For over twenty years, Charlie Koolhaas’ exhibitions have been immersive landscapes you can enter and explore where flat images are folded into three-dimensional structures offering infinite perspectives.
She has authored various books that tell sociological stories by merging her images and writing into unified narratives. In 2020 she released her book City Lust, which combines writing and photography to take the viewer on a journey through the global economy.
Her recently launched Foto-Couture, which makes her prints wearable, further frees her photographs from the boundaries of art institutions allowing them to enter the world where their meaning continues to evolve.
Charlie has taught visual culture and photography in various academic institutions such as Eindhoven School of design, TUDelf and the Sandberg Academy, and she has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard school of design, ETH Zurich and The Architectural Association London.
EDUCATION:
2003–2004
Goldsmiths College, Univ. of London
MA Interactive Media (with Honours)
1996–1999
New York University
BA Sociology
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
2022-23
Eindhoven School of Design, Eindehoven, Netherlands
Workshop on magazine making, Conceptual Design MA
2022
Independent School of the City, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Photography book making Workshop: The Rotterdam Dream
2018
Sandberg Academy, Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Radical Cut-Up MFA: Professor of Critical Theory for temporary masters program
2014
Strelka, Moscow, Russia
Urban Treasures’ a summer course, developed into an online course, on the methodology of making photography books
2013–2014
Delft Technical University, Delft, Netherlands
Visiting Professor of Visual Culture Studies
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2022 City Lust, Foto Couture installation – Villa Stuck, Munich
2020 City Lust in 3D — OMI gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2017 The Light at the End of the Tunnel — Susanne Bilderberg Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014 City Lust — Lodz Art and Design Festival, Lodz, Poland
2013 City Folds — Cityscapes Gallery at the Raw Art Fair, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2013 True Cities — Vertigo gallery, TUEindhoven, Netherlands
2012 True Cities — Architectural Association, London, United Kingdom
2012 Metabolism Trip — Koko Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Dubai Then — Downtown Pavillion, ThirdLine Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2011 True Cities — Architectural Association, London, United Kingdom
2010 Room for Thought — Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland
2009 True Cities — AedesLAND Gallery, Berlin, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2023 Art Central XL - Bannhof, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2023 Strange – OMI, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2020 The Mind Game — Het Niewe Instituut, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019 West Side Stories Part 1 & 2 — OMI Gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2017 BLUEPRINT — Whose urban appropriation is this? TENT Contemporary Art Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2015 Pearl River Delta Revisited — Shenzhen Biennale, Shenzhen, China
2015 Installations — Praga Historical Museum, Warsaw Poland
2014 Photographs of Biblioteca Laurenziana — Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy
2013 More Dimensions — Cityscapes Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2010 Get It Louder — Guangzhou, Shanghai & Beijing, China
2010 Tilt; Black and White — The Red Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2009 Lagos vs Dubai - Shenzhen Biennale, Shenzhen, China
2009 Global Static — Sandler and Hudson Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia USA
2009 The World of Madelon Vriesendorp — SAM, Basel, Switzerland
2008 Mama Africa — Barbican, London, United Kingdom
2008 The World of Madelon Vriesendorp — Venice Biennale, Italy
2007 Get It Louder — Guangzhou, Shanghai & Beijing, China
2007 Dubai Next — Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
2006 Photographs of Cairo — Venice Biennale of Architecture & Urbanism, Italy
BOOKS:
As Author;
2020 City Lust, Charlie Koolhaas, Scheidegger & Spiess AG
2016 What Happened in Rotterdam, Charlie Koolhaas, Intellectual Harmony Development
2012 Metabolism Trip, Charlie Koolhaas, Heibonsha Publishers
2011 Evolving Spaces, Ahmad Makia & Charlie Koolhaas, Brownbook Publishers
2008 True Cities, Exhibition Catalogue, AedesLand
As Contributor;
2021 50U, Archis Publishers
2013 In the Life of Cities, Edited by Mohsen Mostafavi, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Lars Muller publishers
2011 Project Japan, Edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist & Rem Koolhaas, Taschen Books
2010 Ecological Urbanism, Edited by Mohsen Mostafavi with Gareth Doherty, Lars Muller Publishers
2008 The World of Madelon Vriesendorp, Edited by Shumon Basar and Stephen Trueby, Architectural Association Press
2007 Post–it City, Edited by Marti Peran, Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona
2007 Shenzhen Special Investigation, edited by Quinyun Ma, Hong Kong City Innovation Center Ltd.
2002 Interarchive, Edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Kunstraum of Leuphana University of Luneburg
OTHER WORK:
2013-2015 Praga Historical Museum, Warsaw, Poland - Curatorial Programme and exhibition design
2007 Biennale of Architecture & Urbanism, Shenzhen, China — Co-Curator
2005–2008 UNIT Magazine, Guangzhou, China — Founder / Editor-in-Chief
2001–2004 TANK Publications, London, United Kingdom — Assistant Editor TANK magazine
2002–2005 Oxford Muse, London, United Kingdom — Photographer, Researcher
2004–2006 Offkey TV, London, United Kingdom — Co-founder and Designer, Development of a visual language for the mobile phone
For over twenty years, Charlie Koolhaas’ exhibitions have been immersive landscapes you can enter and explore where flat images are folded into three-dimensional structures offering infinite perspectives.
