A Retrospective

Eleanor Antin

26.09.2025 – 08.02.2026

Exhibition Material	English, French and German
Booklet in easy-to-read language	English French German Audio description (EN)
Curators	Bettina Steinbrügge, assisted by Julie Kohn
Exhibition Architecture by	Diogo Passarinho Studio
Thanks to	Dikamar
Media Partner	Le Monde
Credits	The exhibition is organised by Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean in collaboration with Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein and MOCAK, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków.
Le Monde Fond Transparent
Documents	Miniguide Eleanor Antin \| EN (PDF, 2.9 MB) Miniguide Eleanor Antin \| FR (PDF, 2.7 MB) Miniguide Eleanor Antin \| DE (PDF, 2.7 MB)
Eleanor Antin: Works, 1965—2017	This is the most comprehensive publication on Eleanor Antin to date. Spanning more than five decades of her practice, it brings together her seminal works alongside a rich selection of previously unseen archival material, personal writings, poems and ephemera. Buy online

Eleanor Antin (1935, New York) is considered a pioneer representative of conceptual, feminist art. Her multimedia practice – spanning photography, film and video, performance, text, installation and drawing – explores questions of identity and politics through stories that intertwine personal and historical. Fictional alter egos, such as The King, The Ballerina or The Nurse appear in many projects in various forms, subverting the forces behind societal roles and historical narratives. The iconic photographic series 100 Boots (1971–73) – a road movie without people – is an example of the witty, ironic and political awareness that characterises her work. Carving: A Traditional Sculpture (1972) is an early feminist examination of the female body through taxonomy systems, often driven by patriarchal and colonial forces. Antin’s practice has been groundbreaking for subsequent generations of artists working with performance and self-representation.

This first major retrospective since 1999 – and the first ever in Europe – presents Antin’s œuvre in full breadth. The exhibition highlights the continued relevance and influence of her work from the late 1960s till today, when issues of power imbalance and collective and individual representation have taken on renewed urgency.

Biography

American artist Eleanor Antin (1935) is a key figure emerging from the Conceptual art movements of the 1970s and she remains a leading feminist figure today. Her ground-breaking practice spans five decades and has covered themes surrounding identity, gender, autobiography, class and social structures. Antin's multi-disciplinary approach includes installation, painting, drawing, writing, photo- graphy, performance and most notably film and video.

Over the last fifty years Antin has performed and exhibited her work internationally. She has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions including Multiple Occupancy: Eleanor Antin's ‘Selves’, ICA, Boston, MA (2014); Eleanor Antin: Historical Takes, San Diego Art Museum, San Diego, CA (2008); Eleanor Antin: Real Time Streaming, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK and Mead Gallery, Warwick, UK (2001); Eleanor Antin, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (1999); and Eleanor Antin: Selections from the Angel of Mercy, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1997). In 1975, her seminal exhibition 100 Boots debuted at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Most recently, Antin’s work has been featured in notable institu- tional group exhibitions such as Chrysalis: The Butterfly Dream exhibition, Centre D'art Contemporain, Geneva (2023); Mapping an Art World, MOCA, Los Angeles (2023) and The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2023). As a performance artist, she has appeared in venues all around the world, including the 37th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Italy (2005) and The Sydney Opera House, Australia (2002). Her work is included in public collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Jewish Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, amongst others.

In 2019 she revisited and recreated one of her most important early works, Carving: A Traditional Sculpture, for the exhibition Time's Arrow at LACMA and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibition view ‘Eleanor Antin: A Retrospective’, Mudam Luxembourg. Photo: Mareike Tocha © Mudam Luxembourg — Exhibition view ‘Eleanor Antin: A Retrospective’, Mudam Luxembourg. Photo: Mareike Tocha

© Mudam Luxembourg

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