Julia Scher Julia Scher

Julia Scher

Born 1954 in Hollywood, California, United States. Lives and works in Cologne.
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Exhibition view: Julia Scher, Maximum Security Society, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, 2023. Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Introduction

For the last forty years, Julia Scher's research has explored social control dynamics in the public sphere, focusing especially on themes of surveillance. The art projects have taken the form of interactive installations, reformulated surveillance, site tours, interventions, performances, photography, writing, online projects, linear video, and sound.

Full biography

Selected works

example
Julia Scher
Danger Dirty Data, Tell Your Story, 2025
Polished stainless steel, 3 surveillance cameras, monitor, keyboard, media player, speakers, bench
Dimensions variable
example
Julia Scher
I'll Uncover, 2024
Marble
71 x 34 x 34 cm
example
Julia Scher
Planet Delirious, 2024

Aluminum, paint, surveillance camera, audio mixer, cabling

ø 100 x 40 cm
example
Julia Scher
Blake, 2024
Marble
100,5 x 45 x 37 cm
example
Julia Scher
Gamma, 2024
Marble
45 x 79,5 x 29,7 cm
example
Julia Scher
You'll Uncover, 2024
Marble
71,5 x 34,5 x 34,5 cm
example
Julia Scher
Avi Loeb, 2023

Convex mirror, surveillance camera, amplifier plugin, sensor light, telescope
ø 100 x 40 cm
example
Julia Scher
Time Wafer for Outer Space, 2023
Aluminum, paint, vintage camera and video title maker

ø 100 cm
example
Julia Scher
Hyperwall (Infoscreen at bus station somewhere near Planet Greyhound), 2022

Video, sound
Duration: 23 min.
example
Julia Scher
Les Détecteurs de Logiciels Malveillants / Malware Detected (10), 2022
Painted aluminium panel, wires, light-stick tape, diverse equipment
50 x 60 cm
example
Julia Scher
Les Détecteurs de Logiciels Malveillants / Malware Detected (7), 2022

Painted aluminium panel, wires, light-stick tape, diverse equipment

50 x 60 cm
example
Julia Scher
Gretel, 2022
Marble
40 x 76 x 30 cm
example
Julia Scher
Great Hands for a Lifetime, 2020
Fiber glass
5,5 x 31 x 25 cm (2 1/8 x 12 1/4 x 9 7/8 in)
example
Julia Scher
Lip Sync 2015, 2016
Single-channel video (color, sound)
Duration 3:47 min
example
Julia Scher
Glückshaube, 2006
Marble
17 x 28 x 29 cm
example
Julia Scher
Girl Dog (Hybrid), 2005

Marble
75 x 45,5 x 22 cm
example
Julia Scher
Guards, 2004

Performance
example
Julia Scher
Mama Bed, 2003

Bedstead, steel, wood, foam, plastic, 2 monitors, 2 surveillance cameras, VHS player, VHS tapes, cables, bed sheets, books, leather whip

Dimensions variable
example
Julia Scher
Papa Bed, 2003
Bedstead, steel, wood, foam, plastic, 4 monitors, 10 surveillance cameras, 2 computer-video-switchers, 2 video recorders, VHS players, VHS tapes, transformer, cables, several bed sheets, US Army apparel, yellow floor sign
Dimensions variable
example
Julia Scher
Wonderland, 1998

Mixed media installation
Dimensions variable
example
Julia Scher
American Fibroids, 1996/2022
15 hard drives, table, mirror, various artworks for table, sign bin with signs, costumes for wardrobe, director's chair, carpet, soundtrack, CD player and speakers
Dimensions variable
example
Julia Scher
Grace, 1996-97

C-Print on Fujiflex
36 x 30 cm (unframed)
48,2 x 54,2 x 3,5 cm (framed)
example
Julia Scher
Lena, 1996-97

