Born 1972, The Netherlands
Lives and works in Amsterdam (NL)
Gabriel Lester Amsterdam (1972) is a visual artist and filmmaker. His works consist of spatial installations, video installations, sculptures, performances and short films. Other activities include commissioned art in public space, design for physical structures, mentoring and teaching. Lester’s practice has always been international, with many art residencies, group and solo exhibitions, gallery representations in Europe, North America and Asia, and participation in over twenty large scale international avant-garde exhibitions, such as the Documenta in Kassel and the biennale of Venice, Sao Paulo and Sydney.
Lester’s creations originate from a desire to tell stories and establish contexts and settings that support these stories or propose their own narrative interpretation. His vocabulary is characterized as cinematographic, without necessarily employing film or video as a medium. However, like moviemaking, Lester’s practice has come to embrace and utilize all imaginable media and talent. With emphasis on human existence and experience, his projects aim to sharpen and flex the mind. Open ended, sustaining mystery and without obvious dogma or singular ideas, Lester proposes ways to relate to the world, how it is represented and what mechanisms and components constitute our perception and understanding of it.
Exhibitions include: Boijmans Van Beuningen, NL, 2011, Kunstmuseum, NL, 2002, multiple biennials/triennials
Education
2012 Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, JP
2005-2006 ISCP, New York, USA
2005 New York Film Academy (Film Directing course), New York, USA
2003-2004 IASPIS, Stockholm, SE
1999-2000 Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunst, Amsterdam, NL
1995-1996 St. Lucas Academie, Brussels, BE (Film Department)
1994-1995 St. Joost, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Breda, NL
Solo exhibitions
2023
‘You have to dig it to dig it, you dig?’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam
2020
‘Holes in the Sky’, Machinery of Me, Arnhem, NL
2018
‘Shake a Face’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
2017
‘The Return of Lester’s Loops’, Groninger Museum, Groningen, NL
‘If you happen to be’, Ryan Lee Gallery, New York, USA
‘How to Act’, Frans Hals Museum – De Hallen Haarlem, NL
2016
‘The Nine Day Week’, CAC Vilnius, LT
‘Unresolved’, de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam, NL
2015
‘Forced Perspective – Encounter of Kinds’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Cleromancy’, Ryan Lee Gallery, New York, USA
2014
‘Follies’, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, DE
‘Habitat Sequences’, El Museo De Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, AR
‘Blank Stare’, The Gus Fischer Gallery, Auckland, AU
‘The Silent Trilogy’, Stiftelsen 3’14, Bergen, NO
‘The Ears have Walls’, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai, CN
2013
‘The Secret Life of Cities’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Highlights and Chance Encounters’, Tetem Kunstruimte, Enschede, NL
2012
‘Roxy’, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, CN
‘The Future that Was (curated by Gabriel Lester)’, Smart Project Space icw Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMk), Amsterdam, NL
2011
‘It is no great wonder if in the long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Suspension of Disbelief’, Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
2010
‘Dilzis’, Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul, TR
2009
‘ProMotion’, Z33, Hasselt, BE
2008
