Her studio practice stems from a sculptural approach to constructing installations as relational spaces, systems where unexpected dialogues unfold in the interdependence of objects, space, and bodies, creating layers of meaning where the instability of narratives becomes their structure. Particularly intrigued by the emotional relationships of human interaction in intimacy, love, desire, our relationship with space, and our attachment to objects, she uses autoethnographic experiences as raw material to explore the personal and the collective within broader cultural, political, and social contexts. Through workshops and textual exercises, she achieves a horizontal and collaborative way of sharing, questioning, and experimenting with language within a specific group, a methodology that expands her sculptural practice into text and performance.
Nora Aurrekoetxea (1989) lives and works in Bilbao. Her artistic practice encompasses sculpture, installation, performance and text.
A graduate in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country and with a Master’s degree in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art in London, she has recently been an resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. She also completed postgraduate studies in Sexology at In.ci.sex (Madrid 2011-2013), which directly influences her practice. She co-founded and co-directed OKELA, an artist-run space located in Bilbao.
She was a resident artist in la Cité Internationale des Arts (París), Solomon R. Guggenheim (New York), BilbaoArte (Bilbao) and Paradise Air (Matsudo). She has received grants from the Beca de Producción del Gobierno Vasco, la Fundación Botín, het cultuurs, AC/E Acción Cultural España y Stichting Elise Mathilde Fonds. She has received prizes such as ARCO Madrid, IX. Premio Internacional de Arte FMJJ, among others. Her work has been exhibited in galleries such as Intersticio (London) and Juan Silió (Madrid) and independent spaces such as P//// AKT (Amsterdam) and Raccoon projects (Barcelona). She has exhibited in group exhibitions at galleries such as Travesía Cuatro (Guadalajara, Mexico), Hauser & Wirth (Menorca), Pedro Cera (Lisbone), L21 (Mallorca) and institutions such as Fundación Fiminco (Paris), Centro Botín (Santander), Ca2m (Madrid), HAUS WIEN (Vienna), Mutter (Amsterdam), Omstand (Arnhem), Tabakalera (Donostia), La Casa Encendida (Madrid), Museo Guggenheim (Bilbao), Fundación Oteiza (Alzuza) and Fundación Blue Project (Barcelona) among others.
Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, ARTIUM – Museo Vasco Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Fundación María José Jove, Fundación ARCO, Museo CA2M and Fundación Botín, among others.
Selected solo exhibitions
2026
2025
2024
2023
2020
Selected group exhibitions
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019