Warren Neidich
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Warren Neidich ( ) is an American artist who lives in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and Los Angeles. He was a professor at Kunsthochschule Weißensee School of Art, Berlin and visiting scholar at
Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aero ...
, Los Angeles. Neidich is founding director of the Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art (SFSIA). He has collaborated with artists, curators and critics including:
Barry Schwabsky Barry Schwabsky (b. Paterson, New Jersey, in 1957) is an American art critic, art historian and poet. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, New York University, Yale University, and Goldsmiths College, among others. Ar ...
(co-director of SFSIA), Armen Avanessian,
Nicolas Bourriaud Nicolas Bourriaud (born 1965) is a French curator and art critic, who has curated a great number of exhibitions and biennials all over the world. Career Bourriaud was the Paris correspondent for '' Flash Art'' (1987–1995) and the founder and ...
, Tiziana Terranova,
Franco Berardi Franco "Bifo" Berardi (born 2 November 1949) is an Italian Marxist philosopher, theorist and activist in the autonomist tradition, whose work mainly focuses on the role of the media and information technology within post-industrial capitalism. ...
,
Hans-Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...
,
Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Early life Juli ...
,
Hito Steyerl Hito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image visual artist, artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary.Chris Kraus (American writer) Chris Kraus (born 1955) is an American-born writer, critic, editor, filmmaker, performance artist, and educator. Her work includes the novels ''I Love Dick'', ''Aliens and Anorexia'', and ''Torpor'', which form a loose trilogy that navigates betwe ...
, and many others. His work has been exhibited at numerous institutions including:
MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...
,
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
, LACMA – Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
California Museum of Photography The California Museum of Photography is an off-campus institution and department within the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, located in Riverside, California, United States. The collec ...
, ICA –
Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...
, London,
Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lic ...
, Cologne, and
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...
,
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, Minnesota. In relation to his exhibitions and extended theories he has edited and published over 10 books, including ''Neuromacht,'' Merve Verlag (German), 2017'', the Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism: Part One (2013), Two (2014), and Three (2017)'', Archive Books (English), the ''Noologist's Handbook and Other Art Experiments'', Anagram, 2013, ''From Noopower to Neuropower: How Mind Becomes Matter'', 2010 and, ''Cognitive Architecture. From Biopolitics to Noopolitics. Architecture & Mind in the Age of Communication and Information'', 2010. He was collaborator, along with
Elena Bajo Elena Bajo is a visual artist, born in Spain, who currently works out of Los Angeles, California, USA. Biography Bajo received a Master of Arts in architecture in 2002 from the Escola de Architectura in Barcelona Spain. She then received a Mast ...
and others, on
Exhibition 211 ''Exhibition 211'' (at the time referred to as simply Exhibition or 211) was an art exhibition that ran from March to August 2009 in New York City. It was initiated through a series of discussions between Warren Neidich and Mathieu Copelands in 2010 ...
in New York, 2009.


