the work of media artist
JOHN SANBORN
Notes on Us
Kunsthalle Praha, Prague
February 29 - June 3, 2024
Curator: Barbora Ropkováa
Kunsthalle Praha hosts the first-ever solo exhibition of John Sanborn’s work in the Czech Republic, titled Notes on Us.
The exhibition features V+M, (2015) a 9 channel instalation which was acquired by the Kunsthalle Praha in 2022, and Mythic Status (2016) , 4 portraits of gender queer performers portraying gods of the ancient world.
“Sanborn was never an activist artist, yet all his videos from the first decade of his career were celebrated what we can now call difference. Already in his early work, one of his main interests was interpersonal relationships, which naturally blended with his passion for storytelling,” elaborates Ropková, offering insight into the content of Sanborn’s art.
Between Order and Entropy
catalog/monograph
296 Pages, 520 Illustrations
Edited by: Stephen Sarrazin, Peter Weibel
This monograph brings together a collection of works that spans over four decades of exploring sound, music, cultural identity, memory, mythologies, and the human compulsion to tell stories. Essays by video art experts, reminiscences by companions, and a conversation between Sanborn and acclaimed media artist Dara Birnbaum explore the tension between mass media and contemporary art.
Sanborn himself traces the unique arc of his career and talks about a journey that took him from museums and alternative spaces to television networks, Hollywood and Silicon Valley before returning to the art world. Few other artists working with media can claim to have delved into so many visual territories.
Out of Chaos | Decoding the Obvious
FAR OUT GALLERY
3004 Taraval St @ 40th Ave San Francisco, CA 94116
January 19 - February 25, 2024
Far Out Gallery is proud to present Out of Chaos | Decoding the Obvious, created by media artist, John Sanborn. This interactive work is an AI/AR platform developed by Sanborn in order to exhibit video works, without hanging screens, or providing quick answers to challenging subjects.
50 still images on the gallery wall, trigger 50 different videos, inviting the viewers to assemble their own version of the work.
NOW THEIR PAIN IS SUGAR
single channel video | 5:01 | 2022
Music by Simon Goff
There is a lesson to be learned in shifting our gaze from the surface to the essential– to find worth and purpose in what appears to be in conflict, but is in fact a complete state of being.
John Sanborn’s video for Simon Goff’s NOW THEIR PAIN IS SUGAR uses a combination of lidar and photometric scanning to produce instant 3D models of performers Sarah Cecilia Bukowski and Paunika Jones. Their slow, but defined, movements tricks the functionality of the scans, to suggest the complexities of the wear and tear of living. They are at once, pain and sugar.
Between Order and Entropy
works 1978 - 2022
July 9 - October 30, 2022
Curated by Stephen Sarrazin | Philipp Ziegler
ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
The exhibition presents the work of the American artist John Sanborn. This exhibition, which is the largest in Europe devoted to the artist, brings together a collection of works that spans over four decades of sound, music, interactive media and video exploration.
Sanborn's recent work consists of complex media installations that address issues of cultural identity, memory, mythologies, and the human compulsion to tell stories.