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Samson Young - Artists - Petzel Gallery

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

Career Highlights

Samson Young - Artists - Petzel Gallery

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

Samson Young - Artists - Petzel Gallery

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

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, 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, The World Falls Apart Into Facts, OTA Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2021

Installation view, Studio: Samson Young, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, DE, 2021

Installation view, Studio: Samson Young, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, DE, 2021

Installation view, 100 Drawings from Now, The Drawing Center, New York, 2020

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

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, One Hand Clapping, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018

Installation view, Songs for Disaster Relief, Hong Kong Pavillion, Venice Biennale, 2017

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

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

Muted Situation #2: Muted Lion Dance, 2014

Installation view, Coffee Cantata (Institute of Fictional Ethnomusicology), 2015

Installation view, Coffee Cantata (Institute of Fictional Ethnomusicology), 2015