Born in Mexico City, Harrsch has lived in several cities throughout the country, as well as Italy, Germany, and Brazil; for the past fourteen years she has lived and worked in New York City. She has been defined as a multidisciplinary artist, employing traditional mediums along with new media and technologies to articulate her concepts and interests.
The formal aspects of her oeuvre and languages investigate diverse fields to achieve visual, multisensory, and interactive experiences: a comprehensive reflection about the body and identity, sexuality, desire, the space that defines us and the one we wish for, the limits and vertiginous freedom that lead to a continuous corporeal and ideological migration.
Harrsch’s solid background as a painter has been essential and visible in her aesthetic process, and her artwork is continually being filtered through images, the representation of the object, spaces, and colors; the work stems from experimentation and the processes themselves, and only later becomes articulated. These visual and formal processes are infused with multilayered references, a complex weave of the strata of meanings, which in turn make possible the extraction of multiple readings and narratives concerned with individual and cultural preoccupations, as well as critical social, political, and environmental issues.
For over six years she has included entomology research as part of her work, using butterflies as a metaphor for themes such as gender, identity, migration, nationality, and the relationship human beings have with their own nature and fragility.
Harrsch has expanded her trajectory to achieve authority status in a wide range of disciplines related to the production of multimedia art. She has established a fertile and captivating language, using tools such as painting, photography, video, animation, installation, interactive projects, and the production and direction of multimedia shows. For the past eight years her interdisciplinary practices have led to collaborations with well-known musicians and composers, including Philip Glass, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, Claire Chase, Paola Prestini, and Maya Beiser, among others.
Erika Harrsch has been selected to participate in the B3 Frankurt Biennale for the moving image 2017, Fokus-Lodz Biennale, Lodz, Poland, 2010; 798 Biennale, Beijing, China, 2009; International Media Art Biennale, Seoul, South Korea, 2008; Fotofest Biennial, Houston, Texas, 2008; as well as the 6th and 7th FEMSA-Monterrey Biennial, Mexico, in 2003 and 2005.
Her work has been shown in galleries, festivals, and international artistic residencies, as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City), Museo del Barrio (New York City), Nevada Museum of Art (Reno, Nevada), Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, Connecticut), Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY), Bellevue Arts Museum (Bellevue, Washington), in the United States; Göteborg Konstmuseum, Sweden; Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium; Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (Nuevo León) and Museo de la Ciudad (Querétaro), in Mexico. Her work is included in numerous international public and private collections, including the Musée de la Photographie in Belgium, and the Eaton Corporation and the Fidelity Corporation in the United States.
• Erika Harrsch: The Dream of the Grand Tree and the Improbable Objects, GE Galería, Mexico City
• Under the same Sky... We Dream, BRIC, Media-Arts, Brooklyn NY
• Erika Harrsch Esculturas / Sculptures, Museo de la Ciudad de Queretaro, México
• Under the same Sky...We Dream, Rubin Center at UTEP, El Paso, TX, USA
• New Paintings, GE Galeria, Monterrey, México
• Beyond Visible, La Cúpula, Mérida, México
• Room 35 - Labyrinth video performance, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA
• Imagos, Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile
• The Monarch Paradigm. Migration as Metaphor, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, USA
• Lens Vivant, Multidisciplinary-living-installation performance, Museo del Barrio, NY, USA
• Room 35, Artspace, Shepard Galleries, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
• Bodymaps cello concerto, Nightingale Concert Hall, Church Fine Arts, University of Nevada Reno, NV, USA
• Room 35, multidisciplinary concert and performance, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
• Inverted-Sky, ArtGate Gallery New York, NY, USA
• United States of North America, Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, UTEP, El Paso, TX, USA
• Flow, permanent public art installation, EATON corporation world headquarters, Cleveland, OH, USA
• United States of North America Passport Performance at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, USA
• An Experience in the Ruins, premier Erika Harrsch-LED Cello Performance Multimedia, National Sawdust, Brooklyn, NY, USA
• Under One Sky, Kasia Kay Projects Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
• SKYFUL Kite performance at ORIGINAL MUSIC WORKSHOP, Williamsburg, NY, USA
• Inverted Sky Kite Performance, River to River Festival, World Financial Center, NYC, USA
• Cash Cube, VOLTA NY, NYC, USA
• United States of North America, project for the PINTA art fair, NYC, USA
• Eros -Thanatos, Musée de la Photographie a Charleroi, Belgium
• Alter-eros, GE Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico
• Object of Desire, Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• FOTOFEST, Diverseworks, Houston TX "Eros-Thanathos"
• Alternativaonce Gallery, Monterrey, Mex. "Objeto del Deseo
• Festival Cervantino. Kunsthaus Santa Fe San Miguel de Allende, Gto. Mex. "Objeto del Deseo"
• Hoper House Art Center, Nyack, NY "Traps series"
• Continental Center I, gallery, Houston,TX "Via Crucis"
• Göteborgs Konstmuseum / Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden "Corpus"
• Taller Boricua / Mexico Now. NY"Four Mexican Photographers"
• Open Studio, Long Island City, Nueva York. Traps series
• Art-Focus Gallery, San Miguel de Allende, Méx.
