Akeroyd Collection
Artists
Martine Syms
b. 1988, Los Angeles, U.S; lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.
Martine Syms has a multidisciplinary practice, which spans film, photography, installation, performance, and writing. From an intersectional feminist perspective, Syms explores the pervasive archetypes and depictions of black experience in American television and media. Never deviating from the seriousness of her subject, she combines conceptualism and humour to explore the way representations of black identity and gender have been shaped throughout the history of moving image, whether that be tv, cinema or social media.
Martine Syms's recent solo exhibitions include Total, Lafayette Foundation, Paris (2024); Present Goo, Sadie Coles HQ, Davies Street, London (2023); Ugly Plymouths, Carré d’Art – Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nîmes (2023); SHE MAD S1:E4, MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL, (2022); Neural Swamp, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia PA, (2022); We Are Not Aliens: Arthur Jafa, Martine Syms, and Afro-Futurism 2.0, as part of Beyond the End of the World: Approaches in Contemporary Art Seminar, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, UC University California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA (2022); SHE MAD S1:E4, part of Glasgow International, Tramway, Glasgow (2021); SOFT, Sadie Coles HQ, Bury Street, London (2021); Boon, Secession, Vienna (2019); Grand Calme, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2018); FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland OH (2018); Projects 106: Martine Syms, MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York NY (2017); VNXXCAS: Martine Syms, Camden Arts Centre, London (2017); The Easy Demands, CONDO: Bridget Donahue hosted by Sadie Coles HQ, London (2017); Fact & Trouble, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2016); and Notes On Gesture, Machine Project, Los Angeles CA (2015). Group exhibitions include Signals: How Video Transformed the World, MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2023); Post-Capital: Art and the Economics of the Digital Age, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2022); The Stomach and The Port, Liverpool Biennial at the Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (2021); The Body Electric, MDC MOAD Miami Dade College Museum of Art and Design, Miami FL (2020); Sammlung, TOWERMMK, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Frankfurt, (2020); In Production: Art and the Studio System, Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2019); Whitney Biennial 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (2019); Colored People Time: Mundane Futures, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA (2019); Eckhaus Latta: Possessed, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (2018); and Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston (2018).
For further information about this artist please click here.
Exhibitions
Total, Lafayette Foundation, Paris, France (solo)
Digital Diaries, Julia Stoschek Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany (group)
Coming Soon, Lafayette Foundation, Paris, France (group)
Signals: How Video Transformed the World, MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York NY, USA (group)
Present Goo, Sadie Coles HQ, Davies Street, London, U.K (solo)
Loser Back Home, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles LA, U.S (solo)
Ugly Plymouths, Carré d’Art – Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nîmes, France (solo)
After Laughter Comes Tears, MUDAM The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, Luxembourg (group)
Stranger in the Village, Racism in the Mirror by James Baldwin, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (group)
AmericanGurl, presented by Womxn in Windows, Hauser & With, Los Angeles CA, U.S (group)
A Study in Form, James Fuentes Gallery, New York NY, U.S (group)
Mis/Communication: Language and Power in Contemporary Art, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia NY, U.S (group)
Future Shock, Lisson Gallery, New York NY, U.S (group)
Post-Capital: Art and the Economics of the Digital Age, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark (group)
SHE MAD S1:E4, MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL, USA (solo)
Grio College, Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson NY, USA (solo)
Neural Swamp, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia PA, USA (solo)
We Are Not Aliens: Arthur Jafa, Martine Syms, and Afro-Futurism 2.0, as part of Beyond the End of the World: Approaches in Contemporary Art Seminar, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, UC University California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA, USA (group)
She Mad: Season One, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (solo)
Neural Swamp, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (solo)
Grand Calme, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK (group)
SHE MAD: Laughing Gas, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA (solo)
Love in Bright Landscapes, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, Australia (group)
Palai, Sadie Coles HQ off-site: Palazzo Tamborino Cezzi, Lecce, Italy (group)
Loot Sweets, Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York NY, USA (solo)
Aphrodite’s Beasts, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (solo)
SHE MAD S1:E4, part of Glasgow International, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland (solo)
HOMEWORK #8, Sadie Coles HQ, online (solo)
SOFT, Sadie Coles HQ, Bury Street, London, England (solo)
The Stomach and The Port, Liverpool Biennial at the Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, England (group)