C-Print on Fujiflex
36 x 30 cm (unframed)
48,2 x 54,2 x 3,5 cm (framed)
example
Julia Scher
American Fibroids 1, 1995/1996

Inkjet print and pencil on A4 printer paper

29,7 x 21 cm (unframed)
33,7 x 25 x 3 cm (framed)
example
Julia Scher
American Fibroids 3, 1995/1996
Inkjet print on A4 printer paper
29,7 x 21 cm (unframed)
33,7 x 25 x 3 cm (framed)
example
Julia Scher
American Fibroids 8, 1995/1996

Inkjet print and pencil on A4 printer paper
29,7 x 21 cm (unframed)
33,7 x 25 x 3 cm (framed)
example
Julia Scher
Information America, 1995
Metal office desk, 5 black-and-white 9" NTSC television monitors with metal wall brackets, 13" color monitor, plastic and vinyl signage, 3 black-and-white NTSC (chip) surveillance cameras, interchangeable lenses, step down transformers, 2 analog homing bridging switchers, 2 time-lapse recorders, Amiga A1200HD computer, Sony WatchCam, 2 media cards, 2 media players, desk lamp, office chair, wires and cables
Installation dimensions variable
example
Julia Scher
Discipline Masters (DM), 1992

C-print
25,2 x 20,2 cm (unframed) each, 2 parts
43,8 x 38,8 x 3,5 cm (16 7/8 x 15 x 1 1/8 in) (framed) each, 2 parts
example
Julia Scher
Security By Julia X, 1991

Camouflage-painted desk, wooden platform, chair, monitors, video printer, printing paper rolls, signage, switchers, guard hat, playback video, time-lapse video recorder, brackets, Biometric reader, cables, wires, power strips, media player
2,4 x 1,8 x 2,1 m
example
Julia Scher
Occupational Placement, 1989-90

Monitors, hanging system, monitor brackets, monitor masks, surveillance camera, camera bracket, video switcher, media players, SD cards, cables and connectors, loudspeaker
Multi-channel digital video (color and black and white, silent) and real-time video stream (black and white, silent)
Sound installation
Installation dimensions and time-based media components duration variable
example
Julia Scher
Discipline Masters, 1988

Digital video transferred from original Betamovie and U-Matic NTSC (color, sound), 4:3 ratio
Duration: 224 min
example
Julia Scher
8-85, 1985
Polaroid print
10,8 x 8,9 cm (unframed)
24 x 22 x 3,5 cm (framed)
example
Julia Scher
Sanctuary, 1984
Acrylic, plaster and gel on canvas
137,2 x 228,6 cm (54 x 90 in)

Gallery Exhibitions

Let them know your scarlet heat, let them glisten Julia Scher

Let them know your scarlet heat, let them glisten

Julia Scher
Esther Schipper is pleased to announce Let them know your scarlet heat, let them glisten, a presentation by Julia Scher who has had six solo exhibitions with the gallery. On view will...
November 1—30, 2024
Esther Schipper, Berlin
The Mammoth Book of Eyewitnesses Julia Scher

The Mammoth Book of Eyewitnesses

Julia Scher
Esther Schipper is pleased to announce The Mammoth Book of Eyewitnesses, Julia Scher’s sixth solo exhibition with the gallery and the artist’s first at our Paris gallery. On view will be both...
February 10—March 23, 2024
Esther Schipper, Paris
Summer '22 With Sarah Buckner, Ann Veronica Janssens, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Cemile Sahin, Julia Scher, Sun Yitian and Tao Hui

Summer '22

With Sarah Buckner, Ann Veronica Janssens, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Cemile Sahin, Julia Scher, Sun Yitian and Tao Hui
Esther Schipper is pleased to present Summer ’22, a group exhibition with works by Sarah Buckner, Ann Veronica Janssens, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Cemile Sahin, Julia Scher, Sun Yitian and Tao Hui.
July 21—August 27, 2022
Esther Schipper, Berlin
En la casa de Marquès Esther Schipper Mallorca