Main themes

A major theme in Neidich's practice can widely be summarised as neuroaesthetics (not to be confused with mainstream
neuroesthetics Neuroesthetics ( or neuroaesthetics) is a recent sub-discipline of applied aesthetics. Empirical aesthetics takes a scientific approach to the study of aesthetic experience of art, music, or any object that can give rise to aesthetic judgments ...
), an area of critical and constructive thought, which can loosely be seen as the confluent impact of the brain on a cultured environment and, importantly, vice versa, upon which he began lecturing in 1996 at the
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...
in New York City. His website artbrain.org, which includes ''The Journal of Neuro-Aesthetic Theory'', was published online in 1997. Cognitive capitalism (
cognitive-cultural economy Cognitive-cultural economy or cognitive-cultural capitalism is represented by sectors such as high-technology industry, business and financial services, personal services, the media, and the cultural industries. It is characterized by digital tech ...
), 'critical'
neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...
,
neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through neurogenesis, growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewir ...
, post-
Workerism Workerism is a political theory that emphasizes the importance of or glorifies the working class. Workerism, or , was of particular significance in Italian left-wing politics, being largely embraced in Italian political groups ranging from Ital ...
, immaterial labor, and epigenesis are recurring themes since 1996, while earlier themes, between 1985 and 1996, were interested in culturally based work about race, politics,
historical reenactment Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historical uniforms and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a histor ...
, fictive documentary,
staging Staging may refer to: Computing * Staging (cloud computing), a process used to assemble, test, and review a new solution before it is moved into production and the existing solution is decommissioned * Staging (data), intermediately storing data b ...
, photographic practice, the archive, and
anachronistic An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common typ ...
technology. On these topics he has published several books including: Neuromacht, 2017, Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism: Part One, Two, and Three, ''The Noologist's Handbook and Other Art Experiments'', 2013, ''From Noopower to Neuropower: How Mind Becomes Matter'', 2010 and ''Cognitive Architecture (From Biopolitics to Noopolitics. Architecture & Mind in the Age of Communication and Information)'', 2010, and ''Blow Up: Photography, Cinema and the Brain'', 2003. Neidich's work has examined the co-evolution of the history of art, brain, and mind, which provides a critical foundation to his understanding of neuroaesthetics as an ontologic process. The key to neuroaesthetics is the investigation of apparatuses in which a network of heterogeneous discourses is administered. As the world and technology change, so to the apparatuses which organize it, and the cognitive strategies with which one can understand it. This is especially true of the information age, which distributes such apparatuses non-linearly and profusely. Neidich's work is inspired by
Michael Snow Michael James Aleck Snow (December 10, 1928 – January 5, 2023) was a Canadian artist who worked in a range of media including film, installation, sculpture, photography, and music. His best-known films are ''Wavelength'' (1967) and '' La Rég ...
,
Stan Brakhage James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 â€“ March 9, 2003) was an American experimental filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film. Over the course of five decades, Brakhage cr ...
,
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
and the
Apparatus Theory Apparatus theory, derived in part from Marxist film theory, semiotics, and psychoanalysis, was a dominant theory within cinema studies during the 1970s, following the 1960s when psychoanalytical theories for film were popular. Overview Apparat ...
of Stephen Heath.


Studies and teaching

Warren Neidich has studied in diverse fields since 1970 including Photography,
Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
,
Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
, (BA Magna Cum Laude
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...
),
Neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...
(as research fellow at
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...
, under the laboratory of
Roger Wolcott Sperry Roger Wolcott Sperry (August 20, 1913 – April 17, 1994) was an American neuropsychologist, neurobiologist, cognitive neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate who, together with David H. Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel, won the 1981 Nobel Prize in M ...
who later won the 1981
Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...
) and Architecture, he is also a Board Certified
Ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...
from
Tulane Medical Center The Tulane Medical Center is an Emergency Department located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Tulane Medical Center has centers and clinics covering nearly all major specialties of medicine, and is the primary teaching hospital for the Tulane Unive ...
. Neidich has collaborated with
Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...
on several occasions since 2003, when he was visiting artist and lecturer. In 2005 he organized the first symposium on Neuroaesthetics, and in 2014, with
Mark Fisher Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 â€“ 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Golds ...
, he organized a symposium titled 'The Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism: The Cognitive Turn Organized'. At Delft School of Design,
Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...
in The Netherlands (where he was a PhD candidate under Professor Dr. Arie Graafland), in 2008 he co-organized "Architecture in Mind: From Biopolitics to Noo politics."


Art practice and theories


Early works (1985–1996)

