Overview
B. Ingrid Olson, 'Elastic X', 2018-2021 © The Artist
B. Ingrid Olson, 'Elastic X', 2018-2021 © The Artist

B. Ingrid Olson (b. 1987 in Denver, USA) implements elements of photography, sculpture, and performance in an ongoing exploration of the boundaries between body and space. Within the confines of her studio, she records her body as it moves — shifting in relationship to its surroundings. The results of this process are multidimensional objects and images that re-imagine the capacities of the body and the structuring of space.

 

In her photographic works, fragmented views of Olson’s body oscillate between a pictured subject and a subjective perspective, creating tensions between interior, direct experience and exterior, mirrored existence, and giving the artist full control over what the viewer is allowed to see — or not. Olson draws the viewer in, but only to a point. Images of splayed legs, torsos, bent knees, partial postures, and gestures are cropped by point of view, camera, and the physical framing of the printed photographs. The images are further complicated by flash, shadows, blurring, mirror reflections, and disjointed borders. The layered visual interruptions and camouflaged elements thwart attempts to find coherence in a single visual plane or continuous meaning, disorienting the viewer’s perception of both.

 

Fracture and camouflage are also at play in Olson’s relief sculptures. Rigid, rectilinear edges give way to soft, curved concavities at the center. Each segment suggests a specific somatic referent, but the machine-carved forms refuse to accommodate an organic reality. The minimal, sexless forms — evoking face, midriff, small of the back, thighs, shins, or toes — are hung at specific heights along the wall, matching to corresponding parts of a standing, erect body. At the same time, the combination of curvatures and protrusions over each sculpture's surface reacts to situational light and shadow, creating a shifting image of an absent body. The reliefs’structure and relationship to the surrounding architecture, in effect, heightens and questions the viewer’s sense of their own anatomy and physical presence in the world.

 

B. Ingrid Olson (b. 1987) lives and works in Chicago. Solo museum exhibitions of her work have been held at the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University; Vienna Secession; and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Her work was also featured in a two-person exhibition at The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. Olson has participated in group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Jeu de Paume, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Aspen Art Museum; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Works
  • What I would be if I wasn’t what I am, I, I
    What I would be if I wasn’t what I am, I, I
    Enquire
  • I, I, I, [open]
    I, I, I, [open]
    Enquire
  • Reflective Comedy, standing shoulder wall
    Reflective Comedy, standing shoulder wall
    Enquire
  • Total Work (Cast of Mind)
    Total Work (Cast of Mind)
    Enquire
  • Sluice (A weird rewriting of negative capability?)
    Sluice (A weird rewriting of negative capability?)
    Enquire
  • Wall Condition: Lamp Channel, Three as One
    Wall Condition: Lamp Channel, Three as One
    Enquire
  • Feminine Thought, model
    Feminine Thought, model
    Enquire
  • Plen, cycle
    Plen, cycle
  • Architect's Mouth
    Architect's Mouth
  • Round Room (present/present)
    Round Room (present/present)
    Enquire
  • White Wall, painted for Gray
    White Wall, painted for Gray
    Enquire
  • I was then a we, can it be that I am the subject, an actor, common plural fixed for a camera to which these rooms are now fit Ferocious battle with repetition, of others, the crumbs and dust, gathering ashes, adhesion of eggs, finally things in place for
    I was then a we, can it be that I am the subject, an actor, common plural fixed for a camera to which these rooms are now fit Ferocious battle with repetition, of others, the crumbs and dust, gathering ashes, adhesion of eggs, finally things in place for
    Enquire
  • Perfect Spectator, perforation
    Perfect Spectator, perforation
    Enquire
  • Reciprocal Fixture, She(ll)
    Reciprocal Fixture, She(ll)
    Enquire
  • Door Picture, a view in perspective arranged close together
    Door Picture, a view in perspective arranged close together
    Enquire
  • A Feminine Thought (1934-2021)
    A Feminine Thought (1934-2021)
    Enquire
  • Swans Juliet
    Swans Juliet
  • Liar's Envelope
    Liar's Envelope
  • Camera (am I disorganized because I lost something I didn’t need?)
    Camera (am I disorganized because I lost something I didn’t need?)
    Enquire
  • Cuirass
    Cuirass
    Enquire
  • Rotor: rill reversed, their lamp, return
    Rotor: rill reversed, their lamp, return
  • Carriage
    Carriage
  • Capped Bulb
    Capped Bulb
  • Spider, splayed blinder
    Spider, splayed blinder
  • [M]others
    [M]others
    Enquire
  • Paper Brain
    Paper Brain
  • Splayed Corner, endless room
    Splayed Corner, endless room
  • Arch, Probe, Track, Fold
    Arch, Probe, Track, Fold
  • Unhinge name turns membrane, body to come
    Unhinge name turns membrane, body to come
  • Given: illuminated from reverse , their roof, behind curtain
    Given: illuminated from reverse , their roof, behind curtain
  • Whet Grin Waning Crown
    Whet Grin Waning Crown
    Enquire
  • Perimeter of Two and One
    Perimeter of Two and One
  • Felt Angle, box for standing
    Felt Angle, box for standing
  • Open Corner
    Open Corner
  • Completed Movement (between abut and rub between two notes the number between one and two divided into qualities and kinds)
    Completed Movement (between abut and rub between two notes the number between one and two divided into qualities and kinds)
    Enquire
  • Proto Coda, Index
    Proto Coda, Index
    Enquire
  • From her come a gang and a run
    From her come a gang and a run
  • Split Hinge
    Split Hinge
  • Shuttle
    Shuttle
  • Shell and covering object
    Shell and covering object
  • psycho index, machine, per hys
    psycho index, machine, per hys
  • Loop, strip, slide, light
    Loop, strip, slide, light
  • Not your hand, (For Quinn Latimer)
    Not your hand, (For Quinn Latimer)
  • Of a curve, re, dust on the surface
    Of a curve, re, dust on the surface
  • Of a curve, feedback, and Waiting
    Of a curve, feedback, and Waiting
  • A Feminine Thought
    A Feminine Thought
    Enquire
  • Coming in with your back turned
    Coming in with your back turned
Exhibitions
Public Exhibitions
Press
Art Fairs
Biography
B. INGRID OLSON

