Stéphanie Roland is a Brussels-based visual artist and filmmaker. Hovering between documentary and imaginary, her films and installations explore the invisible structures of the Western world, the large scales of time, and hyperobjects. She draws her inspiration from a wide range of subjects, from environmentalism and politics to geology and the cosmos.
Having graduated from Brussels’ La Cambre and studied with Hito Steyerl at the UDK Berlin, she completed a course in France at Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains. Her projects regularly feature in exhibitions at internationally renowned institutions, such as the Venice Biennale, the Centre Pompidou, the Louvre, the Benaki Museum, the Botanique, the Kampala International Art Biennale, Wiels, and ISELP. Breda Photo, Belfast Photo Festival, Manifesto, Encontros da Imagem, BIP Liège, Month of Photography Los Angeles, and Unseen are some of the photography festivals in which she has participated.
Her films have been shown at international festivals such as Visions du Réel, FID Marseille, Festival dei Popoli, ZINEBI Bilbao, FEST New Directors / New Films, Rencontres Internationales Paris / Berlin, Curtas Cinema and PÖFF Shorts Tallin black nights, to name but a few. Her first film, Podesta Island, won the Alice Guy prize at the FID Marseille while her second, Le cercle vide, won the TËNK prize at the Visions du Réel festival in Nyon.
> The screening’s lists are available in film sections
Awards / Grants
2023
Chroniques Biennale award, special mention
Territoires en Images, Special mention Best documentary
Aide à l’édition, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
Film Lab, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
Enjeux de demain, Bourse SCAM x ORANGE
GSARA, aide aux repérages
2022
TËNK Award, Visions du Réel (laureate)
Lichter Film Award (shortlist)
Silver lynx for experimental film (honorable mention)
ARRI Award for best documentary (laureate)
2022
TËNK Award, Visions du Réel (laureate)
Lichter Film Award (shortlist)
Silver lynx for experimental film (honorable mention)
ARRI Award for best documentary (laureate)
2021
Prix Alice Guy, FID Marseille (laureate)
Bourse Nouveaux mondes, ministère de la culture (laureate)
Bourse Futur pour la culture, Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles (laureate)
2020
Bourse Neuflize OBC, Fresnoy (laureate)
Prix Studio Collector, Fresnoy (shortlisted)
Maribor Photobook award, runner-up prize (laureate)
Best dutch books (shortlisted)
The best photobooks of the year - international category, PHotoEspaña (shortlisted)
Aide à l'édition, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (laureate)
2019
Prix Jeunes Artistes, Parlement FWB (shortlisted)
BMW Residency Award (shortlisted)
Aide à la mobilité, WBI (laureate)
2018
Salomon Foundation Award (shortlisted)
2017
Unseen Dummy Award (shortlisted)
Aide à la création, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (laureate)
Gomma grant Catalogue (shortlisted)
Grand Prix Vevey Images (shortlisted)
2016
Antarctic Biennale young artist open call (laureate)
2015
Oskar Barnack Leica award (shortlisted)
Lodz Grand Prix Foto Festiwal 2015 (shortlisted)
SMart Grant (laureate)
Woluwe award (shortlisted)
2014
Prix Voix Off, Arles (shortlisted)
Aide à la création, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (laureate)
HSBC award (shortlisted)
2013
SPES grant (laureate)
Lucie Foundation scholarship (shortlisted)
UCO Grant La fragua / Cordoba University (laureate)
Vocatio Grant, Vocatio Fondation de la vocation (laureate)
2012
Full contact award 2012, Scan Tarragona International festival of photography (laureate)
2011
Ecrea Award 2011, Emergent International festival of visual arts, Lleida (laureate)
