Artist statement
A space is not just something in which things happen; space also comes into being when things happen. Space is therefore not just an architectural dimension; it describes the world in its temporality. Tenderly I seek to enter into a relationship with it and, in doing so, humanize it. Melancholy and the misuse of things are my material, as are my imagination and my own body. I intuitively invent forms to connect with the world. By playing with rules and loops, I allow myself an immediate and sentimental state, thus creating an ambivalent presence.
I encounter this space, my counterpart, in the frame of my performative work repeatedly by using abstracted painterly methods and elements from dance. For example, in the performance I Wish I Was a Dancer, which was first performed on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York, I roll across the asphalt. I flirt with the ground, I touch it—it is these generous gestures that change perception. In another work, blue, I spray blue paint into the sky. I imitate the sky, and the action remains. In the end, the blue sky is blue again.
Paulette Penje (* 1984 in Berlin) studied Sculpture and Public Art at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar, Saarbrücken, and participated in the MFA Fine Arts program at the School of Visual Arts, New York. After having completed her studies, she received a fellowship from the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. As a performance artist, Penje explores site-specific experimental art. She has developed works both for public spaces and for institutions, including projects for Mayer Pavillon, Berlin, DIEresidenz in Die, France, the Saarland Museum – Moderne Galerie, the World Cultural Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte, BETON Berlin, the Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, and Random Institute, Zurich. She is a recipient of the X-treme Women Art Prize, Berlin, and has been nominated for the 2025 Robert Schuman Art Prize.
Education
2015/2016 New York School of Visual Arts (SVA), MFA Fine Arts
2015 Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin
2012 Bahçeşehir University Istanbul, Semester abroad
2008–2014 Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saarbrücken, Sculpture / Public Art
Exhibitions solo/duo
2025 Harte Cuts zwischen zartem Blau, NIGHT SHIFT - VIDEOREIHE, Saarländische Galerie, Berlin
2024 Pas d‘espace sans heurt, DIEresidenz, Die, France
2023 *bold italic*, BETON Berlin, Project Space, Exhibition Series
2022 LA AIR, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken
2020 hw20c_#2 RADIKALE MINIMALISTEN, Alte Feuerwache Köln
2016 Toothy Room, aTP (Art Theory Project), New York City
2014 introducing :: 13, T66 Kulturwerk, Freiburg
2013 Kunst oder was?, Projektreihe Ulmungen, Kunstraum K25, Ulm
Exhibitions Group
2025 Et in Arcadia Ego, Park am Nordbahnhof, Berlin
2025 52.48042024882, 13.436669084655762, CANK, 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin
2024 FREE CITY, Mayer Pavillon, Stadtwerstatt Kreuzberg, Berlin
2024 slowness, GISELA - Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg, Berlin
2023 SaarART - AU RENDEZ-VOUS DES AMIS, Moderne Galerie des Saarlandmuseums
und Weltkulturerbe Völklingen Hütte
2019 all animals am I., Saarländische Galerie, Berlin
2019 Contenance-Haltung bei ungewissem Sprung, Kunstverein Ulm
2019 das eröffnungsfestival — 100 Jahre Bauhaus, ADK Berlin
2018 SOFT SEGMENTS, 326 Gallery, New York City
2018 IN FUTURUM/ZUKUNFTSFORMAT: STILLE, LTK4, Köln
2017 Façade Videofestival, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2017 AGORA ARTES/Wechselspiel aller Künste, ADK Berlin
2017 Offene Ateliers, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
2017 MOVE YOUR HOMELAND, Norwich, England
2016 G7/Gipfeltreffen, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin
2016 Greenpoint Open Studios, Java Studios, New York City
2016 No One Belongs Here More Than You, Random-Institute, Despacio Gallery, San Rose, Costa Rica
Performances
2023 hw23c_#4: EINSZENIERT, Alte Feuerwache Köln
2023 The Ground Of Your Heart You Can Sit On, together with Natalie Brück, in the frame of Like Burning Snow, Kanya&Kage Art Space, Berlin
2023 Performing the Other(s), together with Natalie Brück, Kunstverein Wagenhalle Stuttgart
2023 Cabaret Chouchou, Zentralwerk Dresden and Schaulust Bremen
2023 Wasser Weck & Gin im Spiel. Ballett in 2 Akten, Keine Zeit Medien, Datashock
2022 No One Belongs Here More Than You - A Performance Festival, together with Natalie Brück, Saarländische Galerie Berlin
2022 THE AIR STILL BREEZY, together with Michael von Schönberg, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken
2022 TWO, together with Natalie Brück, Hošek Contemporary, Berlin
2021 A Currently Circulating Story, BESD Temporäre Kunstprojekte in Hellersdorf/ Draußenstadt, Berlin
2021 U-Bahncameradance, 33-teilige Performance Serie, Berlin
Stipends and Grants
2024 A-i-R, DIEresidenz, Die, France
2022 Stiftung Kunstfonds, NEUSTART KULTUR-Stipendium für freiberufliche bildende Künstler:innen, 2. Auflage
2022 X-treme Women Art Prize
2021 Wettbewerb BESD Temporäre Kunstprojekte in Berlin-Hellersdorf
2021 Digital-Gutschein Bundesverband Bildender Künstler (BBK)
2017 Neue Ansichten! Kunst-Kultur-Wissenschaft, A-i-R Stipendium im Naturschutzreservat Insel Vilm, Umweltbundesamt
2016/2017 Arbeits- und Aufenthaltsstipendium, Akademie der Künste Berlin (ADK)
Artist statement
A space is not just something in which things happen; space also comes into being when things happen. Space is therefore not just an architectural dimension; it describes the world in its temporality. Tenderly I seek to enter into a relationship with it and, in doing so, humanize it. Melancholy and the misuse of things are my material, as are my imagination and my own body. I intuitively invent forms to connect with the world. By playing with rules and loops, I allow myself an immediate and sentimental state, thus creating an ambivalent presence.