‘One Man Band II’, Kiosk, Gent, BE
‘The Last Smoking Flight’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘A Man of Action’, Duvekleemann, Berlin, DE
2007
‘And Now for Something Completely Different’, IBID Projects, London, UK
‘The Last Piece of John Fare’, GB Agency, Paris, FR
‘BIG BANG- and assorted minor explosions’, Bloomberg Space, London, UK
2006
‘SEEN’, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, SE
‘4×4 Hands’, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, JP
2005
‘Opa’, Guadalajara, MX
‘A.B.C. Behind the Scenes’, Glucksman Gallery, Cork, IR
‘Chiaroscuro’, Natalia Goldin Gallery, Stockholm, SE
2004
‘Highlight (plan B)’, NICC, PSK, Brussels, BE
‘Beautiful Gamble’, IASPIS, Stockholm, SE
2003
‘The Clock and the Clockwork’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Break North’, Fries Museum, Bureau Leeuwarden, NL
2002
‘ShutterSpeedTrial’, Hortus Tunnel, Amsterdam, NL
‘News Twister’, The Looking Glass, Brussels, BE
‘The Gift of Gab (Curator: Vasif Kortun)’, Platform, Istanbul, TR
‘Cut to the Chase’, Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, NL
2001
Art Statements (Galerie Fons Welters, Art Basel 32), Basel, CH
‘Branching’, Lokaal 01, Breda, NL
‘Attic’, Centre d’Art Neuchatel, CH
2000
‘Choreography’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Act Again’, Marres, Maastricht, NL
1999
‘Mala Loka’, Ljubljana, SI
Group exhibitions
2021
Quebec City Biennial, Quebec, CA
2020
‘We Never Sleep’, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, DE
2019
‘Amsterdam Light Festival’, Amsterdam, NL
‘Amsterdam Collected’, Capital C, Amsterdam, NL
‘MOMENTUM 10: The Emotional Exhibition (Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art)’, Moss- Norway, NO
‘5th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art’, Ekaterinburg, Russia
‘Chapter-One’, het HEM, Zaandam, NL
‘Healing Light’, LUMC, Leiden, NL
‘Weg en Water’, BPD, Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam, NL
2018
‘Verlicht MIJ – Nachtlandschappen’, Museum IJsselstein, IJsselstein, NL
‘LekArt Festival’, Culemborg, NL
‘Paysage – Fiction, acces)s( festical’, Pau, FR
‘Busan Biennial’, Busan, KR
‘Paysage – Fiction’, Le Tetris, Le Havre, FR
‘Bambaataa’, De Beeldengalerij, Den Haag, NL
‘Sculpture in the City’, City of London, London, UK
‘Another Dimension_’, Nest, Den Haag, NL
2017
‘Radicale Sociale Animale’, Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, NL
‘Salon Hang’, Kunstverein, Amsterdam, NL
2016
‘Kochi-Muziris Biennale’, Kochi, IN
‘Heaven, Hell & Earth’, Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch, NL
‘Aura Utrecht’, PolyLester (Gabriel Lester & Martine Vledder), Public Works, Utrecht,Central Station, NL
‘Nuit Blanche Monaco’, MC
2015
‘Lekker licht’, Centraal Museum Utrecht, NL
‘6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art’, Pavilion No.1 of VDNKh, Moscow, RU
‘Salt water, 14th Istanbul Biennial’, Istanbul, TR
‘Lustwarande 15: Rapture and Pain’, International Sculpture Exhibition, Park De Oude Warande, Tilburg, NL
‘When I Give, I Give Myself’, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, NL
‘The School of Nature and Principle’, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Project Space, New York, USA
2014
‘(In)constancy of Space’, Ring Gallery, Zagreb, HR
‘The Part In The Story Where A Part Becomes A Part Of Something Else’, Witte de With, Rotterdam, NL
‘Folkestone Triennial’, Folkestone, UK
’19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire’, Sydney, AU
‘The Promise’, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Zomeren op de buitenplaats, Buitenplaats Beeckestijn, Velsen Zuid, NL
