Education

2007 – 2009
MFA in New Genres, University of California Los Angeles

2002 – 2006
BFA in Sculpture, University of Iowa

Residencies

2011/2012
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten/​Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

2010
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023
Olga Balema: The Third Dimension, Bridget Donahue, New York
Loon, Hannah Hofmann, Los Angeles
Olga Balema, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam

2022
Formulas, Croy Nielsen, Vienna

2021
Computer, Camden Arts Centre, London 

2019
brain damage, Bridget Donahue, New York

2017
None of the beauty of the landscape can reach her pupils anymore, High Art, Paris
On The Brink Of My Sexy Apocalypse, Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles

2016
Early Man, Swiss Institute, New York
Motherland, Fons Welters, Amsterdam
Blasted Heath, Capri, Düsseldorf

2015
One reenters the garden by becoming a vegetable, Kunstverein Nürnberg, Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, Nürnberg
Cannibals, Croy Nielsen, Berlin
Olga Balema & Anne De Vries: Listening, Michael Thibault, Los Angeles

2014
Her Curves, High Art, Paris
Warm Bodies (with Jonathan Baldock), Kunstvereiniging Diepenheim, Diepenheim

2013
Body of Work, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam
What Enters, 1646, Den Haag

2011
Positive thinking: Actions speak louder then words, The Vanity, Los Angeles

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
This might be it, Galerie Hussenot, Paris (upcoming)
Medardo Rosso, MUMOK, Vienna (upcoming)
KölnSkulptur #11, Sculpture Park Cologne
DIETRICH (curated by Anne Pontégnie), Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich
Vertices (duo with Anne Tallentire), The Mill, Lismore Castle Arts, Waterford 
Classical period (curated by Dora Budor), Woonhuis, Amsterdam
True Colors, Trautwein Herleth, Berlin
Two To Tango (3), Sperling, Munich

2023
Irradiation, What Pipeline, Detroit 
Not Either Or, But And, Das Weisse Haus, Vienna
Looking Back / The 13^th White Columns Annual, White Columns, New York

2022
Olga Balema, Geta Brătescu, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin
Insolvency, my friend, curated by Nicholas Tammens, Charim, Vienna
Catechism, Bridget Donahue, New York
Manhattan, Claude Balls, New York
Olga Balema & Win McCarthy, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam

2021
It’s Just A Phase, curated by Rhea Dall and Ingar Dragset, Trondheim
Itinerarios XXVII, Centro Botín, Santander, Spain

2020
Around the Day in Eight Worlds. A Decentered Gaze on the CAPC Collection, CAPC Bordeaux
Körper. Blicke. Macht, Kunsthalle Baden, Baden
Aria Dean, Helen Marten, Kelley Walker, Olga Balema, Raque Ford, Greene Naftali, New York

2019
YOU – Works from the Lafayette Anticipations Collection, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
Maskulinitäten, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
A House Is Not A Home, Fri Art, Kunsthalle Fribourg, Switzerland
Whitney Biennal 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

2018
Oh that I had a thousand tongues, Tinos Quarry Platform, Tinos
Paulo Cunha E Silva Art Prize, Galeria Municipal Do Porto
Give up the Ghost, Baltic Triennale, BTXIII CAC, Vilnius, Tallinn Art Hall, Kim?, Riga
Blind Faith: Between the Visceral and the Cognitive in Contemporary Art, Haus der Kunst, Munich 
Converter, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen

2017
Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel
PRODUKTION. made in germany drei, Kunstverein Hannover, Sprengelmuseum, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover
Ewig Weibliche, Koppe Astner, Glasgow
Olga Balema, Marlie Mul, Iza Tarasewicz, Croy Nielsen, Vienna
Hours and Hours of Inactivity, n.b.k, Berlin

2016
Object(ed): Shaping Sculpture in Contemporary Art, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Utah
30: Untitled 1989, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam
Brachland, PEACH at W139, Amsterdam
I Want To Live in the Country (and Other Romances), Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
Adhesive Products, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen
Wer Nicht Denken Will, Fliegt Raus: Handlungsanweisungen nach Beuys, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Kleve
I Am Still Alive – On the Materialities of Life, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Pastoral Myths, La Loge, Brussels

2015
By the Bearer in whose Name it it Issued, Center for Style, Melbourne
Stranger than paradise, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf
Where The Awing Flaps, Éric Hussenot, Paris
Campana I, Luis Campana, Berlin
Function Follows Vision, Vision Follows Reality, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Surround Audience, Triennial, New Museum, New York
City, William Arnold, Brooklyn
Towers of Dub (Live Orbient 3.9.93), Thomas Duncan Gallery, Los Angeles

