Tristan Bera

Tristan Bera (Paris, France / Athens, Greece) is an author and researcher whose solo, collaborative, and conversational practice includes critical and fictional writing, curating, and filmmaking. Bera studied fine arts, aesthetics, history of contemporary art, and political science. Nurtured by stimulating and sentimental collaborations with fellow practitioners, his works have experimented with different genres, topics, and formats ranging from site-specific immersive, intimate environments to participative events through political pamphlets, public readings, dinners, parties, an open-air festival, a library, and fanzines. His papers, published in magazines (artpress, The Art Newspaper, Ocula, Springerin) and exhibition catalogs (Centre Pompidou, Paris and Metz; MAM Rio de Janeiro; Philharmonie de Paris; 8th Biennale of Thessaloniki; and Bourse de commerce—Pinault Collection), are concerned with knowledge transfers across literature, art criticism, and experimental philosophy and blend sociopolitical reflection, stream of consciousness, postcolonial topics, and pop culture.

In 2024, he was writer in residence at Salzburger Kunstverein and has been awarded, together with Stefan Kalmár, the curatorial research fellowship of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, for an exhibition dedicated to the influences of the independent press “Semiotext(e)” on literature, theory, life, and art. He is currently working on a book project on ‘magnificent obsessions,’ initiated at the Walter Benjamin Archiv in Berlin with backing from the Onassis Foundation.

Bera’s films, co-made with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Ana Vaz, or Joshua Olsthoorn, have been shown at international film festivals including CPH:DOX (Copenhagen), IFFR (Rotterdam), Flaherty Film Seminar (NYC), Côté Court (Paris/Pantin), London, Vila do Conde, Lisbon/Estoril, Bologna, Paris, and Porto film institutes. His works have been presented in solo and group shows at Kunsthalle Zürich (2010-12), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Protocinema Istanbul (2012/14), Turku Art Museum (Finland), Centre Pompidou (Paris), ICA Winnipeg, Biennale of Moscow 2016, K20 Düsseldorf, Remai Modern Saskatoon, LUMA Foundation (Arles), MAAT (Lisbon), Agricultural University of Athens (Locus Athens/Onassis Foundation), Royal Academy of Arts (London), and in Jan Mot (Brussels) and Koyanagi (Tokyo) galleries.

Tristan Bera is a member of the collective COYOTE, which works around intersectionality at the crossroads of broader conceptual and experimental forms (publishing, film, performed conversation, communal meals). It was founded alongside sound artist Nuno da Luz, journalist Elida Høeg, publisher Clémence Seurat, and filmmaker Ana Vaz, following their joint experience at the École des Arts Politiques (SPEAP) led by philosopher Bruno Latour. Since 2015, COYOTE has followed in the footsteps of one of its members every year (Paris, Lisbon, Athens, Barcelona, Mechelen, La Becque artist residency in Switzerland, and Thessaloniki) to explore new territory originating from a specific investigation.

Tristan Bera was a participant of The School of Infinite Rehearsals of Οnassis AiR 2020-21 and of the Tailor-made Fellowships program 2022-23.