• Kuntshaus Santa Fe, San Miguel de Allende, Mex. "Señales"
• Diego Rivera Museum, Guanajuato, Mex. "Encuentros y Realidades"
• Aristos Gallery. MUCA, Méx. City. "Transiciones"
• Galería Atelier, Querétaro, Méx. "Confrontando Identidades Encubiertas"
• Queretaro Art Museum, Qro, Méx. "Erika Harrsch"
• Centro Cultural el Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende, Mex.
Selected Group Exhibitions
• Capital Capital, Contemporary Mexican Artists, Galeria Libertad, Queretaro, México
• Under the same Sky...We Dream, B3 Biennale for the moving image, Frankfurt, Germany
• Between I & Thou, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, USA
• Pensamientos Maestros, GE Gallery, Mexico City
• The Incredible Likeness of Being, Marc Straus Gallery, NYC, USA
• Immigration / Emigration SFAI 140, Santa Fe Art institute, Santa Fe NM, USA
• Eros-Thanatos, Festival a-part / Alpilles-Provence'art, Les Baux-de Provence, France
• Room 35, Cut Out Fest, Querétaro, Mexico
• A Common Thread, Bendheim Gallery, The Greenwich Arts Council, Greenwich, CT, USA
• Key Frames: Independent Artists’ Animation, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY, USA
• I Love you Festival Zagreb, Contact Girls, Zagreb, Croatia
• Time, Bosi Gallery, New York, NY, USA
• Of Hope and Madness, MACLA, San Jose, CA, USA
• Futbol, Arte y Pasión. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey MARCO , México
• "How Much Do I Owe You?" No Longer Empty, The Clock Tower, LIC, New York
• United States the Exhibition, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, USA
• Paradox: The Limits of Liberty, Castrum Peregrini, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Travelers, Objects of Dream and Revelation, Bellevue Arts Museum, WA, USA
• 8th International Women Art Festival, Aleppo, Syria
• Lodz Biennale 2010, Lodz, Poland
• Centre d'Art Contemporain du Luxembourg belge. Belgium-Luxemburg Papillonnages
• Other Gallery-Shanghai, China The Metamorphosis
• Constellations, Tokyo-Gallery BTAP Beijing 798 Biennale 2009
• Status Report, BRIC Contemporary Arts/Media/Bklyn. NY, USA
• Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at SUNY College at Old Westbury, The Borders, NY
• Talent Preview '09, White Box, New York
• Seoul Museum of Art, 5th Seoul International Media Art Biennale "MediaCity Seoul 2008"
• 2008 Yeosu International Art Festival, Yeosu Korea
• Over the Rainbow, 16 artists from New York City in Seoul, Yoo Art Space Gallery, Seoul, Korea
• Introduction: Future Dialogues, Dean Project Gallery, LIC, NY, USA
• PS122 Multidisciplinary Performance- VisionIntoArt NY “Violens”
• Soundres Festival, Lecce, Italy. VisionIntoArt, Bodymaps, Scuola Superiore ISUFI
• VisionIntoArt performing arts ensemble, performing residency at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Live Whitney Series
• Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brasil
• Fieldgate Gallery, London UK Latitude
• Seven x Sins, Diverseworks Houston, TX
• Art & Activism Exhibit, Victoria Price Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
• Walsh Art Gallery , The Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University,Connecticut
• Visionintoart performance at Joe’s Pub, New York
• FORUM + Elzbieta Koscielak Gallery Cultural Center Zamek, Lesnica Poland."Body Double"
• Lehigh University Art galleries museum "Latin American Photography II"
• Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York, NY "Woman: self Portrait"
• The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN "8x8x8"
• KBK gallery, Mexico city "Apropiaciones"
• 7th FEMSA Monterrey Biennial / Monterrey, Mex.
