João Penalva was born in Lisbon in 1949. He lived in London from 1976 to 2021, and in Lisbon from 2021 to the present.
After starting his career in contemporary dance from 1968 to 1976, including a period with Pina Bausch's company (1973-74) and co-founding The Moon Dance Company with Jean Pomares (1976), he moved to London. There, he received a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to study at the Chelsea School of Art (1976-81). Initially focused on painting, his practice expanded in the 1990s to include various media such as film, photography, and installation. His body of work integrates text and imagery as foundational elements. Drawing from diverse sources like literature, found objects, and archival materials, his work often involves deep research that informs the final piece. One of the core aspects of his art is exploring communication in its many forms, blending both formal and theoretical approaches within complex narratives that mix reality and fiction.
Penalva represented Portugal in the 23rd Bienal de São Paulo and in the 49th Venice Biennale. He also exhibited in the 2nd Berlin Biennale and the 13th Biennale of Sydney.
Solo exhibitions include: Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon; Camden Arts Centre, London; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius; Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck; Tramway, Glasgow; Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö; Institute of Visual Arts, Milwaukee; Power Plant, Toronto; Serralves Museum, Porto; Ludwig Museum Budapest; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; DAAD Gallery, Berlin; Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, UK; Lunds Konsthall, Lund; Berlinische Gallerie, Berlin; Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon; Brandts Kunsthallen, Odense, Denmark; Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway; LOGE, Berlin; Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg; Culturgest, Porto; Lumiar Cité, Lisbon; Appleton Square, Lisbon.
Group exhibitions include, among others: Haus der Kunst, Munich; Museum Folkwang, Essen; K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei; Bombas Gens Centre d’Art, Valencia; Tramway, Glasgow; Wellcome Collection, London; South London Gallery, London; Lunds Konsthall, Sweden; Hayward Gallery and Tate Modern, London.
Penalva was awarded the DAAD Berlin Artist’s Residency in 2003; the Bryan Robertson Award in 2009; The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2020.