Sophie Kovel
Sophie Kovel (b. 1996, Los Angeles) is an artist and writer. Kovel’s criticism and conversations have been published in Artforum, BOMB, Frieze, PALM: Jeu de Paume, and elsewhere. Upcoming and recent exhibitions include diez, Amsterdam (2025); NEON at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece, Athens; Space n.n, Munich; Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2024); UncleBrother, New York; Petrine, Paris (2023); Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York; and Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2021). Kovel is an alumnus of the Whitney Independent Study Program.
Press: Palm: Ghosts of Colonial Modernity, Pt. 1, Palm: Haunted Architectures, Ghosts of Colonial Modernity, Pt. 2, Palm: Sites of Memory, Ghost of Colonial Modernity, Pt. 3
Exhibitions with Petrine:
Sophie Kovel
3450–3660 21st Street, 2021/2024
Film still from single-channel digital video transferred from Super 8, black-and-white, silent
5 minutes, loop
Installation view: Space n.n, Munich (2024)
Sophie Kovel
Model of SCIF Wall A (Standard Wall)—Sound Group 3 (STC 45 or Better), 2024
metal studs, type X gypsum, acoustic fill, assembled and scaled per 2012 Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) construction guidelines
144 x 120 x 80 cm
Installation view: Petrine, Paris (2024)
Sophie Kovel
The Diplomatic Reception Room (Views of North America), 2024
Replica of wallpaper panels twenty-seven through thirty - two of the White House Diplomatic Reception Room, Washington, D.C.
dimensions variable
Installation view: Cité Internationale des arts, Paris (2024)
Sophie Kovel
Installation view: Whitney Independent Study Program, New York (2023)
Sophie Kovel
United States of America v. Reality Leigh Winner (Xerox Docucolor 240/242/250/252/260, Pluribus International Corporation, Springfield, Virginia, May 9, 2017, 6:20PM) (Screen), 2023
Xerox DocuColor printer screen, NSA documents leaked by Reality Winner to The Intercept
137.16 x 165.35 x 91.95 cm
Installation view: Paris International, Paris (2023)
Sophie Kovel
Camp Topridge, Upper St. Regis Lake, Keese Mill, New York (Registration Office, Main Quadrangle, Adirondack Cabin, Main Buildings, Ridge between Upper and Lower Spectacle Pond, Boat House, Datcha Meeting Room), 2023
12 silver gelatin prints; original press photos by Paul Smith and Skip Dickstein, New York, 1981/1986
88 x 138 cm
Installation view: Paris International, Paris (2023)
Sophie Kovel
Lieu de mémoire (À utiliser dans service intérieur), 2017-2022
67 French colonial postcards (circa 1904–10); hung at the height of the surrounding fence at La Consulaire, Brest
dimensions variable
Installation view: Petrine, Paris (2022)
Sophie Kovel
Untitled (Sometimes it is not a question of what the visible hides but how it is that we have failed to see certain things on the surface) or Untitled (The modern surface), 2022
Floral wrapping paper, sconce replicas of fixtures at the Metropolitan Republican Club, New York
dimensions variable
Installation view: Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York (2022)
