EVA & ADELE, AUTOPOLAROID, 2.3.2003, Paris © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
When EVA & ADELE declare ‘WHEREVER WE ARE IS MUSEUM’, they embody this statement by turning their presence into a total work of art: every place becomes an exhibition space, every moment a performance.
EVA & ADELE, L’AMOUR DU RISQUE, ME Collectors Room, Berlin 2018 © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
EVA & ADELE, YOU ARE MY BIGGEST INSPIRATION, in the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
Refusing to limit themselves to institutional frameworks or defined moments, this Berlin-based artist couple abolish the boundaries between art and life: they turn their entire existence into an ever-evolving creation, where every gesture, every movement, every image produced forms part of a continuous narrative. This fusion of lived experience and performance finds a particular echo in their marriage, first celebrated as a performance before becoming a legal reality, a gesture in which fiction precedes and shapes reality, illustrating their ability to reinvent norms and turn imagination into a creative force.
EVA & ADELE, POLAROID DIARY, 1991-2005, digital print, 105 x 1520 cm © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
EVA & ADELE as honorees at the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Gala in New York, 2018 © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
EVA & ADELE, L’AMOUR DU RISQUE, ME Collectors Room, Berlin 2018 © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
EVA & ADELE, L’AMOUR DU RISQUE, ME Collectors Room, Berlin 2018 © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
Their twin-ness, carefully constructed and documented in their photographic self-portraits, feeds this ambiguity: presenting themselves as a single entity embodied in two bodies, they erase notions of individuality and duality to propose a fascinating unity. EVA & ADELE dress in identical outfits, synchronising their movements and adopting coordinated postures, reinforcing the impression of a perfect symbiosis. By playing on the contrast between their shaven heads – which evoke both the innocence of a baby and the baldness associated with masculinity – and their exuberant outfits, which amplify a codified femininity, they embody a total hybridity that transcends the boundaries of gender. Eva’s gender transition enriches this approach by inscribing their reflections in a broader conception of the body as a space for metamorphosis and creation, beyond even artistic frameworks. In this way, they offer a contemporary re-reading of Plato’s myth of the androgyne, where unity is not the product of a lost ideal, but of a construction achieved through artifice and performance.
EVA & ADELE, TRANSFORMER – PERFORMER, SCHWANZMÄDCHEN, 2005, mixed media on canvas, artist framed, 158 x 208 cm © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
EVA & ADELE, GOLDENES MANIFEST (GOLDEN MANIFEST), 1997, oil on gilded wood, in 12 parts, © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
EVA & ADELE claim to have come from the future and to have met when the Berlin Wall came down, a historic moment full of ruptures and transformations that marked the beginning of their artistic and personal union. This founding narrative is developed in a series of double self-portraits, produced in photography, drawing or painting, which intensify the tension between reality and artifice. Through these works, they question the mechanisms by which images are made, while at the same time propagating their omnipresent smile, a symbol of their unity and a universal gesture of connection and benevolence. This carefully orchestrated smile goes beyond the realms of art to foster collective reflection, linking their artistic and human approach in a spirit of positivity.
EVA & ADELE, YOU ARE MY BIGGEST INSPIRATION in the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
EVA & ADELE, YOU ARE MY BIGGEST INSPIRATION in the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris © EVA & ADELE – VG Bildkunst, Bonn
No categories, no limits: in their quest for continuous transformation, EVA & ADELE abolish binarities – between reality and fiction, masculine and feminine, past and future, private and public, art and life – while reaffirming the power of the imagination. Their approach is part of what they call ‘FUTURING’, a vision in which the future is not a distant horizon, but a space to be inhabited right now. Through this stance, they transform each moment into a site of projection, where oppositions are erased to make way for continuities and metamorphoses. Their lively, total art approach goes beyond the criticism of norms to offer up an infinite field of possibilities, where every border becomes a terrain to be reinvented, and every gesture an invitation to rethink the world.