‘Playtime’, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
‘Moderations’, Witte de With, Rotterdam, NL
‘The crime was almost perfect’, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL
‘5th Marrakech Biennial’, Marrakech, MA
‘CAFAM Biennale:The Invisible Hand: Curating as Gesture’, CAFA Art Museum, Beijng, CN
2013
‘Suspicious Minds’, Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo, BR
‘Performa 13’, New Visual Art Performance Biennial, New York, USA
‘The Garden of Diversion, Inaugural exhibition’, Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, CN
‘oO’, Lithuanian Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, IT
‘Call of the Mall’, Utrecht, NL
‘The 7th Momentum Biennial’, NO
‘Present Presence’, Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, NL
‘Shanghai Surprise: Contemporary Art in Shanghai since 2000’, Curated by Leo Xu and Azure Wu, chi K11 Art Space, Shanghai, CN
‘Sharjah Biennial 11: Towards a New Cultural Cartography’, Sharjah, UAE
‘Ed Ruscha, books & co’, Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
‘Bourgeois Leftovers’, De Appel, Amsterdam, NL
2012
‘Jardin de Esculturas’, NuMu – El Nuevo Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Guatemala, GT
‘NARRACJE Festival, “Art thou gone, beloved ghost?”‘, Gdańsk, PL
‘BETER, de kunst van gezondheid (BETER, the art of healing)’, research exhibition, Haaglanden Medical Centre, The Hague, NL
‘dOCUMENTA (13)’, Kassel, DE
‘Blind Cut’, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, USA
2011
‘Sweet dreams (are made of this)’, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai, CN
‘Television Commune’, Nam June Paik Art Center, Sanggal-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, GyeongGi-do, KR
‘Tijdelijk Verblijf’, Kasteel Oud-Rekem, BE
‘Walk Through’, MUDAM, LU
‘De stad 3D, Historie, Street art en Toekomstvisies’, Museum Hilversum, NL
‘De stad en haar collectie’, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL
‘Secret Societies’, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, DE
‘Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin: I am not a studio artist’, SALT Beyoglu, Istanbul, TR
2010
‘De Nederlandse identiteit?’, Museum de Paviljoens, Almere, NL
‘Parkplatz’, Lokaal 01, Breda, NL
‘ShadowDance’, Kunsthal KadE, Amersfoort, NL
‘”Not Our Cup of Tea” – a variety show traveling down memory lane commissioned by Capacete’, Sao Paulo biennial, i.c.w. Raimundas Malasauskas, Sao Paulo, BR
‘Les Rendez-vous du Forum: Repetition Island (Curated by Raimundas Malasauskas)’, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
‘B-sides and Rarities’, Extra city (i.c.w. Lokaal 01), Antwerp, BE
‘Sound Design for Future Films’, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, USA
‘A Map Bigger Than Its Territory Valand Fine Arts’, Gothenburg, SE
‘Performa/The Prompt TransArt’, Bolzano, IT
‘Clifford Irving Show Objectif Exhibitions’, Antwerp, BE
2009
‘The Prompt’ Performa 09 Biennial, New York, USA
‘Group Show’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘The Filmic Conventions’, ZOO, London, UK
‘Discovering Slowness’, CEAC, Xiamen, CN
‘B-sides and Rarities’, Lokaal 01, Breda, NL
‘Clifford Irving Show (One-night-only)’, Kadist Art Foundation, New York, USA
‘Videoclub Avril, Paris, FR
‘The Secret of the Ninth Planet’, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, USA
‘Lapses, FriArt’, Centre d’Art Contemporaine, Fribourg, CH
‘Real vague’, Bétonsalon, Paris, FR
Slow Movement or: Half and Whole, Kunsthalle Bern, CH
Paper Exhibition, Artists Space, New York, USA
2008
‘In het duister; Zwervende tentoonstelling #12’, Rotterdam, NL