From 1985 to 1997 Neidich worked on a number of projects investigating the relationship between power and representation, focusing on reenactment, staging, fictive documentary and performance. Major works from this time include the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
studies The Battle of Chickamauga and Amputation without Anaesthesia exhibited at The Photographic Resource Center, Boston in 1991 and "''American History Reinvented''" (1986–1991) at Burden Gallery,
Aperture Foundation Aperture Foundation is a nonprofit arts institution, founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan (photographer), Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their ...
, New York City, in 1989. Neidich's appropriation of historical moments by means of photography has been discussed by
John Welchman John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
,
Christopher Phillips Christopher Phillips (born July 15, 1959) is an American author, educator, consultant, lecturer, and pro-democracy advocate. He is best known for his 2001 book ''Socrates Café''. Public Radio International called Phillips the "Johnny Apples ...
, Graham Clarke, and
David Joselit David Joselit is an American art historian, critic, and curator known for his work on modern and contemporary art, media theory, and image circulation. Joselit is the Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard Un ...
. The series of altered photographs "Unknown Artist", which recast the early 20th-century art coterie as a social rather than an individual phenomenon, were installed at Berlin's Paris Bar in 1994 in collaboration with
Martin Kippenberger Martin Kippenberger (25 February 1953 – 7 March 1997) was a German painter, draftsman, photographer, sculptor, installation and performance artist. He became known for his prolific output in a wide range of styles and media, superfiction, as w ...
and Michel Wertle. In 1994, Neidich's photography-based sculptural installation ''Collective Memory'' and ''Collective Amnesia'' (1991–94) used the culturally-constructed story of
Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...
to reflect upon pop culture's vulgarization of history. Neidich's slide show projection "Beyond the Vanishing Point: Media Myth in America" was shown at N.Y. Kunsthalle, NYC in 1995. It traced a journey across America fifty years after
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...
, culminating in a surrealist photographic exposé of the media encampment that grew outside the courthouse during the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles (1995–97). The book Camp O.J., published by D.A.P. exposed the condition of
infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inform ...
.


The introduction of Neuroaesthetics (1996–2002)

In 1996 Neidich, began to explore the phenomenological conditions surrounding the cultural and historical aspects of his work. These research projects took the form of texts and lectures entitled "Neuroaesthetics", first delivered at the
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...
in New York, 1995–1996 when Neidich was visiting lecturer in the Department of Photography and Related Media under
Charles Traub Charles H. Traub (born April 6, 1945) is an American photographer and educator, known for his ironic real world witness color photography. He was chair of the photography department at Columbia College Chicago, where he established its Museum of ...
. In 1997 With the help of Nathalie Angles, current director of ''Residency Unlimited'', he launched the platform artbrain.org, consisting of ''The Journal of Neuroaesthetics'' and ''Netspace Gallery''. Neuroaesthetics, (differing from the scientific approach with the same name often spelled
neuroesthetics Neuroesthetics ( or neuroaesthetics) is a recent sub-discipline of applied aesthetics. Empirical aesthetics takes a scientific approach to the study of aesthetic experience of art, music, or any object that can give rise to aesthetic judgments ...
), believes that artists in all their modes such as poetry, cinema, installation art and architecture, using their own spaces, apparatuses, materials, sense of time, and performative gestures, can elaborate truths about the
noumenal In philosophy, a noumenon (, ; from ; : noumena) is knowledge posited as an object that exists independently of human sense. The term ''noumenon'' is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to, the term ''phenomenon'', which refers to a ...
and
phenomenal A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was he ...
world on part with those generated by the sciences. These truths compete effectively in the marketplace of ideas. The
post-structuralist Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of Power (social and poli ...
brain/mind/body/world complex, in which cultural mutations are transposed into parallel changes in the mind, brain and body, expressed in works such as "Brainwash" (1997), Neidich's first application of his hybrid
dialectics Dialectic (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the ...
, developed greater tenacity in 1999 when Neidich curated "Conceptual Art as Neurobiological Praxis" at Thread Waxing Space in New York which "''rather than being a show about the collaboration between art and science or a reductive methodology of how the brain works, the exhibition attempted to promote the idea of a becoming brain''" and included artists:
Uta Barth Uta Barth (born 1958) is a contemporary German-American photographer whose work addresses themes such as perception, optical illusion and non-place. Her early work emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s, "inverting the notion of background and foreg ...
,
Sam Durant Sam Durant (born 1961, in Seattle) is a multimedia artist whose works engage social, political, and cultural issues. Often referencing American history, his work explores culture and politics, engaging subjects such as the civil rights movement, ...
, Charline von Heyl,
Jason Rhoades Jason Fayette Rhoades (July 9, 1965 - August 1, 2006) was an American installation artist. Better known in Europe, where he exhibited regularly for the last twelve years of his life, Rhoades was celebrated for his combination dinner party/exhibi ...
,
Liam Gillick Liam Gillick (born 1964) is a British artist. In the 1990s he was one of the informal Young British Artists group; like many of them, he took a degree in fine art from Goldsmiths' College, in London. He was among the artists included in the ...
,
Douglas Gordon Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Work Much of Gordon's ...
,
Thomas Ruff Thomas Ruff (born 10 February 1958) is a German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. He has been described as "a master of edited and reimagined images". Ruff shares a studio on Düsseldorf's Hansaallee, with fellow German ...
, Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio, and others. Neidich's video-works from this period include ''Apparatus'', ''Memorial Day'' (1998), ''Kiss'', and ''Law of Loci''(1998–99). The exhibitions "The Mutated Observer Part 1" (2001), and "The Mutated Observer Part 2" (2002) at the
California Museum of Photography The California Museum of Photography is an off-campus institution and department within the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, located in Riverside, California, United States. The collec ...
showcased a number of handmade apparatuses, so-called "''Hybrid Dialectics''", in vitrines adjacent to those of the museum's collection.


