Sonata for smoke
2020
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© Samson Young. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Dennis Man Wing Leung.
Samson Young (b. 1979, Hong Kong)
Multi-disciplinary artist Samson Young works in sound, performance, video, and installation. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University in 2013. In 2017, he represented Hong Kong at the 57th Venice Biennale. Other solo projects include the De Appel, Amsterdam; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; SMART Museum, Chicago; Centre for Contemporary Chinese Art in Manchester; M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Ryosoku-in at Kenninji Temple, Kyoto; and Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, among others. Selected group exhibitions include Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Performa 19, New York; Biennale of Sydney; Shanghai Biennale; National Museum of Art, Osaka; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; Ars Electronica, Linz; and documenta 14: documenta radio, among others. In 2020, he was awarded the inaugural Uli Sigg Prize. His works are in the collections of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; M+ Museum, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Japan; and KADIST, Paris.
“To imagine you’re hearing the same thing as somebody else, that you can’t fully process, is a wonderful way to know that there’s this other consciousness at the opposite end of the table. We are hearing the same sound, but I know we’re not really hearing the same thing, but I can acknowledge that, and can imagine what you’re experiencing.”
Hans Ulrich Obrist, “Booming: Samson Young,” Mousse Magazine, 2016
Installation view, A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I’ll Make a Broken Music, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, DE, 2016
1979 Born in Hong Kong
2002 BA in Music, Philosophy and Gender Studies, University of Sydney, Australia
2007 M. Philosophy in Music Composition, University of Hong Kong
2012 No Transnational: Liquid Borders and Empty Promises, ISE Cultural Foundation, New York, NY
2013 PhD in Music Composition, Princeton University
Innovationist: the Spectacular Journey of New Media Art, Taipei Contemporary Art Museum, Taipei, TW
2015 Begins For Whom the Bell Tolls Project, spanning two years & eleven countries
2016 A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I’ll Make a Broken Music, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, DE
Installation view, One Hand Clapping, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018
2017 documenta radio, documenta 14
Songs for Disaster Relief, Hong Kong Pavillion, Venice Biennale
2018 One Hand Clapping, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
2019 Silver Moon Or Golden Star, Which Will You Buy of Me?, SMART Museum, Chicago
2020 100 Drawings from now, the Drawing Center, New York, NY
Real Music, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, AU
MAM Collection 012: Samson Young, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, JP
2021 Studio: Samson Young, Capitain Petzel, Berlin
Begins showing with Petzel
2023 Forthcoming debut solo exhibition at Petzel
The world falls apart into facts
2019
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Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Lily Chan.
The world falls apart into facts
2019
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Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Lily Chan.
Installation view, Hanne Darboven, Wade Guyton, Allan McCollum, Stephen Prina, Samson Young, Petzel, 2021
Installation view, Hanne Darboven, Wade Guyton, Allan McCollum, Stephen Prina, Samson Young, Petzel, 2021
Installation view, The World Falls Apart Into Facts, OTA Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2021
Installation view, Studio: Samson Young, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, DE, 2021
Installation view, 100 Drawings from Now, The Drawing Center, New York, 2020
Silver Moon Or Golden Star, Which Will You Buy of Me?, SMART Museum, Chicago, IL, 2019
Installation view, One Hand Clapping, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018
Installation view, Songs for Disaster Relief, Hong Kong Pavillion, Venice Biennale, 2017
Installation view, A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I’ll Make a Broken Music, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, DE, 2016
Muted Situation #2: Muted Lion Dance, 2014
Installation view, Coffee Cantata (Institute of Fictional Ethnomusicology), 2015