En la casa de Marquès

Esther Schipper Mallorca
Visit us this summer for a special exhibition entitled Inside Marquès House in Palma de Mallorca held at the former residence of Martí Marquès Marquès, a historic house dating back to the...
July 12—31, 2021
Casa Museo Can Marquès, Palma de Mallorca
Wonderland Julia Scher

Wonderland

Julia Scher
Esther Schipper is pleased to announce Wonderland, Julia Scher’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery since her first participation in a 1991 group exhibition at Esther Schipper, Cologne. Twenty years after its...
December 14, 2018—February 2, 2019
Esther Schipper, Berlin
Security by Julia XLVI Julia Scher

Security by Julia XLVI

Julia Scher
US-American media artist Julia Scher's present installation consists of a chain-link-fence construction supplied with street lamps, loudspeakers, 'security blankets' and different devices of surveillance equipment. In this installation Scher combines objects relating...
September 20—November 9, 2002
Always There – Surveillance Bed Julia Scher

Always There – Surveillance Bed

Julia Scher
Since the early eighties, Julia Scher has been focusing on questions of personal identity within the context of power, such as surveillance and control. In the modified Surveillance Bed shown here, her...
November 26—December 18, 2000
The Komputer King Julia Scher

The Komputer King

Julia Scher
The exhibition and work The Komputer King consists of digitally processed sound components, some of which are downloaded from the internet. These include voices, artificial noises, soundtracks, muzak, sampling effects and other...
February 14—March 21, 1998
Confessions Julia Scher

Confessions

Julia Scher
November 25—December 16, 1995
Esther Schipper zeigt: Benjamin Weil zeigt: Gavin Brown, Laura Emrick, Wendy Jacob, Kirsten Mosher, Julia Scher

Esther Schipper zeigt: Benjamin Weil zeigt: Gavin Brown, Laura Emrick, Wendy Jacob, Kirsten Mosher, Julia Scher

February 23—April 1, 1991

External Exhibitions

1+1 – The relational years With Pierre Huyghe, Anri Sala, Julia Scher, Angela Bulloch, Philippe Parreno, Liam Gillick and Dominique...

1+1 – The relational years

With Pierre Huyghe, Anri Sala, Julia Scher, Angela Bulloch, Philippe Parreno, Liam Gillick and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
A dynamic itinerary transforms the MAXXI into a hub of relationships, conviviality, and interactions. 1+1 The relational years is the first major retrospective dedicated to the Relational Art movement—three decades after its...
October 29, 2025—March 1, 2026
MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome
Global Fascisms With Karolina Jabłońska and Julia Scher

Global Fascisms

With Karolina Jabłońska and Julia Scher
The exhibition Global Fascisms critically examines the aesthetic, social, and political dynamics of fascism, questioning its appeal and ideological mechanisms. A key aim is to understand fascism not only as a historical...
September 13—December 7, 2025
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Julia Scher: Drishti, Asra, Afsaneh HALLEN 06 Art Festival

Julia Scher: Drishti, Asra, Afsaneh

HALLEN 06 Art Festival
OPENING HOURS: Wednesday, September 11 through Sunday, September 14: 11am - 8pm www.hallen.art Hier finden Sie die deutsche Version Each perched on their own pedestal, Afsaneh, Asra and Drishti are at first...
September 6—14, 2025
Wilhelm Hallen, Kopenhagener Straße 60-68, Berlin
Tuning In - Acoustique de l'émotion With Julia Scher

Tuning In - Acoustique de l'émotion

With Julia Scher
Tuning in – Acoustique de l’émotion is an innovative new exhibition that explores the links between voices, heritage and humanitarian action, drawing on the audio archives and collections of the International Committee...
October 3, 2024—August 24, 2025
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva
THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE QUEEN With Rosa Barba, Ceal Floyer, Karin Sander and Julia Scher

THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

With Rosa Barba, Ceal Floyer, Karin Sander and Julia Scher
This is an exhibition of our time: Superman is thwarted and hits a wall, an oversized hybrid female hare offers motherly protection, a pair of seahorses switch traditional gender roles, and passion creates sparks. With a selection of contemporary works...
May 13—October 8, 2023
Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
Maximum Security Society Julia Scher

Maximum Security Society

Julia Scher
Museum Abteiberg presents an essay-like overview of Julia Scher’s extensive oeuvre. The exhibition at Museum Abteiberg brings together large-scale installations such as Surveillance Beds and Wonderland, as well as works from the...
March 26—August 20, 2023
Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
Maximum Security Society Julia Scher

Maximum Security Society

Julia Scher
Julia Scher has traced the gradual emergence of a ‘maximum security society’ since the 1980s. This is how sociologist Gary T. Marx describes the current era of encompassing surveillance technologies and infrastructures....
October 8, 2022—January 15, 2023
Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich
Wonderland Julia Scher

Wonderland

Julia Scher
Wonderland is the second part of The Artificial Kid series of exhibitions and events at Maison Populaire.
May 25—July 15, 2022
Maison Populaire, Montreuil
Planet Greyhound Julia Scher

Planet Greyhound

Julia Scher
Entitled Planet Greyhound, Julia Scher's solo exhibition of all new sculptural, video and installation works transforms the space of the Kunsthalle Gießen into a temporary bus station for humanoid and extraterrestrial life...
February 18—May 1, 2022
Kunsthalle Gießen
Julia Scher MAMCO, Geneva

Julia Scher

MAMCO, Geneva
The work of Julia Scher, which first appeared in the 1980s, is noteworthy for its systematic use of surveillance techniques, particularly CCTV.
October 6, 2021 – January 30, 2022
Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva
Time Is Thirsty with Ann Veronica Janssens and Julia Scher

Time Is Thirsty

with Ann Veronica Janssens and Julia Scher
Time Is Thirsty is a journey through time and space in the form of an exhibition: A complex ensemble of contemporary artworks and artefacts from the early 90s – more precisely from...
October 30, 2019—January 26, 2020
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Delta Julia Scher

Delta

Julia Scher
American artist Julia Scher will present her first solo exhibition Delta at NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein. Increased and almost omnipresent private as well as governmental surveillance has become a consciously made concession...
October 28—December 2, 2018
NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen
The Conditions of Being Art with Julia Scher

The Conditions of Being Art

with Julia Scher
The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery & American Fine Arts, Co. (1983-2004) will be the first exhibition in the United States to examine the shared histories, art, and programming activities...
June 23—December 14, 2018
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson
Enemy of the Stars with Julia Scher

Enemy of the Stars

with Julia Scher
May 20—August 6, 2017
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

Featured stories

Julia Scher THE MIAMI EDIT
THE MIAMI EDIT

Julia Scher

THE MIAMI EDIT
The Miami Edit is a focused series highlighting the practices and perspectives of the artists featured at this year's Art Basel Miami Beach. We look forward seeing you at our Booth J11...
December 6, 2025
How Artist Julia Scher Uses a Bed to Interrogate Systems of Surveillance artnet
Press

How Artist Julia Scher Uses a Bed to Interrogate Systems of Surveillance

artnet
Read article
In the high-security society: Julia Scher in the Museum Abteiberg Gallerytalk.net
News

In the high-security society: Julia Scher in the Museum Abteiberg

Gallerytalk.net
Read article
Medienkünstlerin Julia Scher in ihrer Ausstellung „Hochsicherheitsgesellschaft“ Westart | WDR
Video

Medienkünstlerin Julia Scher in ihrer Ausstellung „Hochsicherheitsgesellschaft“

Westart | WDR
Watch the film here
Mark von Schlegell on Julia Scher for ArtBlog Cologne
Exhibitions

