Moly Sabata, Sablons, FR; CCF, Surabaya; Rupert, Vilnius, LT; INI project, Prague, CZ.

In 2017, Béna publie son premier livre It needs to be tender and to be whipped , publié par Montez Press. En 2019, son premier catalogue est publié?par le Jeu de Paume, Paris, accompagnant son exposition personnelle.