Artistic biography
Paula Carralero Bierzynska was born in Madrid in 1991 and grew up in Pamplona, near the Pyrenees. She studied translation in Madrid, Leipzig and Montreal with the Excellence Scholarship of the Comunidad de Madrid, the Erasmus Scholarship and the Mobilidad Internacional Scholarship. After working in Mexico City, she moved to Berlin in 2013, where she studied painting with Nader Ahriman at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee in Berlin from 2013 to 2020 as a diploma and masters student.
During her studies, she exhibited at Haus des Berliner Rundfunks, Projektraum Bethanien, Neukölln Arkaden, Bar Babette, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Kunstverein Uelzen, Kühlhaus Berlin, and also internationally at Muzeum Woli in Warsaw, La Ciudadela and Centro Huarte in Pamplona, and Sala Pérez de la Riva in Madrid in Spain. She has also been awarded the Mart Stam Stipendium, the Mart Stam Prize, the Mittenmang Project Grant, and the Premio Encuentros Arte Joven. Her artist books have been presented at the Berlin Art Book Fair at Hamburger Bahnhof and the Missread Art Book Fair at the Akademie der Künste. In addition, her work was published by Textem Verlag in 2016.
After graduating, she received the Neustart Kultur scholarship (2020), the Kickstarter grant for graduates of state art colleges from the Stiftung Kunstfonds (2022), and the bridge scholarship for entry into doctoral studies from Bauhaus Universität Weimar (2023). She was also nominated for the Young Art Award and the Art Award Germany (2021) and received the studio grant of the Kulturwerk bbk Berlin (since 2021). She participated in residencies at Begehungen, Chemnitz; Centro Huarte, Pamplona, Spain (both 2021); Künstlerhaus Edenkoben and at the Powidoki, Kaliska, Poland (both 2022). Her first solo exhibition was held at weisser elefant gallery in Berlin (2021). Other exhibitions have also been held at Rathaus-Galerie Reinickendorf, Galerie Ebensperger with Radio Cashmere, Lage Egal, Kino Krokodil, Spoiler, Volkssolidarität Mitte, Galerie Parterre at Kunstverein Neukölln and Atelieretage AR29 in Berlin, Kunstverein Marburg, Galerie Depelmann (Hannover), Güterbahnhof Altendorf (Chemnitz), Galerie das Gute Leben (Kandel, Rhineland-Palatinate), Biels (St. Gillis Waas, Belgium), at the town hall in Kaliska (Poland), and at the PHuN Symposium (Arizona, United States). In 2023, she realised an installation for the Soteria at St. Hedwig Hospital in Berlin. In 2024, she had a solo exhibition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Further exhibitions are planned the Retramp Gallery in Berlin, in Beratungscenter der Sparkasse Gera-Greiz in Gera and Autokonzern in Berlin.
Artist Statement
My work is concerned with the question of how human perception differs from machine perception. Instead of looking at the world from fixed points, the point of view with two human eyes is fluid and consists of different, sometimes contradictory, perspectives.
For this endeavour, I paint what I see through transparent material (glass, mobile phone displays, computer screens, plexiglass, and most recently organza silk). During the process, my eyes move around the space, and as a result, the viewpoint becomes open, and the edges of the image curvy, reminiscent of the anatomy of our eyes.
I paint mostly on location and over months in long series. Each series deals with the relationship between people and sometimes abandoned, temporary or converted buildings.
In installing the works, I ask myself how painting can strongly transform the original architectural space through reduced resources and thereby influence human well-being.
CV
| 1991, Madrid Lives and works in Berlin | |
| Education | |
| 2020 |
Master of Fine Arts, Kunsthochschule Berlin with Nader Ahriman |
| 2019 |
Fine Arts, painting, at Kunsthochschule Berlin with Heiner Franzen, Friederike Feldmann, Werner Liebmann, Nader Ahriman |
| 2013 |
Translation and Interpreting, Graduate work about intercultural mediation and literary translation about migrant literature, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. International MAEC Scholarship at Université de Montréal, Canada. Erasmus Scholarship at Universität Leipzig, Germany |
| Solo and duo exhibitions | |
| 2022 2021 | «Auf… auf… und hinein» Kunst in der Landschaft, das Gute Leben, Kandel (duo exhibition with Marie Gouil) Rescate, Erlösung, Galerie Weisser elefant, Berlin Tagebuch, Mehr Mitte, Berlin |
| 2020 |
Paradise Lost , Heizkraftwerk Steglitz, Berlin |
| 2022 | Group exhibitions (selection) Under Construction, Brunnentreff, Berlin Stadt Land Fluss, AR29, Berlin |