b. 1987 in Denver, USA

Lives and works in Chicago

 

EDUCATION 

 

2010

B.F.A., The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

 

2026

Nine Plots, Eight Lodes, Keijiban, Kanazawa

All Lock No Key, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago

 

2025

Machines Complex, Croy Nielsen, Vienna

A Masculine Thought, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis

A Feminine Thought, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig

 

2024 

Hys, XYZcollective, Tokyo

Vielle Fille, Keijiban, Kanazawa

 

2023

Pleasure Traffic, fluent, Santander

Cast of Mind, i8 Grandi, Reykjavik

 

2022       

History Mother, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Little Sister, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Elastic X, Secession, Vienna

 

2019                

Fingered Eyed, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

 

2018                 

Forehead and Brain, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

Kiss the architect on the mouth, Simone Subal Gallery, New York

 

2015                 

double-ended arrow, Simone Subal Gallery, New York

 

2014

The vases my monitors their frames, cura.basement, Rome

 

2013                 

From her come a gang and a run, Document, Chicago

 

TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS 

 

2023

I wish I was alone right now, with John Henderson, Soccer Club Club, Chicago

Parallel Manipulation, with Clémence de la Tour du Pin, Wschód, Warsaw

 

2018

B. Ingrid Olson and Robert Overby, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco

 

2017

KLEIN/OLSON, with Astrid Klein, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 

 

2026

 Sculpture Beyond the Solid, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw

Print Catalyst at 30, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT 

The Double, Dracula’s Revenge and Page (NYC), NewYork 

Ornament and Information, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago

Passages, Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, Switzerland

 

2024

2024 Whitney Biennial: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Frankenstein, Fraenkel Gallery, San Fransisco

Five Easy Peices, Croy Nielsen, Vienna

 

2023

Descending the Staircase, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

The Rose, lumber room, Portland, Oregon

 

2022

Fata Morgana, Jeu de Paume, Paris

BLACK PAGES 1-100, Franz Josefs Kai 3, Vienna

 

2021

Birgir Andrésson, B. Ingrid Olson, Ragna Róbertsdóttir, i8 Gallery at No.9 Cork Street, London

