Ferrer, Esther

Esther Ferrer was born in Donostia-San Sebastián in 1937.

Together with José Antonio Sistiaga, she established the Taller de Libre Expresión (Free Expression Workshop) in San Sebastián, and later on the Escuela Experimental (Experimental School) in Elorrio.

She joined the Zaj Group (formed in 1964 by Ramón Barce, Juan Hidalgo, and Walter Marchetti) and she carried out different actions, both individually and as a member of Zaj, until it dissolved in 1996.

In the early 1970s, she moved to Paris.

Esther Ferrer holds a degree in Social Sciences and Journalism. In 1975, she published her first articles about the contemporary cultural and social milieu in newspapers and magazines such as El País, Ere, Lápiz, El Globo, and Jano.

Then she resumed her career as a visual artist in the fields of photography, installation art, painting and drawing (based on prime numbers), and the making of objects.

She represented Spain in the Venice Biennale.

Her remarkable career earned her recognition in the form of the National Plastic Arts Award. Considered one of the pioneers of performance art in Spain, she has exhibited her work in a great number of countries and has been hugely influential among younger artists.

She has received many awards in the past years, including the Gure Artea Award of the Basque Government in 2012, and the MAV-Mujeres en las Artes Visuales (Women in Visual Arts) award, the Velázquez Award in Plastic Arts and the Prix Marie Claire de l’art contemporain in 2014.