Catrine Val was born in Germany, and started her career in Vienna, working as a commercial artist in the advertising industry. Feeling unfulfilled in this profession, Val fled to the arts, studying first at the Academy of the Arts in Kassel, and upon completing her BA there, continuing with post-graduate studies at the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne. Having graduated from here, she worked for 6 years as an assistant lecturer to Bjørn Melhus at the Academy of the Arts in Kassel, focusing in particular on the field of virtual reality, where she further developed her own artistic position.