Lydia Schouten was born in 1948 in Leiden, the Netherlands, and moved to Rotterdam in 1971 where she lived until 2004. In 2004 she moved to Amsterdam.

Between 1967 and 1971 she studied in The Hague, at the Free Academy of Visual Arts, and continued her studies at the sculpture department of the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam, from 1971 to 1976. She was awarded the Maaskant Award in 1975. In 1981 and 1982, she was awarded a travel grant from The Ministry of Cultural Affairs which allowed Schouten to live and work in New York. In 1989 she was awarded a grant for a residency at PS1, New York.

From 1978 onwards, Schouten’s work can be divided into three periods: an exploration of performance art from 1978 to 1981; a period of work in video from 1981 to 1988; and since then, an ongoing interest in installation, often combining video, sound and photographic components. In all three periods certain thematic elements are a common in Schouten’s work. These include femininity, isolation and the relationship of mass media with sex and pornography.

(expanded biography from li-ma.nl)