Miriam Cahn
Born in Basel, 1949 and lives in Stampa, Switzerland
Over the last twenty years, Miriam Cahn has developed her own iconography, which exploits the evocative potential of colour to convey strong themes such as human conflict, war, real scenarios and inner worlds.
Drawing inspiration from performance art and the feminist movements of the 60s and 70s, Miriam Cahn’s work often placed the body at the centre of the creative process. Since the early 1980s her works have revealed a strong performative value, where the artist’s body often turned into a real artistic medium. It was during this period that Cahn established herself on the international scene. In 1982 she participated in Documenta 7, however choosing to remove her works from the prestigious event as a sign of protest. In 1983 her works were presented at the Kunsthalle in Basel with a solo exhibition curated by Jean-Christophe Ammann. In 1984 she was selected for the 41st edition of the Venice Biennale to represent her country, Switzerland. During the 90s the artist experienced a radical transformation of her practice, abandoning the monumental drawings that made her internationally known and giving a greater attention to the pictorial medium.
Significant solo exhibitions include: “ME AS HAPPENING” shown at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg and in a new iteration at The Power Plant in Toronto (2021); “Fremd das fremde” at Palazzo Castelmur (Stampa, 2021); Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing (2020); the exhibition I AS HUMAN at Kunstmuseum Bern (2019) which travelled to Haus der Kunst, Munich (2019) and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2019); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2019); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2019), among others. Miriam Cahn has participated in group exhibitions including Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2021); kunstmuseum Lausanne (2021); The Warehouse Dallas (2020); Pori Art Museum (Finland, 2020), Kunstmuseum Bonn (2019), Museum Tinguely (Basel, 2017), National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C., 2016), Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin, 2015), Dvir Gallery (Tel Aviv, 2014), Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein (2011), Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin, 2004), Hong Kong Museum of Art (1995), Winnipeg Gallery + Vancouver Art Gallery (1988) and at the reopening of the Museum of Modern Art (New York, 1984). Furthermore, the artist has participated in the Baltic Triennale in Vilnius and Riga, the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2022), in the 14th edition of Documenta (both in Kassel and Athens). In 2022 she will participate in the 59th Biennale d’Arte di Venezia. She has received the Ruben prize of the city of Siegen, Germany (2022), the Oberrheinischer Kunstpreis Offenburg, in the Basler Kunstpreis, Käthe-KollwitzPreis Berlin, in Ströher Preis Frankfurt/Main and of the DAAD grant in 1985.
Her works are included in renowned collections such as Pinault Collection (Paris), Kunstmuseum Basel, Tate Modern (London), Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), Museum for Modern Art (Warsaw), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Rubell Collection (Miami), Long Museum (Shanghai) and Osaka Museum.
