Artist Name: Carolina Serrano
Residency Dates: September – November 2026
Born: 1994
Hometown: Portugal
Lives & Works: Lisbon, Portugal
URL: carolinaserrano.net | Instagram: @carolinas.serrano
Gallery: Balcony Gallery
Education:
2018 – MFA in Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Bio/Statement:
Carolina Serrano’s work and research revolve around the temporal dimensions and dematerialisation of sculpture, and the attempt to understand what it means to be human by exploring opposing concepts such as good/evil, inside/outside, freedom/confinement, violence/innocence, light/shadow. She works mainly with wax, as this material comes closest to the temperature and texture of human skin, and because of the theoretical and conceptual possibilities that this material can originate in the field of the observer’s imagination. The exploration of duality and the antagonisms of existence is manifested in the artist’s work through the creation of a place that exists between binaries, in other words, a place-limbo, or a place-between. The concept of ‘being in-between’ – which is linked to the attempt to define what it means to be human – is fundamental to Serrano’s work, as the exploration of this ‘in-between space’ is what she looks for to embody through her practice.
Serrano’s selected solo exhibitions include Removing gravity from the fall, Balcony Gallery, Lisbon (2026); Wo du dich selbst verloren hast, St. Gertrud Church, Köln (2025); Words don’t let me hear, Brühler Kunstverein, Brühl (2025); Inside of, Matjö –Raum für Kunst, Cologne (2024); Teeth to the bones, UMA LULIK_, Lisbon (2023); What words to name, Galerie Alex Serra, Cologne (2021); Between the thumb and index finger, UMA LULIK_, Lisbon (2020); Forever about to end, FOCO Gallery, Lisbon (2020). She has also been part of several group exhibitions, among them: … daquele que é (des)objeto I, II and III, Leal Rios Foundation, Lisbon (2024–2025); 35 MAUERFALL, Berlin (2024); we’ll be right back, Kunstraum Botschaft, Berlin (2024); Só porque foi, e voo, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Lisbon (2023–2024). In 2020, Carolina Serrano received a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, followed by grants awarded by the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Stiftung Kunstfonds in Germany.
Support: Carolina Serrano’s residency is made possible with support from FLAD – Luso-American Foundation for Development and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