Prix du public Médiatine 2011, Brussels (laureate)
2010
Prix Coups de coeur, Les amis de La Cambre group (laureate)
Beaufort Prize (shortlisted)
2008
MIT European Short Film Festival, Massachussets Institute of Technology, Boston (shortlisted)
Solo shows
2022
Blue Marble, ISELP, Brussels
2021
Le pôle d'inaccessibilité, Le Vecteur, Charleroi
2018
Big Crunch, Cloître, Brussels
2017
Home oxymoron, Biennale Watch This Space, 50° Nord
2016
L'horizon du trou noir, Biennale de l'Image Possible, Liège
2015
Trou noir et rituels familiaux, Vu Photo, Québec
The Family Paradox, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot
2014
Ideal city, The Folio Club, Barcelona
Ideal city, Galery Shortcuts, Namur
2013
Ideal city, Fundació Forvm, Tarragona
Ciudad Ideal, Residencia Corazón, La Plata, Buenos Aires
2011
_ _ : _ _ , B-gallery, Brussels
Les enfants-modèles, Botanique, Brussels
Collective exhibitions
Arpenter les Lieux, CACLB, Centre d’art Contemporain du Luxembourg Belge
Stellar Scape, Pavillon, Namur
Archipels fantômes, île Nouvelle, France
Mystery bag, La mercerie, Art Brussels OFF
Dans la Nature, Espace Ganter, Belfort
Festival ZERO1, La Rochelle
2023
La Fragua. Artist Residency, Fundación Botí, Córdoba
Le pôle d’inaccessibilité, Galerie Elektra, Montreal
Scopitone, Nantes
Capture, Pavillon, Namur
Faire croître des plantes dans l’obscurité, El Bòlit, Girona
The infinity of grapes, CNEAI, Paris
Open studio, POELP, Brussels
Mondes nouveaux, Beaux Arts Paris
Paysage. Fenêtre sur la nature, Louvre-Lens
Design a book, Bibliothèque Wittockania, Brussels
Memories gone wild / Fictive archive investigations, ISELP, Brussels
2022
Onomatopées, Galerie Huberty & Breyne
Open Doors, POELP Ateliers
Paréidolies – en quête de formes, La Châtaigneraie, Flémalle
Biennale Chroniques, Fondations Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence
2021
Biennale Image tangible, Paris
There Is No Such Thing as Abstract Art, Emergent, Furnes
Etoffes, Centre de la Laine, Verviers
Deus ex machina, Musée de Soissons
20m2, public space, Brussels
Panorama 23, Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing
La nouvelle vague, Biennale du Condroz
Le court en dit long, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
In extremis, Galerie Confluence, Nantes
2020
Inside-out, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
Panorama 22, Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing
Exi(s)t, public space, Brussels
The Eriskay Connection, POST, Tokyo
Narration.s, La vallée, Brussels
Digital Icons, MILL Musée Ianchelevici, La Louvière
Imprimé / Intimité / Collection, Galerie UQO, Gatineau, Quebec
2019
Gigantisme, Biennale organized by FRAC Dunkerque
Prix Jeunes Artistes FWB, Wiels, Brussels
Etalage tactile, Recyclart, Brussels
Greetings by Superstudio - Architecture as Political Instrument, Haus Der Arkitektur, Graz
Stormy weather, Arnhem Museum
À revoir sans modération, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot
Bientôt Déjà Hier, ARTour Biennale, MMDD - Site du Bois-du-Luc
S.O.S., Muzee Scheveningen, The Hague
Aurora Eterna, Officina della Scrittura, Turin
No Rain No Stones, Pinguin, Brussels
Capture, Halles de Schaerbeek, Brussels
2018
[Cloitre]#1, Cloître, Brussels
Pilotage, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot
Fusée de la Motographie, C/O Berlin
Focus sur la nouvelle collection, Médiatine, Brussels
Fusée de la Motographie, Rolling paper #2, Le Bal, Paris
Nuances d'acier, Musée Ianchelevici, La Louvière
Arslan Alumni, UDK, Berlin
Zone bleue, Pop Up Atelier Synoptique Portatif, Brussels
I still believe in miracles, Penthouse, Brussels
Unseen Photobook Award, Photobookfest, Moscow
Topographie de la subversion, Halles Saint Gery, Brussels
