In her work Sophie Ernst explores how histories—personal, collective, and mythic—manifest in the spaces we inhabit and the stories we inherit. She is deeply attuned to the power of illusion and fuses craft with new media techniques to question what lies beneath the surfaces of cultural symbols. This approach stems from her fascination with projection, in which architecture, light, and perspective can confound the boundaries between reality and representation. Teaching, collaboration, and dialogue are equally integral to Ernst’s practice, offering critical opportunities to expand and challenge how art, history, and the politics of space intersect.
Sophie Ernst trained as an industrial mechanic with BMW in Munich, she studied sculpture and attended the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. Ernst earned a PhD in the Humanities from Leiden University. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the 6th Moscow Biennale, 14th Asia Triennial Manchester, 9th Sharjah Biennial, Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space (Johnson Museum at Cornell University and Nasher Museum at Duke University), and Move on Asia at ZKM Karlsruhe. Solo exhibitions include Memory is an Ideal Place at Kunstverein Heidelberg and HOME at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