‘Fear Minus One’, The University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, USA
‘The Studio: Sound design for future films’, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
‘Liverpool Biennial: MADE UP (International 08)’, Liverpool, UK
‘Library’, UOVO Open Office Berlin, DE
‘Wrap your troubles in a dream’, Lautom Contemporary, Oslo, NO
‘3500 cm2 (Art poster exhibition)’, uqbar, Berlin, DE
‘One of these things is not like the other things’, Galleria 1/9 Unosunove Arte Contemporanea, Rome, IT
‘Deep Screen; Art in Digital Culture (Proposal for Municipal Art Acquisitions)’, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
‘Capacete (With Helmut Batista, Jean-Pascal Flavien & Ducha)’, Gallery Friedrich Petzel, New York, USA
‘The Clifford Irvin Variety Show New Langton Arts’, San Francisco, USA
‘Lift Off’, Onomatopee, Eindhoven, NL
2007
‘Group show with Gallery Artists’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Drop it Like it’s Hot’, Frieze Artfair, London, UK
‘Drop it Like it’s Hot’, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, DE
”Decoder’ – Contour – (Third Biennial for Video Art)’, Mechelen, BE
‘Twee en twintig duizend vijfhonderd: De Collectie Almere, aanwinsten 01-07’, Museum de Paviljoens, Almere, NL
‘Modern Solitude’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Night of the 25th; MiArt 2007 (Arcipelagi Olanda)’, Milan, IT
‘The discovery of slowness’, Kw14, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, NL
‘The First Antechamber’, Projects Arts Centre Dublin, IR
‘Images Festival’, Toronto, Canada
‘Young Belgian Art Prize’, BOZAR, Brussels, BE
‘Rio de Janeiro Film Festival’, Rio de Janeiro, BR
‘Still Here’, ArtSpace, Sydney, AU
‘Anyan Public Arts Project (permanent work)’, Anyang, KR
‘3500 cm2 #61’, Blueroom a Rialto Santambrogio, Rome, IT
‘Ready Media’, Montevideo, Amsterdam, NL
‘Giving Visibility’, Art Basel Miami Beach, USA
2006
‘Being in Brussels’, Argos, Brussels, BE
‘Le Nouveau Siecle’, Museum van Loon, Amsterdam, NL
‘In Moment’, Skellefteå Konsthall, Skellefteå, SE
‘The Urban Condition’, Cross Section, De Paviljoens, Almere, NL
‘Nederlands Film Festival’, Utrecht, NL
‘Everywhere’, Busan Biennial, KR
‘Undo/Redo’, Fridericianum, Kassel, DE
2005
‘Group Show with Gallery Artists’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Dropping’, Gemeente Haarlemmermeer, Nieuw-Vennep, NL
‘Black Market’, 9th Baltic Triennial, Vilnius/London, LT/ UK
‘Parking our Society’, Public Space, Utrecht, NL
‘More Then This’, Goteborg Biennial, Goteborg, SE
‘Past/Present/Forever’, Buia Gallery, New York, USA
‘For Sale’, Turin, Biennial, IT
‘Juicy Meadows’, Impakt Festival, Utrecht, NL
‘This may be’, Sculpture Center, New York, US
2004
‘Rio de Janeiro Film festival’, Capacete, Rio de Janeiro, BR
‘Olandu Burias’, CAC, Vilnius, LT
‘Traveling without moving’, W139, Amsterdam and Trafo, Budapest, NL/ HU
‘Oneindige Landschappen’, Het Slot Zeist/ Loods 6, De Bagagehal, Amsterdam, NL
Argos Festival, Brussels, BE
‘Puerto Rico 04’, M&M Proyectos, PR
‘Ahuman’, MUU, Helsinki, FI
2003
‘Group show – New work by Gallery Artists’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Biennal of Ceramics in Contemporary Art’, Albisola, IT
‘De Inrichting (Manifestation on Contemporary Art and Psychiatry)’, GGZ Noord-Holland, Heiloo, NL
‘Wanderlust’, Antoine Dansaertstr. 182, Brussels, BE
‘Blobs’, S.K.O.R., Amsterdam, NL
‘Haupt- und Nebenwege’, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne, DE
‘Models und Mavericks’, Museum Het Domein, Sittard, NL
‘The last Seduction’, Artis, Den Bosch, NL
‘White Meat and Sunlight’, Gallery Harbord & Wiesofski, Berlin, DE
