EVA & ADELE, at ‘Obsidian’ exhibition with vinyl costumes, 2013, MARTa Herford
The pair arrived and circled the crowds aglow with smiling warmth and costumed perfection causing us to stare. But rather than avoid our gaze, the couple stared back in return, increasing the warmth and energy in the huge halls 100 fold and with big smiles and bright eyes indicating that they—like the art on the walls—were there to be stared at and adored…and so they were!
The pair never separated. Ever since meeting in the 1980s and making a promise to each other to never spend a night apart, the duo crafted an identity that defied both gender and time itself. Claiming to have been from the future, their lives unfolded as a constant and steady performance. They were always seen side by side in matching outfits, futuristic makeup, and shaved heads, they embraced every encounter as a piece of living artwork. They famously declared, "Wherever we are is museum.”
EVA & ADELE Frieze New York, May 2015
Their life’s work centered on radical visibility. By making themselves into living sculptures, they challenged norms around gender, sexuality, and aging. They turned their relationship into a canvas, queerness into a celebration, and love into a public testimony. Eva & Adele invited strangers into their orbit, posing for thousands of photos, and delighting in the unpredictability that their presence sparked.
The iconic duo taught us that performance can be perpetual. Attendance at art fairs and gallery openings was not a role being played, it was proof that they became their art entirely. And in doing so, they offered people something profound: the courage to be completely, unapologetically themselves.
Eva & Adele, photographed by Oliver Mark, Berlin, 2002
In April 2025, Eva passed into the future. But the pair’s legacy is indivisible, in the photos, in the memories, in the countless lives inspired, the art lives on—in the future they came from and the one they created together.
EVA & ADELE Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Berlin performance
EVA & ADELE Biographische Skulptur n°2 B-EA 5800, 1999-2006
EVA & ADELE at ART COLOGNE 2016
EVA & ADELE
Measurements (EVA / ADELE):
Height: 176 cm / 161 cm
Bust: 101 cm / 86 cm
Waist: 81 cm / 68 cm
Hips: 96 cm / 96 cm
Live and work: Berlin, Germany Exhibitions (selected): 2024 – Melody, Nicole Gnesa Gallery, Munich; 2023 – The Present of the Future, OK Linz; 2016 – You Are My Biggest Inspiration, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; 2014 – Swatch Pavilion, Venice Biennale; 2010 – The Artist = A Work of Art, Museum Mocak, Kraków