Elisions. N. Dash, K.R.M. Mooney, B. Ingrid Olson, Carrie Yamaoka, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

This Is My Bodys, Bodega, New York

re: collections, The Rose Art Museum, Massachusetts

Someone said that the world's a stage, Grimm Gallery, New York

Dependent Objects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

The Inconstant World, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Rabbit Hole, F, Houston, Texas

 

2020             

Cabin [4.3.2020 - 4.4.2020], Sweetwater, Berlin

New Visions, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodde

 

2019 

Personal Private Public, Hauser & Wirth 22nd Street, New York

 

2018                

Lost Without Your Rhythm, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen

Seeing Believing Having Holding, organized by Dan Byers, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík 

Being: New Photography 2018, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Picture Fiction: Kenneth Josephson and Contemporary Photography, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

 

2017                 

Small Sculpture, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago

Fond Illusions, Galerie Perrotin, New York

Women to the Front, Lumber Room, Portland

The problem with having a body is that it always needs to be somewhere, The Approach, London

 

2016                 

Scarlet Street, Lucien Terras, New York

Natures Department, Kodomo, New York

Chicago and Vicinity, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago

Background/Foreground, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm

Civilization and Its Discontents, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago

 

2015                 

Synecdoche, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco

 

2014                 

Dreams That Money Can’t Buy, MAXXI Museo delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome

 

2013                 

We seem to still be moving, Simone Subal Gallery, New York

 

 

RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS 

 

Guggenheim Foundation, Guggenheim Fellowship, 2025

Trellis Art Fund, Stepping Stone Grant, 2025 

Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2023

The Shifting Foundation Grant, 2023

Surf Point Foundation Residency, York, Maine, 2021

Print Catalyst Program, Yale School of Art, 2019

Artist Residency, Latitude Chicago, 2017 

Fall Artist Residency, Ox-Bow School of Art, 2016 

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Grant, 2012 

Illinois Arts Council Grant, 2011 

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Grant, 2011 

Summer Residency, Spudnik Press, 2011 

Fred A. Hillbruner Artist Book Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2010 

Edward Ryerson Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2010 

Daniels Scholar, The Daniels Fund, 2006 - 2010 

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS 

 

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, Illinois

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angles, California

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts 

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton

Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Bibliography
B. Ingrid Olson, 'Elastic X', 2018-2021 © The Artist
B. Ingrid Olson, 'Elastic X', 2018-2021 © The Artist
MONonographs, Solo Exhibition Catalogs and Artist’s Books 

2026

B. Ingrid Olson: Cast of Mind. Texts by Nuar Alsadir, Thomas Duncan, Mariana Fernández, Aditi Machado, Sawako Nakayasu, Kate Nesin, B. Ingrid Olson, Th. Killian Roach, Leslie Meredith Wilson, and Kate Zambreno. New York: Dancing Foxes Press, 2026. 

 

2024

Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing. New York, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2024. 27; 106; 135 / 72-73.

 

2023

B. Ingrid Olson: History Mother Little Sister. Texts by Andrew Blackley, Dan Byers, Renee Gladman, Gordon Hall, B. Ingrid Olson and Leah Pires. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 2022. Monograph.

 

2022

B Ingrid Olson: 323.  Text by Rosmarie Waldrop. Vienna: Secession; Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2022. 

 

2020

B. INGRID. Edited by Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Nick Oberthaler. Vienna: Black Pages, 2020. 

 

2018

B. Ingrid Olson: Forehead and Brain. Texts by Holly Hughes and Kate Zambreno. Buffalo: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 2018. 

 

2016

B. Ingrid Olson: Salt. Text by Jesse Carsten. New York: Hassla, 2016. 

 

 

Selected Books and Group Exhibition Catalogs 

2026 

Fluent 2016-2026. Milan: Mousse Publishing, 2026. Front and back covers, pp. 5, 29, 243–45, 276, 279–80, 285. 

 

2025

The Rose: A Circular Genealogy of Collage. Edited by Justine Kurland, Sarah Miller Meigs, and Libby Werbel. Portland, OR: lumber room, 2025. Pp. 15, 78–79. 

 

2024

Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2024. Pp. 27, 106; inverted section, pp. 72–73. 

