b. 1987
Photo: Nora Heinisch
Julian Charrière (b. 1987, Morges, Switzerland) is a French-Swiss artist based in Berlin, Germany, whose work bridges the realms of environmental science and cultural history. Known for his conceptual, research-based practice, Charrière’s works incorporate techniques and knowledge from scientific disciplines including geology, biology, physics, and archaeology. In his photographs, sculptures, videos, and installations, materials from nature are transformed via technology, intertwining natural history with the history of human development. Charrière frequently travels to some of the most remote regions of the planet, including Antarctica and the radioactive Bikini Atoll, to explore and record the indelible traces human civilization leaves upon the natural world.
Charrière has exhibited his work – both individually and as a part of the Berlin-based art collective Das Numen – at museums and institutions worldwide, including Museum Tinguely, Switzerland; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; MAMbo- Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Italy; MASI Lugano, Switzerland; the Parasol Unit Foundation for Art, London; the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Switzerland; the Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Thyssen-Bornemizsa Art Contemporary, Vienna; the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; the Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland; the K11 Foundation, Shanghai; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, among others. His work has been featured in the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India; the 12th Biennale de Lyon, France; the 13th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice; the 57th Venice Biennale, Venice; the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art, Canada; and the 14 Bienal de Artes Mediales de Santiago, Chile. From 2011-2013, Charrière was a student at the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institute for Spatial Experiments), led by Olafur Eliasson. In 2013 and 2015, Charrière was awarded the Kiefer Hablitzel Award / Swiss Art Award, and in 2018 was the recipient of the GASAG Art Prize. Most recently in 2024, Charrière was awarded the Inaugural Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Charrière currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
