Estonian artist Katariin Mudist joins Lyon Biennale program

Estonian artist Katariin Mudist will take part in the 18th Lyon Biennale’s “Jeune création internationale” special program with her work “Temporary Solution,” ERR reports. The biennale will open to the public on September 19.

“Jeune création internationale” is a section of the Lyon Biennale focused on artists under 35. It invites 10 young artists to create new works, which are displayed throughout the biennale alongside those of the other participating artists.

Mudist’s work spans sculpture, ceramics, installation and graphic art, and sometimes incorporates performative techniques. Her pieces often begin with everyday objects, activities and material structures whose role in daily life can easily go unnoticed. Through humour, irony and experiments with materials, she highlights the norms, expectations and values embedded in familiar situations.

Mudist received a Cultural Endowment award this year together with Keithy Kuuspu. In 2025, she received the Young Sculptor Award and the Adamson-Eric scholarship.

“Temporary Solution” (2026) brings together improvised doorstops collected from different locations. Created out of practical necessity, they have gradually become permanent and unnoticed parts of their surroundings.

The collected doorstops come from places including Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Kadriorg Art Museum, the Estonian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Von Krahl Theatre and the Arvo Pärt Centre, as well as many other locations.

The installation examines temporary solutions, small everyday disruptions, and how random objects and habits begin to direct our movement, attention and relationship with space. The collected doorstops carry stories both of their places of origin and of how they were used.

The first version of the installation was shown in March at the ARS Showcase gallery in Tallinn.

Founded in 1991, the Lyon Biennale is one of the internationally important art events and a leading art biennale in France. In 2024, 285,000 people visited the biennale with tickets, while almost three million people encountered it in public spaces. The curator of the 2026 biennale is Catherine Nichols, and its theme is “To pass from one dream to another.”