Split and Pick-up, Het Stuk, Leuven, BE
2002
‘Group Show’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Other than Film’, TENT, Rotterdam, NL
‘Self Exposure’, Harmoniegebouw, Groningen, NL
‘And Other Love Stories’, Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam, NL
‘Cellar in the Attic’, W139, Amsterdam, NL
‘A Haunted House’, Outline, Amsterdam, NL
‘Parel’, Raid Project Space, Los Angeles, USA
2001
‘Group show’, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
‘Unlimited NL #4’, De Appel, Amsterdam, NL
‘Affinités électives n.3’, Galerie Du Jour Agnes B., Paris, FR
‘Ferveur’, FRAC, Lyon, FR
‘Hotel New York’, PS 1, New York, USA
2000
‘Anarrations’, Witte de With, Rotterdam, NL
‘Open Studio’s 2000’, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, NL
‘For Real’, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
‘From Here to There & Circles of Life’, Expo 2000, World Expo, Hannover, DE
‘How to Act’, Impakt Festival, Utrecht, NL
1999
‘bUG in Baby’, Amsterdam, NL
Film & Video Screening
2014
Inward Gaze trilogy, Sydney biennale, AU
Inward Gaze Trilogy, 3’14 Bergen, NO
2013
The Blank Stare, Utrecht, NL
The Blanks Stare, Moss, DK
2012
The Big One – Arco, Madrid, SP
2011
The Big One, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
The Big One, Error One, Cinema Zuid, Antwerpen, BE
The Big One – Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, NO
Peace is Not the Absense of Conflict, Nam June Paik Center, Seoul, KR
All Right, Leu Xu Projects, Shanghai, CN
2010
All Right & All Wrong, Pera Plaza Istanbul, TR
Last Smoking Flight, BeursBis, Brussels, BE
2009
Last Smoking Flight, Ninth Planet, San Francisco, USA
NighShade, Lost&Found, Amsterdam, NL
2008
Last Smoking Flight, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
Last Smoking Flight, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL
2007
Urban Surface, Venice Biennale, Venice, IT
NightShade, Decoder 3rd biennale for moving images in Mechelen, BE
All Wrong, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, IR
Urban Surface, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
NightShade, The Images Festival, Toronto, CA
Urban Surface, Maison Europeènne de la Photographie, Paris, FR
2006
Urban Surface, Nederlands Film Festival, Utrecht, NL
Urban Surface, Exis Festival, Seoul, KR
Cola Yogurt Project, Art Basel Miami, Miami, USA
All Right, Busan Bienalle, Busan, KR
Commissions
2018
Bambaataa, De Beeldengalerij, Den Haag, NL
2014
Sicco Mansholt, HNI Rotterdam, NL
2013
Transition 2012, Drente, The Netherlands
Twirl, Stockholm University, SE
2012
Re--design of UN Delegates Lounge New York -- icw Koolhaas, Boom, Jongerius
Design new entrance of Stockholm University, Stockholm, SE
Green Cord – design of 4km road in Ede, NL
2011
Martini Banieren, Groningen, NL
Organgerie Rabobank, Bergeijk, NL
Vertakking, Oudewater, NL
2010
Funenpark, Amsterdam, NL
<15M3, Roombeek, NL
2009
Gent Oude Dokken, Gent, BE
Trajectum Lumen, Utrecht, NL
2008
GlassHouse, Rabobank Bergeijk, NL
Eemplein, Amersfoort, NL
Martini Ziekenhuis, Grongingen, NL
2007
APAP, Anyang City, KR
Elevating the Witte de With, Amsterdam, NL
Moon Lit Lake, CC&CP, Tielt, BE
2006
Renovatie Anna, Ministerie van SZW, Den Haag, NL
Perscope Lanterns, Carberg, Maastricht, NL
2005
Beatrix Postkantoor, Zorgcentrum Beatrix, Culemborg (with Jennifer Tee), NL
Collections
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Museum De Paviljoens, Almere, NL
MUDAM, Fondation Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, LU
Rabobank Art Collection, NL
21CMuseum, Louisville, USA
Groninger Museum, Groningen, NL
