Eva Koch facts for kids

Eva Isabel Koch (born on June 17, 1953) is a talented artist from Denmark. She is famous for her sculptures and especially for her amazing video installations. In 2011, she received a very important award called the Thorvaldsen Medal for her work.

About Eva Koch's Life and Art

Early Life and Education

Eva Koch was born in Frederiksberg, a part of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father, Jens Koch, worked for the government and later became a judge. Her mother, Chris Haslunc Gleditsch, was an interior decorator, someone who designs the inside of buildings.

Eva studied art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1985 to 1992. She learned from well-known artists like Freddie A. Lerche, Mogens Møller, Hein Heinsen, and Bjørn Nørgaard. She also spent a year studying in Barcelona, Spain, at the Facultad de Bellas Artes (which means Faculty of Fine Arts) between 1989 and 1990.

Exploring New Art Forms

In the 1980s, Eva Koch started trying out different ways to sculpt. She used blocks of various materials and even worked with lead and phosphorus. In 1988, she began making "installations." These are artworks that take over a space, sometimes making you feel a certain way. For example, at an exhibition in 1989, she had a rubber-covered cylinder that made the room feel very tight.

In 1991, she created a "Video Sculpture" in Barcelona. More recently, her art installations often show interesting structures and frameworks.

Sculpture and Video Art

Even though Eva Koch first trained as a sculptor, she is also very good at using other things in her art, like sound and light. She created Denmark's largest sculpture, called Lyshøjen, in Esbjerg. She worked on this huge project from 1994 to 2001 with a landscape architect named Steen Høyer.

In 2003, she showed her "Villar" video exhibit at the Venice Biennale, a big art show. This video told the story of a child from Spain who was adopted by a family in Norway. The images in the video were very large, up to two meters (about six feet) high! Through her videos, Eva Koch often shows ordinary people, helping viewers feel a close connection to them.

Awards and Recognition

Eva Koch has received several important awards for her contributions to art.

• In 2003, she was given the Eckersberg Medal.
• In 2011, she received the prestigious Thorvaldsen Medal.