2017
A Bao A Qou, Baumhaus Luxembourg
10 years, Residencia Corazón, Buenos Aires
Racovitza symposium, Vaslui county museum, Romania
Unseen dummy award, Unseen, Amsterdam
Tendencies, Bozar, Brussels
Make the great great again, GNF Gallery, Brussels
Nature fertile, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot
Tu me manques, Galerie haute - Arts², Mons
Art & Swap, Saldias Station, Buenos Aires
Antarctic Pavillion, Venice Biennale
2016
Interférences, KIKK Festival, Namur
Luxembourg Art Week, Galerie Triangle Bleu
Seven hills, Kampala Biennale, Uganda
Interfaces, Urbana Project, Bozar, Bruxelles
3 X 10, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot
Next flood, 38CC, Delft, NL
Heterotopia, Vleurgat 82, Brussels
2015
Espèces d'espaces, Les abbatoirs de Bomel, Namur
Power and illusion, Encontros da Imagem, Braga
186 Louise, Brussels
Reframe Memory, Benaki Museum, Athens
Portraits n°3, Centre Culturel Valery Larbaud, Vichy
Belfast Photo Festival
Super / Natural, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, USA
2014
Manifesto, Festival d'images, Toulouse
Songs for the heart, Breda International Photo Festival
Sensus, galerie triangle bleu, Stavelot
Contempo, 6th contemporary art festival, Varna, Bulgaria
Parkunst, Hôtel Communal de Woluwé, Bruxelles
Notre horizon s'ouvre ici, Artothèque de Wolubilis, Bruxelles
Reviewed 2013, Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee
Mixing identities , Palazzo Barone Ferrara, Bari, Italy
Photo L.A., 23rd Annual International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition, Los Angeles
2013
Science frictions, La Fragua, Belalcazar, Spain
Border body - Mixing cities and identities, MECA Mediterráneo Centro Artístico, Almeria
Border body - Mixing cities and identities, gallery MD_S, Wrocław
Exposition de la francophonie, Acropole, Nice
Quarante œuvres pour le temps futur, Centre culturel Jacques Frank, Brussels
Focus sur la collection de l’Artothèque, Artothèque, Brussels
Out of focus, Videoholica Video Art Festival, Bulgaria
Border Cities & New Identities, The Water Plant, Uzina de Apa, Suceava, Romania
Liquid Cities & Temporary Identities, Espoonsilta Gallery, Espoo, Finland
Los Angeles and beyond, MOPLA Month of photography, Los Angeles
Print Art Fair, Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium
2012
End of the world party, Galerie Nadine Feront, Brussels
Confessions, Saint-Loup church, Namur
Rencontres d'été, Les plachettes, Flobecq
2011
Ecrea award 2011, Emergent International festival of visual arts, Lleida, Spain
Prix Médiatine 2011, Brussels
2009
Two openings, Mobile Institute, Brussels
2008
MIT European Short Film Festival, Massachussets Institute of Technology, Boston
UDK Show of Fine Arts, UDK Gallery, Berlin
Curating
2020
Lucas Leffler solo show, Pinguin, Brussels
2019
Shifting Foundations, Hectolitre, Brussels
Residencies
2024
Headland Center for arts
2023
SoundImageCulture
2019
Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains (> 2021)
Fiskars AIR, Finland
2018
Villa Lena, Italy
Cloître, Brussels
2016
Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin
Nida Art Colony, Lithuania
2015
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley
2013
Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium
Residencia Corazon, La Plata, Buenos Aires
La fragua, Belalcazar, Cordoba, Spain
Academic
— Guest teacher at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris
— Post-graduate studies, Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains
— Master's exchange programme, UDK - Berlin college of Arts, Media Arts Department
— Master’s degree in Visual Communication, La Cambre - Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels, with High Distinction