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Arthur Jafa

 
ARTHUR JAFA
Born 1960 in Tupelo, Mississippi
Lives and works in Los Angeles
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Education
1983
Howard University, Washington D.C.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
“BLACK POWER TOOL AND DIE TRYNIG,” 52 Walker, New York
“*****,” Gladstone Gallery, New York
2023
"Unrest," Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, University of Melbourne, Australia
2022
Arthur Jafa, “RHAMESJAFACOSEYJAFADRAYTON,” OGR Torino, Italy
“The White Album,” 5 West 127th Street, New York
“Arthur Jafa: Live Evil,” LUMA Foundation, Arles, France
"Love Is The Message, the Message Is Death," Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria,
Australia
"Unrest," Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, University of Melbourne, Australia
2021
AGHDRA, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, Harlem, New York
“Arthur Jafa,” Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland
“Arthur Jafa,” Gladstone 64, Gladstone Gallery, New York
“MAGNUMB,” The Louisiana Museum, Denmark
“Arthur Jafa: Dinosaur Fried Chicken Man,” Cahiers d’Art, Paris, France
2020
“A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions,” Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal
“Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2019
“Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” Palazzo Madama, Turin, Italy
“A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions,” Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
“A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions,” Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
2018
“The White Album,” Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
“Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” Luma Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland
“air above mountains, unknown pleasures,” Gavin Brown’s enterprise, NY
“Arthur Jafa – APEX,” LUMA Arles, Arles, France
“Love is The Message, The Message is Death,” Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Sant’ Andrea de Scaphis, Rome, Italy
“Arthur Jafa: Love is The Message, The Message is Death,” MCA Denver, Denver, CO
“Arthur Jafa: Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” Davidson College Art Museum, Davidson, NC
“A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions,” Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin, Germany
“Love is The Message, The Message is Death,” ICA Boston, Boston, MA
2017
“Love is The Message, The Message is Death,” The Vinyl Factory, Store Studios, London, UK
MoCA Detroit Offsite, 1086 Bellevue Street, Detroit, MI
“Arthur Jafa: Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” LUMA Foundation, Arles, France
“A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions,” Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
“Love is The Message, The Message is Death,” Museum of Contemporary Art, MoCA, Los Angeles, CA
2016
"Love is The Message, The Message is Death," Gavin Brown's enterprise, 429 West 127th Street, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
“Come One, Come All”, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL
“If not now, when?,” Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, Netherlands
“Come One, Come All,” Anthony Gallery, Chicago
“Surrealism and Us: Caribbean and African Diasporic Artists since 1940,” showing “Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
“Improbable Anagrams: Works from the Serralves Collection,” showing “White Album,” Museu - Ala Álvaro Siza, Porto, Portugal
“The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century,” Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2023
“Musical Thinking: New Video Artists in the Collection,” Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
"Glitch. Die Kunst der Störung," Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
"Message from America," Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv, Israel
“SLOPEX,” LUMA Zurich
"Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage," Frist Art Museum,
Nashville, TN
"BACK," Peter Freeman Gallery, New York
“I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen,” Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth,
Texas
“Börse Deutsche Photo Prize,” The Photographer's Gallery, London
"NOT FOR SALE," NXTHVN, New Haven, CT
"The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century," Baltimore Museum of Art
14th Gwangju Biennale, “Soft and weak like water,” Gwangju, South Korea
“Arthur Jafa: akingdoncomethas,” TONO Festival, Alameda Art Laboratory, Mexico City
2022
“Real Corporeal,” curated by Ben Broome, 439 West 127th Street, New York
“Techno, Berlin und die große Freiheit,” Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, Germany
“Mimicries,” curated by Jeffrey Stucker and Jan Tumlir, Ben Hunter Gallery, London, United Kingdom
“America: Between Dreams and Realities, Selections from the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,” Musée national des beaux-arts, Québec, Canada
“Future Bodies from a Recent Past Skulptur, Technologie,Körper seit den 1950er-Jahren," Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany
“Globalisto. A Philosophy in flux,” curated by Mo Laudi, Musée d’art modern et contemporian, Saint Etienne, France
