BIOGRAPHY
Julie Béna grew up in a theatrical environment, where from a young age she became aware of its challenges, structural dynamics, architecture, and underlying power relations.
Opening up a world who has nourished herself through the rich interplay of performance, moving image, text, scenography, sculpture, theatre, and architecture, Béna stages and distorts gendered social practices that are considered natural or normal to reveal how deeply embedded they are in the hierarchy of power. At the center is the actor's body, which holds the power to create an
immediate sense of community with the audience.
The construction of a series of characters has helped Béna through the years to blur borders between reality and fiction, between autobiography and the theatrical representation of the self as
well as to explore themes such as identity, performance, and the nature of representation.
Béna shows us how art can resurrect forgotten references, people, and histories, letting them live on through us. Blending seemingly distant genres—Greek tragedy and vaudeville, Brechtian theatre and Black Light shows, clowns, cabaret, mimes, musicals, strip clubs, Halloween masks, obscure TV, circus, pantomime, discotheques, real estate ads, stand-up, and dinner shows—she creates a world where high and low culture, the sacred and absurd, coexist, and political issues emerge through allegory and exaggeration.
Béna explores themes such as abortion, sexual desire, failures, and family roles, rejecting a simple or glorified narrative of womanhood and motherhood. Her works are rooted in traditions including
cabaret and surrealism, using archetypal symbols and a bold aesthetic to investigate the ambiguity and complexity of maternal and feminine experience, offering a profound reflection on
the emotional, political, and social realities connected to “all our mothers.”
Julie Béna was born in 1982 in Paris, France, and currently lives and works between Prague and Paris. She is a graduate of the Villa Arson, Nice, and attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 2012–13, she was part of le Pavillon, the research laboratory of the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. In 2018, she was nominated for the Prix AWARE women art prize.
Béna’s selected solo exhibitions include Fantasy, PLATO, Ostrava, CZ
(2024) ; Vitrine, Hermès, Prague, CZ (2024) ; Anna, the Jester et les monstroplantes, duo avec Anna Hula?ová, CEAAC, Strasbourg, FR; Sometimes, Polansky Gallery, Prague, CZ (2024) ;Sombre dimanche, Longtermhanstand, Budapest, HU (2022); The Den, NICOLETTI, London, UK (2021); Miles, Villa Arson, Nice, FR (2021); Artissima, art fair with NICOLETTI, Torino, IT (2021); The wolf, the princess and the little soldier, Polansky Gallery, Prague, CZ (2020); The Jester and Death, Kunstraum, London, UK (2020); Les Lèvres Rouges, Kunstverein Bielefeld, DE (2020); Anna and the Jester in Window of Opportunity, Jeu de Paume, Paris, FR (2019); Anna and the Jester, CAPC Bordeaux, FR (2019); Anna and the Jester, Museo Amparo, Pueblo, Mexico, MX (2019); and Have you seen Pantopon Rose?, Passerelle, Brest, FR (2017).
Béna’s recent group exhibitions include Sequence / Fragment, Nicoletti, Londres, UK (2024) ; Dormancy Settings, Longtermhandstand Budapest, HU (2024) ; Jabberwocky, curated by Vittoria Matarrese, Ceysson & Bénétière, Paris, FR (2023) ; Fragments of Other Knowledge, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik,
IS ; Recent Acquisitions and Eternal Loves - Part I, Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation, Monaco, MC, Au bonheur, CEAAC, Strasbourg, FR (2022); Oral Texte, Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris, FR; Move: Intimacy as Resistance, National Gallery, Prague, CZ (2022); Contre-Nature, MOCO, Montpellier, FR; Hypernuit, Base sous-marine, Bordeaux, FR (2022); Meia-Noite parte 2, Biennale de Coimbra, Coimbra, PT (2022); Sun kissed, Neve, Los Angeles, USA (2022); Virtual Body, Quartier am Hafen, Cologne, DE (2021); Les Moyens du bord, organized by Centre Pompidou, La Villette, Paris, FR (2020). Her work was also exhibited at Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR, 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.
Béna took part in a number of residencies: Black Cube museum, Denver, USA ; Fonderie Darling, Montréal, CA ; Pavillon, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR ; Futura, Prague, CZ ; ISCP, New York, US ; Institut Français, Résidences Américaines, New York, USA ; Volcan Extravaganza, Stromboli, IT, Moly Sabata, Sablons, FR ; CCF, Surabaya ; Rupert, Vilnius, LT
In 2017, Béna’s first book, It needs to be tender and to be whipped, was published by Montez Press, and launched in Paris, New York, and San Francisco. In 2019, her first monograph was published by the Jeu de Paume, Paris, accompanying the artist’s solo exhibition at the museum.
Béna’s work is part of a number of public and private collections, including Kunstverein Bielefeld, Bielefeld, DE; CAPC, Bordeaux, FR; Fond d’art contemporain – Paris Collection, FR; Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap), Paris, FR; FRAC MÉCA Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bordeaux, FR; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, FR; FRAC Normandie, Caen, FR; and Fiorucci Arts Trust, Tapisserie Aubusson, Fr.
Julie Béna est représentée par Nicoletti Contemporary, Londres and Longterhandstand, Budapest