Nina Beier’s sculptures and installations expand upon the difficulty of defining what we see in the arts context—redefining “the carrier and the message” of her subjects. She often works with items that have particular functions or histories, such as Wagireh rugs or head rests from automobiles, and artistically translates them to shed light on the fluidity of their meaning. She directs attention to the power art has to conceptually redefine the purpose of certain items. This logic provides a reflexive quality in these objects, one that questions how the objects might mutate and behave as artworks.

Beier has been exhibited at Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri, Braunschweig Kunstverein, Germany, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tate Britain, London, and the Berardo Museum, Lisbon, among many others. She was featured in the 5th Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2013, and Platform Seoul in 2008.