Verena Issel was born in 1982 and is half Norwegian, half German. She studied Fine Arts at HfBK Hamburg (Germany), Faculdade de Belas Artes Lisboa  (Portugal) and China Art Academy Hangzhou (China) and Classical Philology (Latin and Greek) at the University of Hamburg. She has exhibited at  Manifesta 2026, Kunsthalle Mannheim (Germany), Volksbühne Berlin (Germany), Museum Lothar Fischer C.A.P. Kobe (Japan), Museo Pumapungo (Ecuador), SEMA Nanji Seoul (South Korea), KOOSHK, Teheran (Iran), Kunstpalais Erlangen (Germany) Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster (Germany),  Zarya Vladivostok (Russia), Si:Said Gallery Klaipeda( Lithuania), TRAFO KUNSTHALL Asker( Norway)  and many more.  Verena had residencies in Taiwan, Finnland, Spain, China, Lithuania, South Korea, Russia, Japan, Germany, Papua New Guinnea and more.

Verena Issel is a professor of Fine Arts at the university BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

“I do Installations. These installations consists of groups of objects which are circling around one specific issue or theme. The chosen issue or theme is a starting point for making various objects like sculptures, collages, drawings and assemblages, sometimes even photographies or videos. I start researching about the topic and simultaneously creating these objects out of various materials, everything from paper to plastic and metal. To me, the heterogeneity of material and themes is a logical analogy to the complexity of our modern times. I create object groups which are like families, they can be seen as single objects, but they are also a member of a bigger group and might appear in room installations.” – Verena Issel