“Mountain/Time,” Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado
“Drawing Together,” Museum Bellpark, Kriens, Switzerland
“Unweaving the binary code – Hannah Ryggen Triennale,” Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway
“The Tender, Fragile Thing, The School, Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, New York
“Just Futures: Black Quantum Futurism, Arthur Jafa and Martine Syms,” Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
Bangkok Biennial, Bangkok, Thailand
2021
“Family: Visions of a Share Humanity,” curated by Franklin Sirmans, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
“Black American Portraits,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
“The Sun Machine is Coming Down,” International Congress Centre, Berlin, Germany “Image Processors: Artists in the Medium – A Short History 1968-2020,” Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
“The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse,” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
“The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time,” Brooklyn Museum, New York
“I CARE BECAUSE YOU DO,” The Mass, Tokyo, Japan
“A Million Roses for Angela Davis,” Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany A “Fire in My Belly,” Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin, Germany
“Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America,” New Museum, New York
“Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech,” Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
2020
“Living Just Enough,” Goodman Gallery, London
“A Sculpture, A Film & 6 Videos,” Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Middletown, Connecticut
“Nirin Naarm,” Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
“The White Album,” 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
“Punta della Dogana,” curated by Muna El Fituri, Thomas Houseago, and Caroline Bourgeois, Venice, Italy
2019
“Paul Pfeiffer / Washington: D.C.: Exodus,” Bortolami Gallery, Watergate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
“Tell me about yesterday tomorrow,” Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, Munich, Germany
“Ebsploitatian”, Martos Gallery, New York
“Surrounds: 11 Installations,’ Museum of Modern Art, New York
“Forever Young; 10 Years Museum Brandhorst,” Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany “May You Live In Interesting Times,” 58th Venice Biennale, curated by Ralph Rugoff, Venice, Italy
“Medicine for a Nightmare,” Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
“Dreamweavers,” curated by Nicola Vassell, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, California
“HYPER! A JOURNEY INTO ART AND MUSIC,” Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany “Prisoner of Love,” Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
2018
“Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida
“Love is the Message, The Message is Death,” High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
“True Luxury,” Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
“Nothing Stable under Heaven,” Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
“The Pain of Others,” Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, California
“There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns,” Bonnefanten Museum, Netherlands
2017
“Truth: 24 Frames Per Second,” Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
“The Message,” Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
“Picture Industry,” Hessel Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
“The Body Politic: Video from the Met Collection,” Met Breuer, New York
2016
“Made in L.A. 2016,” The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California
2014
“Ruffneck Constructivists,” curated by Kara Walker, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2002
"Social Formal,” Westfälischer Kunstveren, Münster, Germany
“My Black Death,” ARTPACE, San Antonio, Texas
2001
"Mirror’s Edge," Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark
"Mirror’s Edge," Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland
“Bitstreams,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
"A Small Museum and a Large Library of Contemporary Art: Parkett Collaborations & Editions since 1984," Museum of Modern Art, New York
"Economie de moyens," Musee d’Art Contemporain, Marseille, France
"Jheronimus Bosch," Musee d’art moderne et contemporain, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2000
"Mirror’s Edge,” Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli, Italy
Whitney Biennial 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
“Mirror’s Edge,” Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
“Media City,” Seoul, Korea
“Black Box,” CCAC Institute, Oakland, California
1999
"Mirror’s Edge,” Bildmusseet, Umeå, Sweden
“Dexter Buell, Arthur Jafa, Judy Stevens,” Artists Space, New York
Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland
Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada
Directed Films
2021
AGHDRA
2020
Wash Us in the Blood
2018
akingdoncomethas
2017
JAY-Z 4:44
2016
Love is the Message, The Message is Death
2014
Adrian Younge
2013
Dreams are Colder than Death
APEX
2009
Deshotten 1.0
2000
Black Millenium
Corner
Yellowjacket
1999
Tree
1996
Smile
1995
Slowly This
1983
Considerations
Cinematography
2018
Happy Birthday, Marsha!