| 2021 | Sonderlage III, Lage egal Liebe arbeit Kino, Rausproject Ipso facto, Kühlhaus, Berlin Sonderlage total, Lage egal Begehungen Chemnitz Offene Ateliers, Atelieretage Reinickendorf Begegnungsstätte Mehr Mitte, Berlin Mart Stam Preis, Galerie Parterre Under Kunstruction, Biels, St Gillis Waas Nachbarschaftszentrum «Bürger für Bürger» Berlin Kunstpreis Deutschland, Galerie Depelmann, Hannover Your touch makes the waves, Radio Cashmere, Berlin Mart Stam Preis, Marburger Kunstverein |
| 2020 |
Förderpreis Junge Kunst, Rathaus Reinickendorf, Berlin A factory of one’s own, Heizkraftwerk Steglitz, Berlin In to through out, Spoiler, Berlin Your foodprint, Heizkraftwerk Steglitz, Berlin Abschlussausstellung, Kühlhaus, Berlin (delayed) Mart Stam Preis, Künstlerraum Bethanien, Berlin (delayed) PHuN Symposium 2020, ASU, Arizona, USA |
| 2019 |
Certamen Nacional de Grabado José Caballero, Las Rozas, Madrid Halbschatten II, Neukölln Arcaden, Berlin Perfekte Zustände, XLane, Berlin -188 + x(Balzac), Kunstverein Uelzen, Uelzen Fundraising Ausstellung mit 50 Künstler/innen der KHB Berlin, Galerie Irrgang, Berlin |
| 2018 |
Certamen Nacional de Grabado Jose Caballero, Las Rozas, Madrid 948 Merkatua, mercado de las artes de Navarra, Pamplona Encuentros Jóvenes Artistas, Centro Huarte, Huarte Growing through the grids, Bar Babette, Berlin Drucksache, Galerie Pankow, Berlin Gestell, Erratum Galerie, Berlin |
| 2017 |
Böse Blüten, Projektraum Bethanien, Berlin. |
| 2016 |
Certamen Nacional de Grabado José Caballero, Las Rozas, Madrid Encuentros Jóvenes Artistas, La Ciudadela, Pamplona Quelltext, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam Per Anhalter, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin Missread Art Book fair, Akademie der Künste, Berlin |
| 2015 |
Die Vermessung der Zeit, Hermanshof Vöcksen, Hannover Ravensbrück, 10. Europäische Sommer-Universität Ravensbrück Art Book Fair, Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin Capilatus, Haus des Berliner Rundfunks, Berlin |
| 2014 | Unerhörte Räume, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin Yo no soy de Tepito, Tepito es mío, Morgenrot Café, Berlin |
| Prizes, scholarships and residencies | |
| 2020 | Neustart Kultur, Stiftung Kunstfonds Förderpreis Junge Kunst (selected) |
| 2019 |
Mart Stam Preis |
| 2018 |
Artistic residency in Centro Huarte, Navarra, for a project of mapping of artistic agents |
| 2016 |
Second prize in Encuentros jóvenes artistas, Gobierno de Navarra Mittenmang Projektförderung |
| 2015 |
Deutschlandstipendium, Mart Stam Stiftung Sans Papiers, artistic residency, Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium |
| 2005 |
First prize is in Ateneo de Badajoz «El Quijote y sus personajes» Junta de Extremadura, Spain |
| 2004 |
First prize in II Concurso de Dibujo y Pintura de Navarra Megaprix Diario de Navarra, Spain First prize in Concurso de Dibujo sobre la Verdura Megaprix Diario de Navarra y la Orden del Volatín de Tudela, Spain First prize in «La ciudad.sin mi coche!» Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Spain |
| 2003 | First prize in Itinerarios Culturales de Navarra Educación de Gobierno de Navarra, Spain First prize in Concurso de Dibujo sobre Minusvalías Físicos de Navarra, Spain First prize in «Edutranqui-Tranqui, vive deportivamente» Gobiernode Navarra, Spain First prizein Concurso de Dibujo Carrefour, Madrid,Spain. |
| 2002 |
Second prize in «Día del árbol 2002» Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Spain First prize in Concurso «Dibuja Pamplona», Ayuntamiento de Pamplona,Spain First prizein Tarjetas navideñas «Navidad 2002», Ayuntamiento de Pamplona,Spain |
| 2001 |
First prize in «Día del árbol 2001», Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Spain Second prize I Concurso «Dibuja Pamplona», Ayuntamiento de Pamplona,Spain Third prize in Tarjetas navideñas «Navidad 2001», Ayuntamiento de Pamplona,Spain |
| Work in collections | |
| Collection Hüppi (DE), Lühling (DE), Wyszynski (DE), Kowacka (PL), Mora (ES), Alfaro (ES), Johnson (USA) | |
| Publications | |
| 2020 |
«In to through out», self-published by all exhibiting artists on the occasion of the exhibition In to through out at Spoiler, Berlin |
| 2019 | «Mart Stam Katalog», Mart Stam Stiftung |
| 2020 |
Drucksache, Tendenzen zeitgenössischer Druckgrafik, Gallerie Pankow |
| 2016 |
«Quelltext», Textem Verlag, Gerrit Gohlke (BKV Potsdam), Prof. Friederike Feldmann and Alexander Wagner Die Ver messung der Zeit», Universität Hannover |
| Press | |
| 2019 |
Art in Berlin: https://www.art-in-berlin.de Berliner Woche: https://www.berliner-woche.de |
| 2018 |
Designbote: https://designbote.com Artconnect: https://www.artconnect.com Centro Huarte: https://www.centrohuarte.es |
| 2017 |
Merkatua 948: https://www.948merkatua.com Ferm in music: https://www.ferminmusic.com |
| 2016 |
BKV Potsdam: http://www.bkv-potsdam.de Textem DE: http://www.textem.de 20 Minutos: https://www.20minutos.es La información: https://www.lainformacion.com Diario de Navarra: https://www.diariodenavarra.es |