About
Spanish writer, filmmaker and visual artist, Gallen majored in Media Studies to then attend film school at NYFA Los Angeles. Her work has been shown at Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair, the European Culture Congress, and Center for Creative Communications in Japan. She has lectured at La Casa Encendida or Fundación Mapfre in Madrid, and more recently, at Decididas summit in Mexico City, alongside voices like playwright Eve Ensler (V), yoga instructor Adriene Mishler and producer Adrienne Becker.
Her debut book, El Diablo es una mujer (2021), published by Grupo Planeta, blends film theory and memoir to reclaim the femme fatale myth, and is set to be adapted by Anónima Media, led by actress-producer Eréndira Ibarra (The Matrix Resurrections)︎︎︎ Variety.com. Gallen writes creative non-fiction, poetry and screenplays, and every other moon edits independent artists’ books, now under The Arch Éditions. Gallen’s period folk horror in development, set in rural Europe, has been recognised by L’ALTERNATIVA Barcelona Independent Film Festival, CIMA Pitch 2025 and awarded at TERROR MOLINS Horror Film Festival. Her spec biopic GARBO scored an 8 on The Black List.
Excelling for her projects tied to the arts, culture and fashion industries, a gaining recognition acknowledged Gallen as one of Spain’s high-profile creatives in her early 20s. In 2011 she had her first solo artshow in Aix-en-Provence, France. In 2014, her cross-media project Sacred Geometry was featured at collective exhibiton Longing for Tesla in BWA Wrocław Gallery as part of the European Culture Congress. She went on to co-curate Girls! Why did you decide to start a band? at MUSAC Contemporary Art Museum of Castille & Leon in 2016, a multi-channel video installation reflecting on gender bias within the music industry. Her way into the field of cinema began as production designer of award-winning horror Disco Inferno and Goya-candidate documentary Oscuro y Lucientes (Tourmalet Films, RTVE, Marmita Films, France Télévisions), both celebrated for their sleek aesthetics.
Gallen understands cinema as ritual and writing as excavation, for her work goes beyond storytelling, summoning history, personal experience, and cultural memory. Her methodology derives from a spectrum of disciplinary artistic fields and her corpus of work reflects a commitment to contribute to a thought-provoking creative landscape and a broader discourse on representation.
Exhibitions
2014
Atelier Des Jeunes,
La Fabrica
Madrid, Spain
Atelier Des Jeunes,
La Fresh Gallery
Madrid, Spain
Longing for Tesla,
Design BWA gallery
in the context of
European Culture Congress,
Wrocław, Poland
2013
OffGallery,
JustMad Art Fair
Madrid, Spain
2011
Kyrie Eleison (solo)
Kulte
Aix en Provence, France
2010
Estoril FashionArt Festival
Estoril, Portugal
2009
Sacred Geometry,
Urban Outfitters
Manchester, UK
2007
In An Absolute World,
Sala Offlimits
Madrid, Spain
Lectures &Workshops
DECIDIDAS SUMMIT
Flash talk about my book El Diablo es una mujer as part of the event promoted by Barbara Arrendondo, Olga Segura and Karina Ojeda along extraordinary women like yoga instructor Adriene Mishler, model Cameron Russell, director Alejandra Marquez, producer Adrienne Becker or playwright Eve Ensler.
Four Seasons Hotel, Ciudad de Mexico
2025
POEMS I WILL NEVER RELEASE
Guided visit to Chiara Fumai exhibition
La Casa Encendida, Madrid
2022
MARY SHELLEY pre-release screening
organised by Sunset Cinema & Freeda Media
CentroCentro, Madrid
2018
VEIN GIRLS
IED Visual Communication, Madrid
2017
LIBROS MUTANTES: Perspectivas Mutantes
La Casa Encendida, Madrid
2012
Press feat.
2025 CIMA Pitch, Decididas summit CDMX
2023 VARIETY, Reforma
2021 elDiario.es, EL PAÍS, El Comercio
2017 VEIN
2015 Vanity Fair
2014 Fucking Young
2013 VICE, Tendencias.tv
Artists' Books I edited
Fuego, No. 01: We Want To Believe, 2009
Fuego, No. 02: Great Minds Think Alike, 2010
Fuego, No. 03: Amulets, 2012
Elena Gallen, Sacred Geometry, 2010
Elena Gallen, Moiré Landscapes, 2013
Ruben Brulat, Sharing Paths, 2013
María Fonti, Para Vivir Por Favor, 2016
Fina Miralles, Sempreviva, 2025 (The Arch)
DECIDIDAS SUMMIT
Flash talk about my book El Diablo es una mujer as part of the event promoted by Barbara Arrendondo, Olga Segura and Karina Ojeda along extraordinary women like yoga instructor Adriene Mishler, model Cameron Russell, director Alejandra Marquez, producer Adrienne Becker or playwright Eve Ensler.
Four Seasons Hotel, Ciudad de Mexico
2025
POEMS I WILL NEVER RELEASE
Guided visit to Chiara Fumai exhibition
La Casa Encendida, Madrid
2022
MARY SHELLEY pre-release screening
organised by Sunset Cinema & Freeda Media
CentroCentro, Madrid
2018
VEIN GIRLS
IED Visual Communication, Madrid
2017
LIBROS MUTANTES: Perspectivas Mutantes
La Casa Encendida, Madrid
2012
Press feat.
2025 CIMA Pitch, Decididas summit CDMX
2023 VARIETY, Reforma
2021 elDiario.es, EL PAÍS, El Comercio
2017 VEIN
2015 Vanity Fair
2014 Fucking Young
2013 VICE, Tendencias.tv
Artists' Books I edited
Fuego, No. 01: We Want To Believe, 2009
Fuego, No. 02: Great Minds Think Alike, 2010
Fuego, No. 03: Amulets, 2012
Elena Gallen, Sacred Geometry, 2010
Elena Gallen, Moiré Landscapes, 2013
Ruben Brulat, Sharing Paths, 2013
María Fonti, Para Vivir Por Favor, 2016
Fina Miralles, Sempreviva, 2025 (The Arch)
Curatorial
Girls! Why did you decide to start a band?
MUSAC, Museum of Contemporary
Art of Castille & Leon, Spain
2016
Ruben Brulat, Sharing Paths
Espacio Valverde, Madrid, Spain
2013
Co-editor, FUEGO
Barcelona, Spain
2009-2012
ArtBook Fairs
:ndex Guadalajara Art Book Fair,
Guadalajara, Mexico
Printed Matters,
NY Art Book Fair, MOMA PS1
New York City, USA
Sprint (Salone di editoria
indipendente e d'artista)
Milano, Italy
The Center for Creative
Communications (CCC)
Shizuoka, Japan
Libros Mutantes,
La Casa Encendida
Madrid, Spain
Girls! Why did you decide to start a band?
MUSAC, Museum of Contemporary
Art of Castille & Leon, Spain
2016
Ruben Brulat, Sharing Paths
Espacio Valverde, Madrid, Spain
2013
Co-editor, FUEGO
Barcelona, Spain
2009-2012
ArtBook Fairs
:ndex Guadalajara Art Book Fair,
Guadalajara, Mexico
Printed Matters,
NY Art Book Fair, MOMA PS1
New York City, USA
Sprint (Salone di editoria
indipendente e d'artista)
Milano, Italy
The Center for Creative
Communications (CCC)
Shizuoka, Japan
Libros Mutantes,
La Casa Encendida
Madrid, Spain