Nina Rieben
A thought on a paper
rolled to a cigarette
an incoming call
on a smartphone in flight mode
a lovesong shazamed
in the supermarket
a question, a doubt
written with my finger on a wrist
One might imagine Nina Rieben (*1992, CH) as a director of photography or stage designer who has momentarily stepped away from the set of an auteur film. Her practice unfolds through installations, sculptures, photographs, poems and performances. She is interested in situations, objects and questions that appear simple at first glance, yet reveal themselves upon reflection to be complex, philosophical, if not ultimately irresolvable. Her work is characterised by the combination of opposing elements, both formally and conceptually. A subject may become an author; large-scale dimensions only acquire meaning through minute details; cool or neutral tones are enhanced by subtle touches of colour; the manufactured object only functions within a raw assemblage or ready-made context; the “you” cannot exist without the “I”.
Within her rich body of work lies an undeniable performative, if not cinematic, potential. Her interventions unfold through successive layers of reading. First comes the encounter with an artwork or an almost monochrome, seemingly empty room, along with the questions such an encounter provokes. If this place could speak, what story would it choose to tell us? Whether novice or experienced, the viewer naturally searches for clues from which to begin their reflection. A few words displayed on the luminous surface of an abandoned telephone are probably a hint. At times, a hole punctured through a surface becomes open to multiple interpretations. A discarded shoe or garment may illuminate our understanding or, on the contrary, raise further questions. It is up to the viewer to set their own thoughts in motion. The artist merely plants seeds. Whether the mystery is resolved or not, contemplation follows of its own accord. People have always enjoyed watching the moon slowly move across the sky. The same is true when observing Nina’s moon upon a softly illuminated screen. A word appears upon an object. One wonders whether the protagonist of the scene was alone, through which emotional states they passed, and whether the outcome was happy or fatal. What remains certain is that the moment was romantic.
If a film scene or a freeze-frame can possess poetic potential, so too can the nature of Nina’s works themselves. A phrase without temporal anchoring appears on a scrap of paper. The mind imagines what might have been written before it. The sentence bears no full stop. There is, logically, an open continuation to this unfinished verse. At times, the text itself—or even a single visible word—becomes the title of the work. The titles are as carefully crafted as the works themselves. Possibilities remain multiple. When a title contains words such as “signature” or “ghost”, one is entitled to wonder who authored it, or to whom it was addressed. Poetry no longer always requires words. A black photograph several metres wide burns at its centre with a small orange flame only a few centimetres tall. Two slices of toast rest upon a standardised table, one of them bearing the trace of a bite. A found lamp carries a lampshade whose floral pattern gradually transforms into sad faces. The artist sprinkles each gesture with a carefully measured pinch of romanticism. The result then speaks for itself.
There is an evident dexterity in the making of the work. This manifests itself through the technical sophistication of certain pieces. A modified pair of high heels suspends a miniature bedspread. A softly illuminated cabinet mirror highlights a word traced by hand upon a glass surface. A swift gesture, a more complex process. Nina skilfully plays with this apparent simplicity. A tension emerges between the technical and sensory fragments that she isolates and subsequently assembles. Her obsession with detail encourages a heightened mode of observation. Her work speaks of the time we no longer take, in a society that is too busy and hurried, to notice the beauty of the outline of a flower stuck beneath a sole, or of a light blinking at random.
There is an autonomy within the artist’s work: in the interpretative potential of her pieces, in the fragments of text she leaves behind like small pebbles of clues to her state of mind. Or perhaps they are questions about our own state of mind, or that of society itself. Nina Rieben’s universe resembles the final panel of a storyboard. One last riddle to solve in the solitary quest of a role-playing game. An almost empty room, a table, a fading lightbox, a crackling orange neon tube, an abandoned shoe beneath whose sole one might read the words “you were right”. So many traces of passage without bodies, yet filled with mystery. The actors have left the set, the audience has gone home, and the director has withdrawn to her dressing room with her existential questions.
