Assaf Gruber (b. Jerusalem, 1980) is a sculptor and filmmaker living and working in Berlin. The dynamic relationship between individuals and institutions is at the center of his practice, exploring how the political orientation of legacy establishments impacts individual lives, and how these organizations represent and communicate facts and their attendant artifacts. The often absurd biographies of his protagonists reveal and obscure the motives that lead people to obey or rebel against their inner world or the society in which they live. His photography, sculpture, and installations place the materiality of objects in relation to narrative dimensions, creating fictional spaces where movement and non-movement function as a medium. His practice has gradually evolved toward cinematic forms of narration and moving image.
His work has been widely exhibited, including at the Kyiv Biennial (2025), steirischer herbst ’24, and BOZAR, Brussels (2025). Solo exhibitions include Berlinische Galerie (2018) and Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź (2015). His films have been featured at the Berlinale (2016, 2025), the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2023), and FIDMarseille (2019, 2022, 2025). In 2025, he received the Berlin Art Prize, Jubilee Endowment 1848 to 1948, in Visual Arts, and in 2018, the Follow Fluxus – Fluxus Art Prize.
He studied at Cooper Union in New York and graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Higher Institute of Fine Arts (HISK) in Ghent. He was a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Grant Programme 2022/23 and a Camargo Foundation fellow in 2019.