Mark von Schlegell on Julia Scher for ArtBlog Cologne

Mark von Schlegell on Julia Scher's Maximum Security Society at Kunsthalle Zürich.
Read article
Letter from Berlin October 2022
Letter from Berlin

Letter from Berlin

October 2022
Welcome to the Letter from Berlin! This Letter from Berlin should rightfully be titled 'Letter from Paris'! We begin with projects in Paris: Etienne Chambaud's exhibitions in Paris and in Lille, as...
Read article
Interview: Julia Scher on her solo exhibition Maximum Security Society at Kunsthalle Zürich
Video

Interview: Julia Scher on her solo exhibition Maximum Security Society at Kunsthalle Zürich

Maximum Security Society is the title of American artist Julia Scher's current solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Zürich. Scher's work addresses issues of surveillance, control and seduction. Julia Scher’s first institutional survey brings...
Watch the film here
Summer ’22
Exhibitions

Summer ’22

This summer Esther Schipper is pleased to present Summer '22, an exhibition of works from Sarah Buckner, Ann Veronica Janssens, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Cemile Sahin, Julia Scher, Sun Yitian and Tao Hui.
July 21 – August 27, 2022
Julia Scher, Wonderland
Exhibitions

Julia Scher, Wonderland

Julia Scher Wonderland Maison Populaire 9 bis Rue Dombasle 93100 Montreuil May 25 – July 15, 2022 www.maisonpop.fr Opening: Tuesday May 24, 6pm–9pm Between 1996 and 1997, Julia Scher photographed seven children...
May 25 – July 15, 2022
Julia Scher, Planet Greyhound
Exhibitions

Julia Scher, Planet Greyhound

Entitled Planet Greyhound, Julia Scher's solo exhibition of all new sculptural, video and installation works transforms the space of the Kunsthalle Gießen into a temporary bus station for humanoid and extraterrestrial life...
February 18 – May 1, 2022
Julia Scher – MAMCO, Geneva
Exhibitions

Julia Scher – MAMCO, Geneva

The work of Julia Scher, which first appeared in the 1980s, is noteworthy for its systematic use of surveillance techniques, particularly CCTV. Scher’s technical background provided her with in-depth knowledge of a...
October 6, 2021 – January 30, 2022
Spotlight: Julia Scher
Continuity

Spotlight: Julia Scher

For our Spotlight this month we present Julia Scher's Security Landscape of the Year, 2002. Julia Scher’s Security Landscape of the Year consists of a pink foam board connected to a surveillance camera and...
'The Challenge: We are in this together' – Esther Schipper for The New Institute
Continuity

"The Challenge: We are in this together" – Esther Schipper for The New Institute

For its December newsletter, titled 'The Challenge: We are in this together', The New Institute asked Esther Schipper – among other thinkers and practitioners – to share her insights and analysis on the current...
Artist Talk with Julia Scher
Events

Artist Talk with Julia Scher

On Wednesday January 30, from 6–8pm, Julia Scher will give a talk titled “Databound Vaginal Architectures” at the Freie Universitat, in Hörsaal 1B (Habelschwerdter Allee 45)
January 30 2019, 6 – 8pm

Publications

Julia Scher Tell Me When You're Ready

Julia Scher

Tell Me When You're Ready
“…a comprehensive survey of the indispensable work of the visionary artist Julia Scher. Scher’s Grosz-ian dystopic vision exposes the oppressive mechanisms of our surveillance society while simultaneously indicating the degree to which...
2002
Julia Scher Always There

Julia Scher

Always There
Always There offers a comprehensive survey of American artist Julia Scher’s work. The artist’s installations and performances have always featured a complex relation to techno-social control, demonstrating our complicity in the proliferating...
2002
Julia Scher R.S.I.

Julia Scher

R.S.I.
Since the 1980s, Julia Scher (b. Hollywood, 1954; lives and works in Cologne) has been investigating the emergence of a “maximum security society”. Inspired by French philosopher Michel Foucault and sociologist Gary...
2023