2017
Cranes in the Sky
Don’t Touch My Hair
2014
In the Morning
Florida Water
2013
Head and Hands: My Black Angel
Nine for IX
Independent Lens
The Start Up
2012
Roomieloverfriends
Shadows of Liberty
2009
William Lynch: Bible Stories
Meet the Eye
2007
AfterLife
2004
Conakry Kas
2003
Bamako Sigi-Kan
2002
I Am Ali
1991-2001
American Experience
1999
Eyes Wide Shut
1996
American Masters
W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices
1995
Rouch in Reverse
A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
1994
Crooklyn
The Darker Side of Black
1993
Seven Songs for Malcolm X
1991
Daughters of the Dust
Screenings
2024
“Dreams are Colder than Death”, The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute at Williams College, Williamstown, MA
2019
“The White Album,” Purple Garden Cinema, The Underground Museum, Los Angeles, CA, July 12
“The Hidden Pulse in collaboration with M+, Love is the Message, the Message is Death,” The Playhouse Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, May 30
“Conversation and Screening in Conjunction with Medicine for a Nightmare,” Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway, March 21
“Affective Proximity: Films by Arthur Jafa and Others; Conversation with Arthur Jafa and Greg Tate,” BAMPHA, Berkeley, CA, February 28
“Dreams Are Colder Than Death; In Conversation with Arthur Jafa and Leigh Raiford,” BAMPHA, Berkeley, CA, February 27
2018
“Dreams Are Colder Than Death,” ICA MIAMI, Miami, FL, September 13
“Dreams Are Colder Than Death,” ICA Boston, Boston, MA, August 19
“Dreams Are Colder Than Death,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, May
2017
“Carrie Mae Weems: The Shape of Things,” Park Avenue Armory, New York, December 17
“AFROGLOSSIA Film Program,” Performa 17, New York, November 6
“Dreams are Colder than Death,” The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, May 11
“Dreams are Colder than Death,” “APEX_scenario,” “Cassowary: Mechanics of Empathy,” “Considerations,” Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, March 28
2016
“Dreams are Colder than Death,” ICP, New York, September 26
“Dreams are Colder than Death,” International Center of Photography School, Barnard College, New York, September 26 (with Christina Sharpe, Reina Gossett & Tavia Nyong’o)
“Dreams are Colder than Death,” Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art, New York, August 22
“Arthur Jafa and Manohla Dargis: A Screening and Conversation,” SUNY Purchase, NY, February 28
2015
“Dreams Are Colder Than Death,” Project Row Houses, Houston, TX, November 15
“Dreams Are Colder Than Death,” Aurora Picture Show, Houston Cinema Arts Society, Houston, TX, November 14
“APEX Redacted,” Flux Night 2015: Dream, Atlanta, GA (with Rashida Bumbray, Elissa Blount Moorhead)
2014
"bell hooks and Arthur Jafa discuss Transgression in Public Spaces," The New School, October 19
“Arthur Jafa on the Making of ‘Dreams Are Colder than Death’,” The City College of New York, New York, October 2
"Dreams Are Colder than Death," 52nd New York Film Festival, New York, September 30
“Dreams Are Colder Than Death,” ICA Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, March 19
2013
"Arthur Jafa, APEX_TNEG," MIT, Boston, MA, February 25
Talks and Lectures
2021
“Remote Links #5: Arthur Jafa on '—even monsters need sleep' and the 'Letter to parents,'" New York Public Library of Performing Arts, New York, May 3
2019
“Arthur Jafa in Conversation with Lorenzo Fusi on Love is the Message,” Meeting Point, Turin, Italy, November 1
“The Ecstatic Message: Talking Music and Moving Image Art with Ja’Tovia Gary and Arthur Jafa,” Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., October 12
“Amira Gad on Arthur Jafa | Lecture,” Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, June 28
"Saidiya Hartman & Arthur Jafa," Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, June 6
“Acclaimed artist and filmmaker Arthur Jafa in conversation with Brook Andrew,” In collaboration with M+ and West Kowloon Cultural District, The Playhouse Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Australia, May 30
“Keynote Conversation with Arthur Jafa & Tina Capt- IRAAS 25th Anniversary Conference,” Columbia University in conjunction with The Harlem Stage, New York, April 26
2018
“Artist Talk with Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions,” The American Academy in Berlin, Berlin, Germany, December 17