Recent work (2006–2017)

Neidich's essay ''The Neurobiopolitics of Global Consciousness'', published in the Sarai Reader Turbulence''' in 2006, clearly connected the ideas of
neural plasticity Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewire its neural ...
, epigenesis and Empire. Topics such as Neuro
biopolitics Biopolitics is a concept popularized by the French philosopher Michel Foucault in the mid-20th century. At its core, biopolitics explores how governmental power operates through the management and regulation of a population's bodies and lives. ...
were extended to include the political impact of immaterial labor and the
Information Age The Information Age is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology ...
on the production of architecture and built space, specifically in relation to the ways in which intense sensory and perceptual effect are now used to organize cultural attention. These ideas later evolved into a series of performative drawings staged in his studio at IASPIS in Stockholm (2008) and at
The Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a museum and a nonprofit exhibition space in Manhattan, New York City, that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of dr ...
, New York (2009). The same year Neidich also organized the conference "The Power of Art" at The Drawing Center, New York. In 2008 Onomatopee published Neidich's book ''Lost Between the Extensivity-Intensivity Exchange'' for which he outlined that the "inauguration of the 21st century could be described as a time of cultural torpor resulting from free floating anxiety, ambivalence, and wavering", going on to say, "the condition, suggested by the title, that of being lost in the ‘in-between zone’ of extensive and intensive labor and two evolving partially incommensurable world views, the local (tribal) and global (cosmopolitan) or the nation-state and the Earthling, merged"
''"What has become obvious to me is that in our moment of cognitive capitalism in which the brain and mind are the new factories of the twenty-first century, forms of activism invented during industrial capitalism like refusal to work, absenteeism, and labor strikes are no longer up to the task"'' – Warren Neidich 2017
In ''Pizzagate'' (2017) Neidich returned to his earlier work on apparatus entitled 'Hybrid Dialectics' (1997–2003). In the work he delineates the new apparatuses of the knowledge economy like
clickbait Clickbait (also known as link bait or linkbait) is a text or a thumbnail hyperlink, link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow ("click") that link and view, read, stream or listen to the linked piece of online cont ...
and
memes A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ...
as they produce new forms of subjectivity.


Drive-By-Art

In May 2020, in response to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Neidich curated the exhibition Drive-By-Art (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing) which took place at various locations, first in the Hamptons and then later in Los Angeles. The exhibitions featured work by 174 artists spread over multiple locations in "an attempt to bring back a sense of solidarity to the artistic and cultural community". The exhibition was featured in numerous publications including Artforum, Time, The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.


Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art

The Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art (SFSIA) is a nomadic academy that originated in
Saas-Fee Saas-Fee () is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated on a high mountain plateau at 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), surrounded ...
, Switzerland in 2015, and moved to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in 2016 where it could engage with the local active art scene. SFSIA maintains the moniker today simply as a nod to its origins. It was founded by fine artist and theorist Warren Neidich, and is co-directed by art critic and poet
Barry Schwabsky Barry Schwabsky (b. Paterson, New Jersey, in 1957) is an American art critic, art historian and poet. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, New York University, Yale University, and Goldsmiths College, among others. Ar ...
. The school has included many notable collaborators in workshops or as speakers. SFSIA was born as a parallel program to the activities at the neighboring
European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, ...
(EGS), sharing the evening public program, however with no formal connection. Schwabsky, in conversation with Jennifer Teets for Art & Education, has described his desire for the school to respond to a "crisis" across the sector wherein art academies are "controlled by administrators—not by faculty—an ever-expanding layer of bureaucrats who are removed from the real needs of students and the realities of teaching and research." Each year SFSIA has approached a new theme, the founding being 'Art and the Politics of Estrangement' (2015), followed by 'Art and the Politics of Individuation: Affect and the Multiple Body in Cognitive Capitalism' (2016) and 'Art & the Politics of Collectivity' (2017). The 2018 program circulates around the theme of 'Art and Politics in the Age of Cognitive Capitalism' and will take place in Los Angeles and Berlin. List of collaborators: * Elena Agudio (2017) * Marie-Luise Angerer (2017) *
Julieta Aranda Julieta Aranda (; born in 1975 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a conceptual artist that lives and works in Berlin and New York City. She received a BFA in filmmaking from the School of Visual Arts (2001) and an MFA from Columbia University (2006), bo ...
(2016) * Armen Avanessian (2015) *
Defne Ayas Defne Ayas (b. 1976) is a curator, lecturer, educator, and editor in the field of contemporary art and its institutions. Ayas directed, cofounded, curated, and advised several art institutes, initiatives, and exhibition platforms across the globe, ...
(2017) *
Elena Bajo Elena Bajo is a visual artist, born in Spain, who currently works out of Los Angeles, California, USA. Biography Bajo received a Master of Arts in architecture in 2002 from the Escola de Architectura in Barcelona Spain. She then received a Mast ...
(2016) * Heidi Ballet (2017) *
Franco Berardi Franco "Bifo" Berardi (born 2 November 1949) is an Italian Marxist philosopher, theorist and activist in the autonomist tradition, whose work mainly focuses on the role of the media and information technology within post-industrial capitalism. ...
'Bifo' (2015, 2017) *
Benjamin Bratton Benjamin Bratton (born June 18, 1985) is a three-time fencing all-American and a former member of the United States fencing team. As a national team member, he competed in the 2006 World Fencing Championships in Turin, Italy; the 2009 World Fe ...
(2015) *
Nicolas Bourriaud Nicolas Bourriaud (born 1965) is a French curator and art critic, who has curated a great number of exhibitions and biennials all over the world. Career Bourriaud was the Paris correspondent for '' Flash Art'' (1987–1995) and the founder and ...
(2017) * Arne De Boever (2017) * Yann Moulier-Boutang (2017) * Mathieu Copeland (2015, 2017) *
Jodi Dean Jodi Dean (born 1962) is an American political theorist and professor in the Political Science department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York state. She held the Donald R. Harter ’39 Professorship of the Humanities and Social Scie ...
(2017) * Nikola Dietrich (2017) *
Keller Easterling Keller Easterling is an American architect, urbanist, writer, and professor. She is Enid Storm Dwyer Professor and Director of the MED Program at Yale University. Biography She earned both her B.A. and M.Arch from Princeton University School of ...
(2015) * Gale Elston (2015) * Oriol Fontdevila (2016) * Anselm Franke (2015) * Charles Gaines (2015) * Julieta Gonzalez (2017) * Krist Gruijthuijsen (2017) *
Anke Hennig Anke Hennig (born 7 October 1964) is a German politician for the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD and has been a Member of the German Bundestag, member of the Bundestag, the federal diet since 2021. Life Hennig was born in 1964 in the We ...
(2015) * Robby Herbst (2017) * Helen Hester (2017) * Yuk Hui (2017) *
Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Early life Juli ...
(2017) * Sanford Kwinter (2015) * Brandon LaBelle (2017) * Quinn Latimer (2015) * Dan Levenson (2017) * Deborah Ligorio (2017) * Isabell Lorey (2017) * Jens Maier-Rothe (2017) * Antonia Majaca (2017) * Lambros Malafouris (2017) *
Augustin Maurs Augustin Maurs is a French musician and composer. After completing his music education at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler", Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin, he was a scholarship holder at the Darmstadt School, International Music Insti ...
(2017) * Achim Menges (2015) *
Ari Benjamin Meyers Ari Benjamin Meyers (born 1972 in New York) is an American artist and composer. Meyers received his training as a composer and conductor at the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Peabody Institute. His practice includes creating musical pe ...
(2017) * Suzana Milevska (2015) *
Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...
(2017) *
Matteo Pasquinelli Matteo is the Italian form of the given name Matthew. Another form is Mattia. The Hebrew meaning of Matteo is "gift of god". Matteo can also be used as a patronymic surname, often in the forms of de Matteo, De Matteo or DeMatteo, meaning " escend ...
(2017) * Peter Pelbart (2017) *
Susan Philipsz Susan Mary Philipsz Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 1965) is a Scottish artist who won the 2010 Turner Prize. Originally a sculpture, sculptor, she is best known for her Sound art, sound installations. She records herself singing a cappe ...
(2016) *
John Rajchman John Rajchman (born June 25, 1946) is an American philosopher working in the areas of art history, architecture, and continental philosophy. Son of Jan A. Rajchman, a Polish-American computer scientist. John Rajchman is an adjunct professor
(2015) * Gerald Raunig (2015, 2017) * Dorothee Richter (2015) *
Tomás Saraceno Tomás Saraceno (San Miguel de Tucumán, 1973) is an Argentine contemporary artist whose projects, consisting of floating sculptures, international collaborations, and interactive installations, propose and dialogue with forms of inhabiting and se ...
(2016) * Aaron Schuster (2016) *
Hito Steyerl Hito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image visual artist, artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary.Ludwig Seyfarth (2017) * Eric Golo Stone (2015) * Jennifer Teets (2017) * Ana Teixeira Pinto (2016) * Tiziana Terranova (2017) * Ben Vickers (2015, 2017) * Anuradha Vikram (2017) * Joanna Warsza (2017) * Markus Weisbeck (2017) * Ming Wong (2017)