 

2022

Fata Morgana. Edited by Katinka Bock, Béatrice Gross. Paris: Jeu de Paume and Manuella Editions, 2022. Pp. 8, 35, 44–49, 251–54 (includes text “The Stasis of the Picture / The Death of the Moth” by B. Ingrid Olson on pp. 251–54). 

 

2020

Why Photography? Edited by Bjarne Bare, Behzad Farazollahi, Susanne Østby Sæther and Christian Tunge. Milan: Skira, 2020. Pp. 23, 66–73. 

 

2019

Appendix Project: Talks and Exhibits. By Kate Zambreno. South Pasadena, CA: Semiotext(e), 2019. Front cover, pp. 51–64.

Screen Tests: Stories and Other Writing. By Kate Zambreno. New York: Harper Perennial, 2019. Pp. 75–83.

 

2018

Lost Without Your Rhythm. Text by Lauren Fulton. Aspen: Aspen Art Museum, 2018. Pp. 3, 8, 12. 

 

2016

Like A Woman: Essays, Readings, Poems. By Quinn Latimer. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2017. Pp. 59–61. 

 

Selected Reviews and Texts

2026

Shuvarikova, Olesia. “B. Ingrid Olson: Interview.” Émergent Magazine, Spring: 122–56. 

Ostan-Ožbolt-Haas, Hana. “B. Ingrid Olson at Croy Nielsen.” Artforum 64, no. 8 (April 2026): 155. 

Lepique, Annette. “Means of Egress: The Body and Its Double.” Newcity, March 25, 2026. art.newcity.com 

 

2025 

Olson, B. Ingrid. “Psycho Index.” Section Magazine 2, edited by Motoyuki Daifu, (June, 2025): 5–19. 

 

2024

Bennett, Alex. “(I), Ellipse.” Flash Art, Winter 2024, 250–261. 

Nettleton, Taro. “The Best Shows to see During Art Week Tokyo.” Frieze, November 7, 2024. frieze.com. 

Goukassian, Elena, and Benjamin Sutton. “The 2024 Whitney Biennial in Five Key Themes.” The Art Newspaper, March 21, 2024. theartnewspaper.com. 

Vincler, John. “Was the Vision for the 2024 Whitney Biennial ‘Better Than the Real Thing’?” Cultured, March 13, 2024. culturedmag.com 

 

2023 

Barton, Briastt. “B. Ingrid Olson: Don’t Flinch.” Mousse, no. 83 (Spring 2023): 206–11. 

 

2022 

Harris, Jenny. “Jenny Harris on B. Ingrid Olson.” Artforum 61, no. 4 (December 2022). 

Quinton, Jared. “Any Room Can Be a Camera: B. Ingrid Olson Interviewed by Jared Quinton.” BOMB Magazine, October 13, 2022. bombmagazine.org. 

Neuhold, Margit. “Meanings in Abeyance.” Camera Austria International, no. 159 (2022): 79–80. 

Borchhardt-Birbaumer, Brigitte. “Spiele elastischer Raumkörper” [Play of Elastic Spatial Bodies]. Wiener Zeitung, July 26, 2022. wienerzeitung.at. 

 

2021

Castillo, Bree. “B. Ingrid Olson.” Interview. Flaunt, no. 176 (November 2021): 144–45. 

 

2020 

Strand, Nina. “Et ønske om materialitet” [A desire for materiality]. Ny Tid, February 15, 2020. nytid.no. 

 

2019

Birgisdóttir, Ragnheiður. “Samspil sjónar og snertingar” [Interaction of sight and touch]. Morgunblaðið, June 6, 2020, 65. 

Bonilla-Edgington, Jennifer Rose. “Personal Private Public.” The Brooklyn Rail, October 2019. brooklynrail.org. 

 

2018

Fulton, Lauren. “Flip the Medium: A Conversation between Artist B. Ingrid Olson and Curator Lauren Fulton.” Objektiv, no. 18 (November 2018): 50–53. 

Bell, Natalie. “First Look: B. Ingrid Olson.” Art in America, April 2018, 25. 

Zambreno, Kate. “Introductions: B. Ingrid Olson.” BOMB Magazine, April 26, 2018. bombmagazine.org. 

Spalding, Jill. “Being: New Photography 2018.” Studio International, April 7, 2018. studiointernational.com. 