She has authored various books that tell sociological stories by merging her images and writing into unified narratives. In 2020 she released her book City Lust, which combines writing and photography to take the viewer on a journey through the global economy.
Her recently launched Foto-Couture, which makes her prints wearable, further frees her photographs from the boundaries of art institutions allowing them to enter the world where their meaning continues to evolve.
Charlie has taught visual culture and photography in various academic institutions such as Eindhoven School of design, TUDelf and the Sandberg Academy, and she has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard school of design, ETH Zurich and The Architectural Association London.
EDUCATION:
2003–2004
Goldsmiths College, Univ. of London
MA Interactive Media (with Honours)
1996–1999
New York University
BA Sociology
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
2022-23
Eindhoven School of Design, Eindehoven, Netherlands
Workshop on magazine making, Conceptual Design MA
2022
Independent School of the City, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Photography book making Workshop: The Rotterdam Dream
2018
Sandberg Academy, Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Radical Cut-Up MFA: Professor of Critical Theory for temporary masters program
2014
Strelka, Moscow, Russia
Urban Treasures’ a summer course, developed into an online course, on the methodology of making photography books
2013–2014
Delft Technical University, Delft, Netherlands
Visiting Professor of Visual Culture Studies
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2022 City Lust, Foto Couture installation – Villa Stuck, Munich
2020 City Lust in 3D — OMI gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2017 The Light at the End of the Tunnel — Susanne Bilderberg Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014 City Lust — Lodz Art and Design Festival, Lodz, Poland
2013 City Folds — Cityscapes Gallery at the Raw Art Fair, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2013 True Cities — Vertigo gallery, TUEindhoven, Netherlands
2012 True Cities — Architectural Association, London, United Kingdom
2012 Metabolism Trip — Koko Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Dubai Then — Downtown Pavillion, ThirdLine Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2011 True Cities — Architectural Association, London, United Kingdom
2010 Room for Thought — Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland
2009 True Cities — AedesLAND Gallery, Berlin, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2023 Art Central XL - Bannhof, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2023 Strange – OMI, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2020 The Mind Game — Het Niewe Instituut, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019 West Side Stories Part 1 & 2 — OMI Gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2017 BLUEPRINT — Whose urban appropriation is this? TENT Contemporary Art Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2015 Pearl River Delta Revisited — Shenzhen Biennale, Shenzhen, China
2015 Installations — Praga Historical Museum, Warsaw Poland
2014 Photographs of Biblioteca Laurenziana — Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy
2013 More Dimensions — Cityscapes Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2010 Get It Louder — Guangzhou, Shanghai & Beijing, China
2010 Tilt; Black and White — The Red Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2009 Lagos vs Dubai - Shenzhen Biennale, Shenzhen, China
2009 Global Static — Sandler and Hudson Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia USA
2009 The World of Madelon Vriesendorp — SAM, Basel, Switzerland
2008 Mama Africa — Barbican, London, United Kingdom
2008 The World of Madelon Vriesendorp — Venice Biennale, Italy
2007 Get It Louder — Guangzhou, Shanghai & Beijing, China
2007 Dubai Next — Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
2006 Photographs of Cairo — Venice Biennale of Architecture & Urbanism, Italy
BOOKS:
As Author;
2020 City Lust, Charlie Koolhaas, Scheidegger & Spiess AG
2016 What Happened in Rotterdam, Charlie Koolhaas, Intellectual Harmony Development
2012 Metabolism Trip, Charlie Koolhaas, Heibonsha Publishers
2011 Evolving Spaces, Ahmad Makia & Charlie Koolhaas, Brownbook Publishers
2008 True Cities, Exhibition Catalogue, AedesLand
As Contributor;
2021 50U, Archis Publishers
2013 In the Life of Cities, Edited by Mohsen Mostafavi, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Lars Muller publishers
2011 Project Japan, Edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist & Rem Koolhaas, Taschen Books
2010 Ecological Urbanism, Edited by Mohsen Mostafavi with Gareth Doherty, Lars Muller Publishers
2008 The World of Madelon Vriesendorp, Edited by Shumon Basar and Stephen Trueby, Architectural Association Press
2007 Post–it City, Edited by Marti Peran, Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona
2007 Shenzhen Special Investigation, edited by Quinyun Ma, Hong Kong City Innovation Center Ltd.
2002 Interarchive, Edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Kunstraum of Leuphana University of Luneburg
OTHER WORK:
2013-2015 Praga Historical Museum, Warsaw, Poland - Curatorial Programme and exhibition design
2007 Biennale of Architecture & Urbanism, Shenzhen, China — Co-Curator
2005–2008 UNIT Magazine, Guangzhou, China — Founder / Editor-in-Chief
2001–2004 TANK Publications, London, United Kingdom — Assistant Editor TANK magazine
2002–2005 Oxford Muse, London, United Kingdom — Photographer, Researcher
2004–2006 Offkey TV, London, United Kingdom — Co-founder and Designer, Development of a visual language for the mobile phone