Exhibitions


Selected solo exhibitions

*''The Politics of Color'', Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz e.V., Berlin, DE (2017) *''The Palinopsic Field'',
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions Located in Hollywood, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) is a nonprofit exhibition space and archive of the visual arts for the city of Los Angeles, California, United States, currently under the leadership of Sarah Russin. History In ...
, Los Angeles, CA (2016) *''The Artists’ Library'', LAXART, Los Angeles, CA *
Manifesta Manifesta, also known as the European Nomadic Biennial, is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale. History Manifesta was founded in 1994 by Dutch art historian Hedwig Fijen. The first edition took place in Rotterdam. One of t ...
10 Parallel Program, curated by Joanna Warsza, Saint Petersburg, RU (2014) * The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, EG (2013) *Fons Welters Gallery, Amsterdam, NL(2011) *Galerie Moriarty, Madrid (2011) *Glenn Horowitz Gallery, East Hampton, NY, US (2010) *Gallery Magnus Müller, Berlin (2008) *
Trolley Gallery Trolley Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area d ...
, London (2007) *Andrew Mummery Gallery, New York (2006) *
Storefront for Art and Architecture Storefront for Art and Architecture is an independent, non-profit art and architecture organization located in SoHo, Manhattan in New York City. The organization is committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and des ...
, New York (2002) *
Laguna Art Museum The Laguna Art Museum (LAM) is a museum located in Laguna Beach, California, on Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway. LAM exclusively features California art and is the oldest cultural institution in the area. It has been kno ...
, Laguna Beach, CA (2001) *
UCR/California Museum of Photography The California Museum of Photography is an off-campus institution and department within the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, located in Riverside, California, United States. The collec ...
, Riverside, CA (2001) *
Villa Arson The Villa Arson, also referred to as the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts à la Villa Arson (National School of Fine Arts at the Villa Arson), is a French art museum, elite school and research institution for contemporary art, located in Nic ...
, Nice, France (1994) *Photographic Resource Center,
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
(1991) *
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
's
List Visual Arts Center Established in 1950, the List Visual Arts Center (LVAC) is the contemporary art museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is known for temporary exhibitions in its galleries located in the MIT Media Lab building, as well as its admin ...
, Cambridge, MA (1991) *
Aperture Foundation Aperture Foundation is a nonprofit arts institution, founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan (photographer), Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their ...
, New York (1989)


