Eva, one half of the legendary performance art couple Eva & Adele, has died. German news agency dpa reported that Eva passed away at home in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district, with Adele by her side, after undergoing lumbar spine surgery. Eva’s death was confirmed by a post on the couple’s Instagram page.
“EVA went Back to the Future today,” the post said. “She has left this world and entered the eternal stage. Her belief in the power of art was endless. FUTURE.”
Eva & Adele gained worldwide fame for turning their everyday lives into an ongoing performance. Often appearing at art world events in matching, theatrical outfits, they cultivated an image with shaven heads and distinct makeup. They became instantly recognizable fixtures on Berlin’s art scene after debuting in 1991, when they began showing up at exhibition openings claiming to have arrived via time machine from the future. “We don’t just go and do a performance in a gallery and then stop being Eva & Adele afterwards,” Adele told the Guardian in 2011.
Eva & Adele were unofficially married on April 11, 1991 at an exhibition at Berlin’s Gropius Bau museum. They finally married officially in 2011, after a three year battle to get Eva’s gender recognized as legally female. The two artists never revealed their true ages or names, and gauged their lifespan based exclusively on their relationship. “After 34 years, one month, and ten days, the longest performance in the world has come to an end today,” gallerist Nicole Gnesa Galerie wrote in an Instagram post.
The performance challenged the gender binary—in an interview with the Guardian, the pair claimed to have “invented [their] own sex,” neither male nor female. It envisioned a future where gender is fluid, playful, and liberated from historical pain. They promoted trans visibility through their project “Wherever we are is museum,” in which they took photos with as many of their fans as possible.
On the couple’s website, their CV omits any details about their exhibitions or training and instead lists details about their body sizes, including height, bust, waist, and hip measurements (Eva was the taller of the two). Eva & Adele created work for several major events, including at the 2015 Venice Biennale. They also featured on the British TV show Eurotrash. In 2016, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris mounted a rare survey of the couple’s work.
Clarification: This article has been edited to better reflect Eva & Adele’s statements on gender.
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