“Artist Talk: Arthur Jafa,” Luma Westbau, Zürich, Switzerland, December 15
“Arthur Jafa and Stephen Best in Conversation,” BAMPFA, Berkley, CA, December 12
“Back to the Body – Human-oriented Forms in Art, Design and Architecture,” Design Miami Talks Theater, Miami, FL, December 6
“Contemporary Artists Lecture Series: Arthur Jafa”, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, October 13
“Scholl Lecture Series: Arthur Jafa,” Perez Art Museum, Miami, October 11
“Arthur Jafa & Isis Pickens: In Conversation,” Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, June 12
“AGO | CONTACT International Photography Talks: Arthur Jafa,” Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, May 30“Arthur Jafa in Conversation with Christina Sharpe,” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA, March
“Grad Art Seminar: Arthur Jafa,” Art Center, Pasadena, CA, March
“Arthur Jafa – Artist Talk,” Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver, Colorado, March
“Artist Talk: Arthur Jafa & Jörge Heiser,” Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin, Germany, February
2017
“Carrie Mae Weems: The Shape of Things,” Park Avenue Armory, New York, December 17
“Black and Blur: Fred Moten in Conversation with Arthur Jafa”, The Graduate Center, New York, December 11
“Kahlil Joseph and Arthur Jafa in Conversation”, New Museum, New York, December 10
“Artists' Influencers | Arthur Jafa and Jason Moran,” Art Basel December 9
“Love is the Message: An Evening with Arthur Jafa,” Hirshhorn, Washington D.C., November 17
“Greg Tate & Arthur Jafa” MoCA Detroit, Detroit, MI, September 23
“Kahlil Joseph & Arthur Jafa: In Conversation,” Tate Modern, London, July 25
“Serpentine Park Nights,” Serpentine Pavilion, London, June 30
“Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Rendition,” Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London, June
“Los Angeles Filmforum at MOCA Presents Arthur Jafa's Dreams Are Colder Than Death,” Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, CA, May 11
“Arthur Jafa and Helen Molesworth in conversation,” MOCA, Los Angeles, April 2
“Arthur Jafa in conversation with Ming Smith,” Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, February 16
“Lucy Raven in conversation with Arthur Jafa,” Serpentine, London, February 9
“Arthur Jafa Screening and Conversation with Amy Taubin,” SVA, New York, February 7
“Love is The Message, The Message is Death: Arthur Jafa in conversation with Greg Tate,” Gavin Brown’s enterprise, 429 W. 127Th St, New York, January 29
“Kerry James Marshall – A Creative Convening”, The Met Museum, New York, January 28
2016
“Love is The Message, The Message is Death: Arthur Jafa in Conversation with Tina Campt,” Gavin Brown’s enterprise, 429 W. 127th St, New York, December 10
“Arthur Jafa in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist,” LACMA, Los Angeles, December
“Dreams are Colder than Death: Screening and Talk with Arthur Jafa” (with Christina Sharpe, Reina Gossett and Tavia Nyong’o), BCRW Barnard Center for Research on Women, New York, September 29
“Arthur Jafa & Greg Tate”, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, June 14
“A Conversation with Hua Hsu and Arthur Jafa,” Exit Art, New York, March 31
2015
“TNEG: AN EXPLORATION”, 2015 BlackStar Film Festival, Philadelphia, August 4
2014
“Transgression in Public Spaces”, The New School, New York, October (with bell hooks)
“Can Black Film exist within the structure of the Hollywood System?” BlackStar Film Festival, RBTV, October (with Hans L. Charles)
2013
“APEX TNEG, MIT”, Cambridge, February 25
2010
“After the Dance: Conversations on Michael Jackson’s Black America,” The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, June 4-5
2001
“Voices: Arthur Jafa,” Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago, November 12
Public Collections
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York
High Museum, Atlanta, GA
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Pérez Museum of Art, Miami, FL
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Fondation LVMH, Paris, France
Awards
2019
Prix International d’Art Contemporain, Prince Pierre Foundation
Golden Lion Award, 58th Venice Biennale
2018
Herb Alpert Award
2017
Paul Robeson Award, Actor’s Equity Association
2015
Best Documentary, Black Star Film Festival (for Dreams are Colder than Death)
1992
Cinematography Award, Sundance Film Festival (for Daughters of the Dust)