Awards & Public Art
2025
Canton of Bern Travel Grant, CH
2024
Swiss Art Award (nomination)
2023
Lost & Found, Bildungscampus Burgdorf, Canton of Bern, CH (competition winner)
Vordemberge-Gildewart Grant (nomination)
2019
Aeschlimann-Corti Grant
Solo/Duo Exhibitions
2025
Monday’s Ghost, Wallstreet, Fribourg, CH
2024
Routine Dreams, Espace Libre, Bieler Fototage, Biel/Bienne, CH
average poems sound best at midnight, Kaiserwache, Freiburg i.B., DE
2022
Nina Rieben, Lokal-int, Biel/Bienne, CH
Miss you, written with a finger on a wrist, Parallels, CAN, Neuchâtel, CH
2020
neither the either, nor the or, are places to be, Palazzina, Basel, CH (w. Brigham Baker)
2019
oder stimmt etwas nicht mit dem Gefühl, Stadtgalerie, Bern, CH
2018
Der Morgen, das Versagen der Nacht, Grand Palais, Bern, CH
(…), Sattelkammer, Bern, CH (as Rieben/Grubenmann)
2017
Nina Rieben, Kabinett, Freiburg i.B., DE
2016
Paradoxe Intention, Links, Duflon/Racz Gallery, Bern, CH (as Rieben/Grubenmann)
2014
Mögliche Reaktion, Cabane B., Bern, CH (as Rieben/Grubenmann)
Group Exhibitions
2026
FestaRita, Rita, Turbigo, IT
DivergenX, Ressources Urbaines, Geneva, CH
Does It Ring A Bell?, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Stitches, Villa Bernasconi, Geneva, CH
2025
SWAB Art Fair, Le Labo, Barcelona, ES
Olin Rough, Musée jurassien des Arts, Moutier, CH
Spielact, Le Commun, Geneva, CH
Aeschlimann-Corti Stipendium, Kunsthaus, Biel/Bienne, CH
Zimmer 3.6, Suvatne & Eraković, Basel, CH
Deadend 8, Basel, CH
Jahresgaben, InfoSpace, Basel, CH
2024
Instant Rumor, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, CH
Lovesongs for plants, Espace Labo, Geneva, CH
Summer Group Show 2024, 18, Murata, Tokyo, JP
Swiss Art Awards, Basel, CH
2023
Treasure, Kunsthaus L6, Freiburg i.B., DE
Im Angesicht der Dämmerung, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, CH
Mumbles Slide Along The Sleeve, Krone/Couronne, Biel/Bienne, CH
El Gran Grito, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, CH
12 Rooms, Vordemberge-Gildewart Stipendium, Kunstmuseum, Appenzell, CH
Lampenshow Fantastique, Binz Areal, Zurich, CH
2022
We are so many here, Regionale, Kunsthalle, Basel, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, Kunsthalle, Bern, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, Kunsthaus, Langenthal, CH
Fedora, Fedora, Basel, CH
Archaeological Extravaganza, Kunsthaus, Steffisburg,
CH
Displays of affection, The off space, Zurich, CH
2021
Cantonale Berne Jura, Kunsthalle, Bern, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, Kunstmuseum, Thun, CH
Fake quotes and sitting ducks, mal:mal, Bern, CH
Aeschlimann-Corti Stipendium, Kunsthaus, Biel/Bienne, CH
2020
FOR, Milieu, Bern, CH
RÉUNION, Kunsthalle Tropical, Amapala, HN
Regionale 21, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, Kunsthaus, Langenthal, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, Centre Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, CH
2019
Aeschlimann-Corti Stipendium, Kunstmuseum, Thun, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, EAC Les Halles, Porrentruy, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, Musée jurassien des Arts, Moutier, CH
2018
Stimmen der Zimmer, Museum Langmatt, Baden, CH
near, far (performance), Palace, St. Gallen, CH (as Rieben/Grubenmann)
near, far (performance), Kulturfabrik, Burgdorf, CH (as Rieben/Grubenmann)
near, far (drinking performance), Kunsthalle, Bern, CH (as Rieben/Grubenmann)
Cantonale Berne Jura, Centre Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, CH
2017
Open House, Stadtgalerie, Bern, CH
Artist‘s Shoes, Smallville-Space, Neuchâtel, CH
Now on Show, Erlacherhof, Art Stadt, Bern, CH
Les jours des éphémères, S11, Solothurn, CH
2016
Cantonale Berne Jura, Stadtgalerie, Bern, CH
Cantonale Berne Jura, Musée jurassien des Arts, Moutier, CH
Ist Dada da??, Löscher, Bern, CH
Post Warm Positiv, Kunsthaus, Langenthal, CH
Sisyphus Sends His Regards, Kunsthalle, Lucerne, CH
2015
Art Container, Thun, CH
It – White, Kulturesk, Bern, CH
Collections
2025
Bilder in die Schulen!, Basel, CH
2024
City of Bern, CH
Bilder in die Schulen!, Basel, CH
2022
Canton of Bern, CH
2021
Canton of Bern, CH
2020
Canton of Bern, CH
2019
Collection Carola and Günther Ketterer-Ertle, Bern, CH
2016
Collection Academy of the Arts, Bern, CH
Publications
2026
Stitches, Art Viewer
2025
Parallels, Mousse Publishing, Milan, IT
Monday’s Ghost, KubaParis
2024
average poems sound best at midnight, KubaParis
Instant Rumor, Art Viewer
Instant Rumor, émergent magazine
Instant Rumor, KubaParis
2022
Nina Rieben, Contemporary Art Library
Parallels, KubaParis
2020
neither the either, nor the or, are places to be, KubaParis
2019
Grand Palais A-Z, Ein ABC der Offkultur, Petit Palais, Bern, CH
SICHTEN, Stadtgalerie 2015-2019, Haus am Gern Editions, Biel/Bienne, CH
2016
Nina Rieben: Würde Dichtung schon realisieren, Bern, CH
Into Your Solar Plexus, Humboldt, Milan, IT
2014
Schöne neue Welt, Lasso Magazin, Basel, CH
So nicht, Fin Magazin, Bern, CH
Education
2021–23
MFA, Institute Art Gender Nature, Basel Academy of Art and Design, FHNW, Basel, CH
2013–16
BFA, Bern Academy of the Arts (HGK), Bern, CH
2011–12
Foundation Course in Design, School of Design Bern and Biel (SfG), Biel/Bienne, CH