Simon Denny
Simon Denny’s work uses languages of contemporary art to help understand the world around us. It considers some of the values that underpin the new technologies that influence the making of cultures, the stories technologists tell and their social and political implications. Denny makes artworks and exhibitions in media including installation, sculpture, print, video, and painting.
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, 1982.
Meisterschule, Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2009)
BFA, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand (2004)
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Petzel Gallery, New York, United States
Dunkunsthalle, New York, United States
2023-2024
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, ‘Optimism’, Auckland, New Zealand
2023
Fine Arts, Sydney, ‘Landscapes’, Sydney, Australia
Altman Siegel, ‘Read, Write, Own’, San Francisco, United States
Frans Masereel Centrum, ‘Simon Denny: Metaverse Landscapes’, Kasterlee, Belgium
Kunstverein Hannover, ‘Simon Denny: Metaverse Landscapes’, Hannover, Germany
2022
Outernet Arts, ‘Dotcom Séance’, London, United Kingdom
Heidelberger Kunstverein, ‘Simon Denny: Merge’, Heidelberg, Germany
2021
Petzel Gallery, ’MINE’, New York, United States
Michael Lett Gallery, ’Simon Denny et al.’, Auckland, New Zealand
Kunstfenster im Haus der deutschen Wirtschaft, ’Simon Denny: Extractor’, Berlin, Germany
2020
K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany
Fine Arts, Sydney, ‘Worker Cage Document Reliefs’, Sydney, Australia
Altman Siegel, ‘Security Through Obscurity’, San Francisco, United States
2019-2020
MONA - Museum of Old and New Art, ‘Mine’, Hobart, Australia
T293, ‘Regulation’, Rome, Italy
2018
Galerie Buchholz, ‘Games of Decentralized Life’, Cologne, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, ‘The Founder's Paradox’, Cleveland, OH, United States
Christchurch Art Gallery, ‘The Founder's Paradox’, Christchurch, New Zealand
2017
Fine Arts, Sydney, ‘Shenzhen Entrepreneurial Form’, Sydney, Australia
Michael Lett, ‘The Founder's Paradox’, Auckland, New Zealand
OCAT, ‘Real Mass Entrepreneurship’, Shenzhen, China
Hammer Museum, ‘Hammer Projects: Simon Denny’, Los Angeles, United States
2016
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa , ‘Secret Power’, Wellington, New Zealand
Petzel Gallery, ‘Blockchain Future States’, New York, United States
WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, ‘Business Insider’, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Serpentine Galleries, ‘Products for Organising’, London, United Kingdom
56th Venice Biennale, New Zealand Pavilion, ‘Secret Power’, Venice, Italy
MoMA PS1, ‘The Innovator‘s Dilemma’, New York, United States
2014
Portikus, ‘New Management’, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Galerie Buchholz, ‘Disruptive Berlin’, Berlin, Germany
T293, ‘TEDxVaduz Redux’, Rome, Italy
Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University, ‘The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom’, Wellington, New Zealand
Firstsite, ‘The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom’, Colchester, United Kingdom
2013
Mumok, ‘The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom’, Vienna, Austria
Petzel Gallery, ‘All You Need is Data - The DLD 2012 Conference REDUX rerun’, New York, United States
Kunstverein München, ‘All You Need Is Data - The DLD 2012 Conference REDUX’, Munich, Germany
2012
Michael Lett, Art Statements (Prize), Art 43 Basel, ‘Channel Document’, Basel, Switzerland
Aspen Art Museum, ‘Full Participation’, Aspen, United States
Westfälischer Kunstverein, ‘Envisaging Vocational Rehabilitation’, Münster, Germany
2011
Friedrich Petzel Gallery, ‘Corporate Video Decisions’, New York, United States
Michael Lett, ‘Corporate Video Decisions’, Auckland, New Zealand
T239, ‘Chronic Expectation: CFS/ME Documentary Restoration’, Rome, Italy
Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, ‘Cruise Line’, Aachen, Germany
2010
Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, United States
Halle für Kunst, ‘Negative Headroom’, Lüneburg, Germany
Artspace, ‘Introductory logic video tutorial’, Sydney, Australia
2009
Standard (Oslo), ‘Celebrities’ Houses at Night’, Oslo, Norway
Michael Lett, ‘Starting from behind’, Auckland, New Zealand
Galerie Buchholz, ‘Deep Sea Vaudeo’, Cologne, Germany
T293, ‘Watching Videos Dry’, Naples, Italy
Lüttgenmeijer, ‘7 Drunken Videos’, Berlin, Germany
2008
Ursula Blickle Stiftung, ‘Simon Denny’, Kraichtal, Germany
2007
Gambia Castle, ‘Monthly Cowards’, Auckland, New Zealand
Michael Lett, ‘Compression Club’, Auckland, New Zealand
Gambia Castle, ‘Monthly Cowards’, Auckland, New Zealand
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, ‘Paltry Motion’, Dunedin, New Zealand