2014
Musique Concrète, Michael Thibault, Los Angeles
Doom: Surface Control, Le Magasin Grenoble – CNAC, Grenoble
Puddle, pothole, portal, Sculpture Center, New York
Dylan’s lost it – maybe, Croy Nielsen, Berlin
New Dawn, Silberkuppe, Berlin
From whose ground heaven and hell compare, Croy Nielsen, Berlin
Nature after Nature, Fridericianum, Kassel
Geographies of Contamination, David Roberts Art Foundation, London
Material Memory, Fluxia, Milan
Apples and Pears, DREI, Cologne

2013
Urschleim, Fauna, Copenhagen
♥, High Art, Paris
The Unpainted Landscape, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles
Slip, The Approach, London
Unstable Media, Gallery Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam
Cast Recording, Prism, Los Angeles

2012
RijksakademieOPEN, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam
Latent Stare, Casco, Utrecht
Closed because of the goings-on, Duquon Hourdequin, Paris

2011
RijksakademieOPEN, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam

2010
Support Group, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles
Dr. Zomb, Glendale College, Los Angeles

2009
MFA Thesis Show, UCLA, Los Angeles
May Show, Los Angeles

2008
GLAMFA, CSULB, Long Beach
Kleveland, Bonelli Contemporary, Los Angeles
Delusionarium, Bonelli Contemporary, Los Angeles

Publications

2017
Hours and Hours of Inactivity, edited by Marius Babias, Text by Ann Cotten, Rhea Dall und Michaela Richter, Catalogue, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, published by Verlag Walther König, Berlin
Produktion. Made in Germany Drei, Text by Tenzing Barshee, Nikola Dietrich, Timo Feldhaus, Jana Franze, Stefan Gronert, Hans-Jürgen Hafner, Lisa Mattheis, Dominikus Müller, Carina Plath, Kathleen Rahn, Gabriele Sand, Elmas Senol, Noemi Smolik, Maik Schlüter, Ute Stuffer, Milan Ther, Kristina Thieke, Christina Végh, Catalogue, Kestner Gesellschaft, Kunstverein hannover, Sprengel Museum, Snoeck

2015
New Museum 2015 Triennial: Surround Audience, Text by Lauren Cornell and Ryan Trecartin a.o., Catalogue, New Museum and Rizzoli, New York

2014
Puddle, Pothole, Portal, Text by Katrib, R, Papapetros, S, Daney, S, Henrot, C, Sculpture Center, New York

Selected Press

2023
Schwendener, Martha, ​“What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries in December “, The New York Times, December
Simonini, Ross, ​“Olga Balema: There is No Outside of Language”, ArtReview, February

2019
Mohebbi, Sohrab, ​“Best of 2019”, Artforum, December
Brown, Laura, ​“Olga Balema, ​‘brain damage’ ”, Flash Art, September/​October, p. 108–109
Dayal, Mira, ​“Olga Balema’s Rubber Band Works Show How Less Can Be More”, Artforum, September
Farley, Amelia, ​“Olga Balema: brain damage”, The Brooklyn Rail, July
Speed, Mitch, ​“Wire and Strings: Olga Balema’s Sinewy Abjection”, Momus, July
​“Olga Balema at Bridget Donahue”, Contemporary Art Writing Daily, July
Schwendener, Martha, ​“Olga Balema”, The New York Times, July
C. Rhinehart, ​“New York – Olga Balema: ​‘Brain Damage’ at Bridget Donahue Through July 6^th, 2019”, Art Observed, July
​“2019 Whitney Biennial Announces Participating Artists”, Artforum, February

2018
Brown, Kate, ​“Can a Mega-exhibition Change the Way You Think? The Baltic Triennial Is Going to Try”, artnet News, May

2017
Rosemeyer, Aoife, ​“Ungestalt”, ArtReview, October
Griffin, Jonathan, ​“Olga Balema”, Frieze, April, issue 186
Sutton, Kate, ​“Olga Balema, Marlie Mul, Iza Tarasewicz”, Frieze, February

2016
van den Boogerd, Dominic, ​“Olga Balema”, ArtReview, September
de Coninck, Frits, ​“Onappetijtelijk en raadselachtig”, Museumtijdschrift

2015
Sharp, Chris, ​“Hot!”, Cura., Autumn, No. 20
Edmonson, Tess. ​“Olga Balema”, Frieze, February,issue 176
Wilk, Elvia, ​“Olga Balema. Zwischen den Körpern”, Frieze, May, no. 19
Latimer, Quinn, ​“Olga Balema”, Artforum, April 
Diehl, Travis, ​“Olga Balema & Anne de Vries”, Artforum critic picks, April
Cotter, Holland, ​“New Museum Triennial Casts a Wary Eye on the Future”, New York Times, February

2014
Schwarze, Dirk, ​“Nature after Nature”, Kunstforum # 228, August/​September
​“Meet artist Olga Balema”, Kaleidoscope # 20, Winter
Johnson, Ken, ​“Puddle, Pothole or Portal” at Sculpture Center in Queens, New York Times, October
Frank, Priscilla, ​“Puddle, Pothole or Portal’ brings Animation’s Absurdity to the Art World”, Huffington Post, October