Artist Statement
Noé Duboutay (he/they) is a visual artist based in Berlin and Luxembourg. Noé performs, writes, and makes installations and objects. His practice draws on historical and fictional narratives, borrowing imagery and language from different eras. Noé approaches queer historiography not as a definitive account, but also as a speculative, embodied practice – an attempt to seek out what and who have been silenced, or systematically erased. Their work draws from experiences in/with a transmasculine body to question and navigate societal implications of masculinity, patriarchy, and heteronormativity, among others. Non-human and animal-like beings often represent personal worlds of experience, and the materials used are a direct reference to the narratives. As much as it is a critique, Noé’s work also seeks queer allyship and kinship – with a focus on vulnerability as a form of resistance and connection. 

       
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Bio
Born and raised in Luxembourg, after a Bachelor from HBKsaar in 2019, and a Master from ZHdK in 2021, they finished their performance studies in Live Art Forms at AdBK Nürnberg in 2023. 

Noé won the Akademiepreis AdBK Nürnberg in 2022 and received the Bourse Auguste van Werveke-Hanno the same year. In 2023, Noé published his first literary publication, “mud and the bros” with Lemon Press Zurich and was the laureate 2024 of the residency at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris. Last year Noé was resident at Künstlerhaus Bethanien.

Education
2021-2023 Master Live Art Forms, AdBK Nürnberg (DE)

2019-2021 Master of Fine Arts, ZHdK (CH)

2019 inoctober school (inoctober.org) in Mexico City (MX) 

2018-2019 6 months Erasmus+, Sint-Lucas Gent (BE)

2015-2019 Bachelor of Fine Arts, HBKsaar (DE)

2014 diplôme de fin d‘études secondaires, LTAM (LU)

2011-2015 continuing education for children and youth work, Young Caritas (LU)


Exhibitions & Performances 

(selected) 
(upcoming) 2026 Armour Down!, Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin (DE)

(upcoming) 2026 Common Ground Triennale Jeune Création, Rotondes (LU)

2025 What a Hero?!, Schaufenster Berlin (DE)

2024 Open Studio, Cité Internationale des Arts Paris (FR)

2024 GOSSIP, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken (DE) & Cercle Cité (LU)

2023 & 2024 mud and the bros, AdBK Nürnberg (DE), sic_elephant Luzern (CH), Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken (DE), Casino Display (LU)

2023 wet dusk, Zentralwäscherei Zürich (CH)

2023 trans space performance, Baby Angel (CH)

2022 Lust*Art, Kunst Tage Basel (CH)

2022 Woven In Vegetal Fabric: On Plant Becomings at Casino 
Display (LU)

2021 There is always tomorrow, Löwenbräu Kunstareal Zürich

2020 human worm, The Lab Program Mexico City (MX)

2019 Allez Allez graduation show, Saarbrücken (DE)

2019 Hager-Preis, HBKsaar Galerie & Saarländische Galerie Berlin (DE)

2019 Synesthesia, Gouvernement Gent (BE)

2018 matters manners, UG im Folkwang Essen (DE)
Publications
2023 mud and the bros, Lemon Press Zurich

2022 Woven in Vegetal Fabric: On Plant Becomings (LU)

2021 embodying worm, Master Thesis ZHdK (CH)

2020 human worm, self-published, The Lab Program (MX)


Prizes & Grants
2024-25 Carte Blanche, Theater Kaleidoskop (LU)

2022 Akademiepreis AdBK Nürnberg (DE)

2022 Bourse Auguste van Werveke-Hanno (LU)

2020 ZHdK-AVINA Projektfonds für Studierende (CH)


Residencies
(upcoming) June-July 2026 Squatfabrik Kulturfabrik Esch (LU)

July-December 2025 Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin (DE)

September-November 2024 Cité Internationale des Arst Paris (FR) 

December 2023 & February 2024 ArtMix residency neimënster & Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken (LU/DE)

November 2020 residency The Lab Program in Mexico City (MX)

December 2020 residency imGrafenhag in Winterthur (CH)

Press
L’arc de Noé Duboutay
2025

Noé Duboutay est-il un héros ?
2024

Catherine Duboutay - Vum Studium zum...
2021               

Noé Duboutay



pronouns: they/he
based in Berlin and Luxembourg

many a knight unhorsed by Silence

GOSSIP - matters hard to grasp, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken (2024)
Cité des Arts International Paris (2024)

 Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin (2025)

Common Ground - Triennale Jeune Création, Rotondes (2026)

installation: harness, chains, silver casting of snail shells

commissioned by ArtMix
funded and supported by Ministère de la Culture Luxembourg, Cercle Cité, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Casino Display
curated by: Katharina Ritter



 many a knight unhorsed by Silence is influenced by drawings of snails in the margins of medieval manuscripts. Here, human-sized snails and knights meet at eye level. The knight shrinks away, afraid. One interpretation is that the snail‘s threat is a criticism of heroic masculinity, as the knight, who embodies ideal masculinity, shrinks away from it. 

In many a knight unhorsed by Silence, the snail shells become silver armor attached to harnesses. In „Le Roman de Silence“, the hero of the story, Silence, is assigned female at birth but lives as a man. Silence is reminded that they do not have the „right equipment“ to be a man. The work knight and snail picks up on this idea and uses the harnesses, which allow “equipment” to be attached to the body, to distinguish gender identity from classified anatomical genitals. The snails, which are often hermaphrodites, also pick up on the versatility and fluidity of sex(es).
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