Selected group exhibitions

*''The Search Drive, Globale: Infosphäre'' at
Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe The ZKM , Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (until March 2016: ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology), a cultural institution, was founded in 1989 and, since 1997, is located in a former munitions factory in Karlsruhe, Germany. The ZKM (Germa ...
, curated by
Peter Weibel Peter Weibel (Austrian German: ˆvaɪbl ; 5 March 1944 – 1 March 2023) was an Austrian post-conceptual artist, curator, and new media theoretician. He started out in 1964 as a visual poet, then later moved from the page to the screen within th ...
, Daria Mille and Giulia Bini,
Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...
(2015) *''The Fax Show'',
Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a museum and a nonprofit exhibition space in Manhattan, New York City, that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of dr ...
, curated by João Ribas, New York (2009) *''Everything is connected he, he, he,''
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is a privately owned contemporary art gallery in Oslo in Norway. It was founded and opened to the public in 1993. The collection's main focus is the American appropriation artists from the 1980s, but it i ...
, Oslo, Norway (2004) *''Bitstreams'',
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
, New York (2001) *''Ports of Entry: William S. Burroughs and the Arts'',
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...
, curated by Robert Sobieszek, Los Angeles (1996) *''Photography of Invention'', (touring exhibition),
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...
,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is on ...
and
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...
, curated by Joshua Smith (1989) *
Queens Museum The Queens Museum (formerly the Queens Museum of Art) is an art museum and educational center at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Established in 1972, the museum includes the '' Panorama of the City of New ...
,
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, New York (1988) *
Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lic ...
,
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, Germany (1988) *
White Columns White Columns is New York City's oldest alternative non-profit art space. White Columns is known as a showcase for up-and-coming artists, and is primarily devoted to emerging artists who are not affiliated with galleries. All work submitted i ...
, New York (1988)


Public projects

*2004 Madrid Abierto Public Sculpture, Madrid, Spain


Books

* ''The Color of Politics'', BOM DIA BOA TARDE BOA NOITE, 2018. *''Neuromacht,'' Merve Verlag (German), 2017. *''Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism: Part One (2013), Two (2014), and Three (2017)'', Archive Books (English). *''The Noologist's Handbook and Other Art Experiments'', Anagram, 2013. *''From Noopower to Neuropower: How Mind Becomes Matter'', 2010. *''Cognitive Architecture. From Biopolitics to Noopolitics. Architecture & Mind in the Age of Communication and Information'', 2010. *''Lost Between the Extensivity/Intensivity Exchange,'' Onomatopee, 2009. *''Earthling,'' Pointed Leaf Press, New York, NY, 2005. *''Blow-up: Photography, Cinema and the Brain'', DAP/UCR/California Museum of Photography, 2003. *''Camp O.J.,'' Bayly Art Museum, 2001. *''Cultural Residue: Contamination and Decontamination,'' Villa Arson, Nice, France, 1994. *''Unknown Artist,'' Fricke and Schmid, 1994. *''Historical in (Tervention),'' MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2001. *''American History Reinvented,'' Aperture, 1989.


References


External links

*
American History ReinventedArtbrain.orgExhibition 211
an exhibition space in New York City that ran from March to August 2009, initiated by:
Elena Bajo Elena Bajo is a visual artist, born in Spain, who currently works out of Los Angeles, California, USA. Biography Bajo received a Master of Arts in architecture in 2002 from the Escola de Architectura in Barcelona Spain. She then received a Mast ...
, Eric Anglès, Jakob Schillinger, Nathalie Anglès and Warren Neidich
Lost Between the Extensivity/Intensivity Exchange Bookdrive-by-art.orgSFSIA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neidich, Warren American contemporary artists Living people 1958 births Washington University in St. Louis alumni Delft University of Technology alumni California Institute of Technology fellows