For Real This Time, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, State Art Museum of Florida, Sarasota FL, USA (group)
The Body Electric, MDC MOAD Miami Dade College Museum of Art and Design, Miami FL, USA (group)
Hello? God Is The Space Between Us, anonymous gallery, New York NY, USA and Mexico City, Mexico (group)
Ugly Plymouths, Sadie Coles HQ off-site: 24 Cork Street, London, England (solo)
Uncanny Valley: Being Human in the Age of AI, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, USA (group)
Big Surprise, Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York, USA (group)
Sammlung, TOWERMMK, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany (group)
New Media Series, SLAM | Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis MO, USA (solo)
Incense Sweaters & Ice, Graham Foundation, Chicago, USA (solo)
Honestly Speaking: The Word, the Body and the Internet, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group)
William Greaves, Sondra Perry, Martine Syms, organized by Martine Syms, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA (group)
Ugly Plymouths, 5239 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles CA, USA, presented by Bridget Donahue, New York NY, USA and Sadie Coles HQ, London (solo)
In Production: Art and the Studio System, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China (group)
Celebration of Our Enemies: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles CA, USA (group)
Whitney Biennial 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY, USA (group)
Straying from the Line, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany (group)
Boon, Secession, Vienna, Austria (solo)
The Body Electric, Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis MN, USA (solo)
Shame Space, Institute of Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA, USA (solo)
Colored People Time: Mundane Futures, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA (group)
Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 To Today, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor MI, USA (group)
Incense Sweaters & Ice, Graham Foundation, Chicago IL, USA (solo)
Big Surprise, Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York NY, USA (solo)
The 12th Gwangju Biennale Exhibition: Imagined Borders, Gwangju, South Korea (group)
Grand Calme, Sadie Coles HQ, London, England (group)
Succession Sounds, Kunstverein, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (group)
Eckhaus Latta: Possessed, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY, USA (group)
FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland OH, USA (group)
Contemporary Projects: Martine Syms, Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal (solo)
Mapping the Invisible, Yebisu International Festival for Art and Alternative Visions 2018, Tokyo (solo)
Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston MA, USA (group)
SHE MAD: Laughing Gas, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL, USA (solo)
Per_forming a collection. The Show Must Go_ON, Madre Museo d’arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples, Italy (group)
Speech/Acts, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA, USA (group)
Public, Private, Secret, International Center of Photography, New York NY, USA (group)
Projects 106: Martine Syms, MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York NY, USA (solo)
Future Generation Art Prize @ Venice 2017, organised by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice, Italy (group)
56 Artillery Lane, Raven Row, London, England (group)
VNXXCAS: Martine Syms, Camden Arts Centre, London, England (solo)
Whitney Biennal, as part of the John Riepenhoff installation, Whitney Museum, New York NY, USA (group)
The Easy Demands, CONDO: Bridget Donahue hosted by Sadie Coles HQ, London, England (solo)
Borrowed Lady, Audain Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (solo)
Notes On Gesture, Machine Project, Los Angeles CA, USA (solo)
Fact & Trouble, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England (solo)
COM PORT MENT, Karma International, Beverly Hills CA, USA (solo)
Black Box, Human Resources, Los Angeles CA, USA (solo)
Electronic Superhighway (2016-1966), Whitechapel Gallery, London, England (group)
Umwelt Inversion, Galerie Conradi, Hamburg, Germany (group)
Art on the Move: Martine Syms curated by Franklin Sirmans, Locust Projects, Miami FL, USA (solo)
Vertical Elevated Oblique, Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York NY, USA (solo)
Artists’ Film Club: Avant-Noir, Volume 2, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art London, London, UK (solo)
Intangibles, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis MN, USA (solo)
2015 Triennial: Surround Audience, New Museum, New York NY, USA (group)
Martine Syms, White Flag Projects, St. Louis MO, USA (solo)
The Queen’s English, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena CA, USA (solo)
First Look: Martine Syms: Reading Trayvon Martin, New Museum, New York NY, USA (solo)
First Among Equals, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA, USA (group)
Museum as Hub: Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet, New Museum, New York NY, USA (group)
We Are Here: Art & Design Out of Context, MCA Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL, USA (group)
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
Awards
Herb Alpert Award, Santa Monica, CA, U.S
Creative Capital Award, New York, U.S
Future Fields Commission in Time-Based Media, awarded by The Philadelphia Museum of Art, U.S and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Italy
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, Illinois, U.S
2022
2021
2020
2018