I encounter this space, my counterpart, in the frame of my performative work repeatedly by using abstracted painterly methods and elements from dance. For example, in the performance I Wish I Was a Dancer, which was first performed on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York, I roll across the asphalt. I flirt with the ground, I touch it—it is these generous gestures that change perception. In another work, blue, I spray blue paint into the sky. I imitate the sky, and the action remains. In the end, the blue sky is blue again.
Paulette Penje (* 1984 in Berlin) studied Sculpture and Public Art at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar, Saarbrücken, and participated in the MFA Fine Arts program at the School of Visual Arts, New York. After having completed her studies, she received a fellowship from the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. As a performance artist, Penje explores site-specific experimental art. She has developed works both for public spaces and for institutions, including projects for Mayer Pavillon, Berlin, DIEresidenz in Die, France, the Saarland Museum – Moderne Galerie, the World Cultural Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte, BETON Berlin, the Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, and Random Institute, Zurich. She is a recipient of the X-treme Women Art Prize, Berlin, and has been nominated for the 2025 Robert Schuman Art Prize.
Education
2015/2016 New York School of Visual Arts (SVA), MFA Fine Arts
2015 Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin
2012 Bahçeşehir University Istanbul, Semester abroad
2008–2014 Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saarbrücken, Sculpture / Public Art
Exhibitions solo/duo
2025 Harte Cuts zwischen zartem Blau, NIGHT SHIFT - VIDEOREIHE, Saarländische Galerie, Berlin
2024 Pas d‘espace sans heurt, DIEresidenz, Die, France
2023 *bold italic*, BETON Berlin, Project Space, Exhibition Series
2022 LA AIR, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken
2020 hw20c_#2 RADIKALE MINIMALISTEN, Alte Feuerwache Köln
2016 Toothy Room, aTP (Art Theory Project), New York City
2014 introducing :: 13, T66 Kulturwerk, Freiburg
2013 Kunst oder was?, Projektreihe Ulmungen, Kunstraum K25, Ulm
Exhibitions Group
2025 Et in Arcadia Ego, Park am Nordbahnhof, Berlin
2025 52.48042024882, 13.436669084655762, CANK, 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin
2024 FREE CITY, Mayer Pavillon, Stadtwerstatt Kreuzberg, Berlin
2024 slowness, GISELA - Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg, Berlin
2023 SaarART - AU RENDEZ-VOUS DES AMIS, Moderne Galerie des Saarlandmuseums
und Weltkulturerbe Völklingen Hütte
2019 all animals am I., Saarländische Galerie, Berlin
2019 Contenance-Haltung bei ungewissem Sprung, Kunstverein Ulm
2019 das eröffnungsfestival — 100 Jahre Bauhaus, ADK Berlin
2018 SOFT SEGMENTS, 326 Gallery, New York City
2018 IN FUTURUM/ZUKUNFTSFORMAT: STILLE, LTK4, Köln
2017 Façade Videofestival, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2017 AGORA ARTES/Wechselspiel aller Künste, ADK Berlin
2017 Offene Ateliers, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
2017 MOVE YOUR HOMELAND, Norwich, England
2016 G7/Gipfeltreffen, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin
2016 Greenpoint Open Studios, Java Studios, New York City
2016 No One Belongs Here More Than You, Random-Institute, Despacio Gallery, San Rose, Costa Rica
Performances
2023 hw23c_#4: EINSZENIERT, Alte Feuerwache Köln
2023 The Ground Of Your Heart You Can Sit On, together with Natalie Brück, in the frame of Like Burning Snow, Kanya&Kage Art Space, Berlin
2023 Performing the Other(s), together with Natalie Brück, Kunstverein Wagenhalle Stuttgart
2023 Cabaret Chouchou, Zentralwerk Dresden and Schaulust Bremen
2023 Wasser Weck & Gin im Spiel. Ballett in 2 Akten, Keine Zeit Medien, Datashock
2022 No One Belongs Here More Than You - A Performance Festival, together with Natalie Brück, Saarländische Galerie Berlin
2022 THE AIR STILL BREEZY, together with Michael von Schönberg, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken
2022 TWO, together with Natalie Brück, Hošek Contemporary, Berlin
2021 A Currently Circulating Story, BESD Temporäre Kunstprojekte in Hellersdorf/ Draußenstadt, Berlin
2021 U-Bahncameradance, 33-teilige Performance Serie, Berlin
Stipends and Grants
2024 A-i-R, DIEresidenz, Die, France
2022 Stiftung Kunstfonds, NEUSTART KULTUR-Stipendium für freiberufliche bildende Künstler:innen, 2. Auflage
2022 X-treme Women Art Prize
2021 Wettbewerb BESD Temporäre Kunstprojekte in Berlin-Hellersdorf
2021 Digital-Gutschein Bundesverband Bildender Künstler (BBK)
2017 Neue Ansichten! Kunst-Kultur-Wissenschaft, A-i-R Stipendium im Naturschutzreservat Insel Vilm, Umweltbundesamt
2016/2017 Arbeits- und Aufenthaltsstipendium, Akademie der Künste Berlin (ADK)