Greenberger, Alex. “The Browser: MoMA’s Gripping ‘New Photography’ Goes Behind the Lens.” ARTnews, March 22, 2018. artnews.com. 

Indrisek, Scott. “At MoMA, Photography Doesn’t Have to Reinvent Itself to Be Radical.” Artsy, March 20, 2018. artsy.net. 

 

2017

Cramerotti, Alfredo. “Astrid Klein & B. Ingrid Olson.” The Seen, no. 4 (May 2017): 36–43. 

 

2016 

McDonough, Tom. “B. Ingrid Olson.” Osmos, no. 8 (Spring 2016): 10–17. 

 

2015 

Blalock, Lucas, and B. Ingrid Olson. “Push-Back: A Conversation Between B. Ingrid Olson and Lucas Blalock.” Objektiv, no. 12 (November 2015): 8–26. 

Aletti, Vince. “Goings on About Town: B. Ingrid Olson.” The New Yorker, February 16, 2015, 10. 

Blalock, Lucas. “Double-Ended Arrow." Objektiv, March 3, 2015. objektiv.no. 

Gopnik, Blake. “B. Ingrid Olson: Bringing Cézanne up to Date.” Artnet News, January 20, 2015. artnet.com. 

Lee, Nathaniel. “B. Ingrid Olson.” Modern Painters, April 2015: 96. 

 

2014 

Foumberg, Jason. “B. Ingrid Olson at Document.” Modern Painters, April 2014: 101. 

 

2013 

Blackley, Andrew. “Lab: The Tenth Image.” Cura, no. 18 (Fall 2013): 124–133. 

 

Published Talks, Interviews and Panels

 

2025

“Conversation: Objects Under Pressure—H.C. Westermann.” Panel discussion with Richard Rezac, moderated by Giampaolo Bianconi. The Art Institute of Chicago, May 22, 2025. Recorded video, 51:36. artic.edu. 

 

 

2024

“Notes in the Margins: ‘Why I Don’t Talk About “The Body”.” Public reading with Jadine Collingwood, Mariana Fernández, Gordon Hall, B. Ingrid Olson, and Aliza Shvarts. Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, October 5, 2024. Recorded video, 1:00:08. mcachicago.org. 

 

2023
"Ópera um ást og ofbeldi, Tól, Cast of mind” Víðsjá. Ríkisútvarpið. January 24.

 

 

2022

“CCVA Reading Series: Renee Gladman & Rosmarie Waldrop.” Introduction and panel discussion participation at Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, November 3, 2022. Recorded video, 04:10–16:40; 1:18:15–1:59:10. carpentercenter.org. 

“Artists: B. Ingrid Olson in conversation with Annette Südbeck.” Secession Podcast, November 12, 2022. Podcast, audio, 21:51. secession.at. 

“Artist Talk: B. Ingrid Olson in Conversation with Leah Pires and Dan Byers.” Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, September 29, 2022. Recorded video, 1:29:35. carpenter.center. 

“No. 566: B. Ingrid Olson, Reinventing the Américas.” Hosted by Tyler Green. The Modern Art Notes Podcast, September 8, 2022. Podcast, 00:00–43:30. manpodcast.com. 

 

2021 

“The Inconstant World: Liz Deschenes, David Horvitz and B. Ingrid Olson in Conversation with Jamillah James.” Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, April 2, 2021. Recorded video, 1:04:47. theicala.org. 

 

2019 

“Outspoken: B. Ingrid Olson’s Forehead and Brain.” Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, March 13, 2019. Recorded video, 6:47. albrightknox.org. 

 

2018 

“Art Matters: Heidi Zuckerman in Conversation with B. Ingrid Olson.” Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, December 8, 2018. Recorded video, 27:26. aspenartmuseum.org. 

“No. 347: Thomas Scheibitz, B. Ingrid Olson.” Hosted by Tyler Green. The Modern Art Notes Podcast, June 28, 2018. Podcast, 55:00–1:16:58. manpodcast.com. 

 

2017 

“Artists Talk: Astrid Klein and B. Ingrid Olson in Conversation with Solveig Øvstebø.” The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, April 28, 2017. Recorded video, 1:05:43. renaissancesociety.org. 

Installation shots

B. Ingrid Olson, 'Fingered Eyed' at i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, 2019