• Mexican Contemporary Artists in USA/ Mexican Cultural Institute Washington,DC.. Mirrors
• Jamaica Center for Arts,NY "Momentito"
• Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico city. “Los retratos de Dorian Gray”
• Edsvik Konsthall, Stockholm..Sweden "Corpus"
• Queretaro city Museum, Mex. "Eight Anniversary"
• The Artist:network, New York,NY "Anthro/socio"
• Art Istanbul, Istanbul, Turquía.
• The Affordable Art Fair, Nueva York, Kunst Haus SantaFé
• Photography is art gallery, TX A slightly different beast: The digital Print.
• UnitB Gallery, Chicago, USA "The Phanthom limb"
• Chihuahua Contemporary art museum, Chihuahua, Mex. "Highligts from the 6th MonterreyBiennial"
• Fundación Telefónica de Buenos Aires.. Argentina, Artista Invitado-videos123x.
• Centro Cultural de España, Mexico City, Invited Artist- Online and offline videos-123x mi.
• Monterrey Biennial–Centro Nacional de las Artes, Monterrey, Mex.
• Metropolitan Museum Monterrey, Mex. " Arte y ética"
• Guanajuato University, Sala Hermenegildo Bustos. Mex. "Video Lounge - Vulnerable"
• Mackey Gallery, Art Houston 2003. Houston TX. "Open House"
• Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro, Qro, Mex."Conjura Sinoptica"
• Metropolitan Museum Monterrey, Monterrey,Méx. "Muerte sin Fin"
• Exit Art Gallery, New York. "Reactions"
• Museo del Centenario, Monterrey, Méx "Encuentro y Celebración"
• Art-Faber Gallery San Miguel de Allende, Méx. "Foto-objeto"
• Queretaro art museum,Querétaro, Qro. Méx. "Fin de Siglo Nueva Era"
• Heinrich Heine Haus, Lüneburg, Germany. "Contemporary Mexican Art"
• Mexican General Consulate, Hamburg, Germany Functional Art, Harrsch-Kaufmann
• Dharma gallery, San Miguel de Allende, Mex"Arte y Objeto"
• Instituto Allende,San Miguel de Allende, Mex "Functional Art"
• Real Seminario de Minas, México city. "Homage to Luis Donaldo Colosio"
• Querétaro Art Museum, Méx. "Clave de Luz"
• Museo Universitario Contemporaneo de Arte MUCA, México City
• Centro Cultural el Nigromante ,San Miguel de Allende, Mex. Bellas Artes para Bellas Artes
• Galeria Libertad, Querétaro, Mex. Concurso de Artes Plasticas Agustin Rivera
• Museo de Arte de Querétaro Qro, Mex."Arte en Queretaro"
Selected Residencies and Awards
• PECDA Career achievement award, Querétaro, Qro. México
• Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
• SOTA Series Award-Visiting Artist Residency, Department of Art-School of the Arts, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
• Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Room 35, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA
• eDream Institute Emerging Digital Research-Education in the Arts Media Institute, National Center for Super Computing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
• NEA, National Endowment for the Arts Award for Multimedia, Room 35, VisionIntoArt
• The Gaea Foundation Award-Sea Change Residency, Provincetown, MA, USA
• Mex-Am, Foundation Award, New York, USA
• SoundRes, festival and residency, Lecce, Italy