2006
Window, ‘Old Entertainment System’, Auckland, New Zealand
Scape Art & Industry Biennial, Christchurch, New Zealand
Michael Lett, ‘Old Things’, Auckland, New Zealand 2005
The Phyics Room, ‘Arranging Sympathies’, Christchurch, New Zealand
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Fondazione Prada, ‘Calculating Empires’, Milan, Italy
La Casa Encendida, ‘Picasso: Untitled’, Madrid, Spain
HEK Basel, ‘Exploring the Decentralized Web – Art on the Blockchain’, Basel, Switzerland
Fundación Telefónica, ‘Virtual worlds. From cycloramas to metaverse’, Madrid, Spain
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, ‘The Irreplaceable Human – the Conditions of Creativity in the Age of AI’, Humlebaek, Denmark
Hamburger Kunsthalle, ‘something new, something old, something desired’, Hamburg, Germany
ArtScience Museum, ‘Notes From the Ether: From NFTs To AI’, Singapore
Monash University, ‘Threads’, MADA Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Giant, ‘Supersublime’, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
HEK (House of Electronic Arts), ‘Collective Worldbuilding – Art in the Metaverse’ Basel, Switzerland
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, ‘2023 International Techno Art Exhibition: Are You Working Now?’, Taichung, Taiwan
KW Institute of Contemporary Art, ‘Poetics of encryptions’, Berlin, Germany
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen’, Fort Worth, United States
Emalin, World as diagram, ‘work as dance’, London, United Kingdom
2022
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, ‘Peer to Peer’, Buffalo, United States
Kunsthalle Zurich, ‘DYOR – Do Your Own Research’, Zurich, Switzerland
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, ‘Post-Capital: Art and the Economics of the Digital Age’, Copenhagen, Denmark
Distant Gallery / Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Art Ljubljana, ‘The Byzantine Generals Problem’, online
KAI 10 Arthena Foundation, ‘Landscapes of Labour’, Dusseldorf, Germany
Gus Fisher Gallery, ‘Creation Stories: A Project by Simon Denny and Karamia Müller’, Auckland, New Zealand
Michael Lett, ‘Creation Stories: A Project by Simon Denny and Karamia Müller’, Auckland, New Zealand
Ilam Campus Gallery, ‘Presentation Layer: NFT forms, platforms and transference’, Christchurch, New Zealand
Kunst Museum Winterthur, ‘Welt aus den Fugen: 9 Installationen’, Winterthur, Switzerland
Hamburger Kunsthalle, ‘something new, something old, something desired’, Hamburg, Germany
Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, ‘Collezione MAXXI: What a Wonderful World’, Rome, Italy
Centre Pompidou, ‘Réseaux-mondes’, Paris, France
Zabludowicz Collection, ‘Among the Machines’, London, United Kingdom
HOW Art Museum, ‘Beneath the Skin, Between the Machines’, Shanghai, China
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, ‘INFORMATION (Today)’, Oslo, Norway
2021
1st Ad-Diriyah Biennale, Ad-Diriyah, Saudi Arabia
Kunstvereinin Hamburg, ’Proof of Stake - Technological Claims’, Hamburg, Germany
MUDAM, ’Post-Capital’, Vaduz, Luxembourg
7th Athens Biennale, ’ECLIPSE’, Athens, Greece
CIVA, ’Institution Building’, Brussels, Belgium
UQ Art Museum, ’Conflict In My Outlook_Don’t be Evil’, Brisbane, Australia
Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, ’State and Nature’, Baden-Baden, Germany
Pace Gallery, ’Hiding in Plain Sight’, Palo Alto, United States
Altman Siegel Gallery, ’Fair Use: What’s Mine is Yours’, San Francisco, United States
Andrew Kreps Gallery, ’heroes and sheroes’, New York, United States
Kunsthalle Basel, ’Information (TODAY)’, Basel Switzerland
Belgrade Biennale 2021, ’The Dreamers’, Cultural Centre of Belgrade/Museum of Yugoslavia, Belgrade, Serbia
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, ’Burning Speech’, Turin, Italy
34th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Verein für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, ’Baroque Topologies’, Leipzig, Germany
Sotheby’s, ’Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale’, Online Auction
Museum of Art, ’Aquaria: Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea’, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal
City Gallery Wellington, ’Every Artist’, Wellington, New Zealand
K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, ’Opening the Space’, Düsseldorf, Germany
Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen, ’Beyond States, The Boundaries of Statehood’, Friedrichshafen, Germany
Jameel Arts Center, ’Age of You: A Kaleidoscopic Exploration of the Extreme Self’, Al Kabisi, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2020
de Young Museum, ‘Uncanny Valley: Being Human in the Age of AI’, San Francisco, United States
Kunsthalle Mulhouse, ‘Algotaylorism’, Mulhouse, France
Kunstpalais Erlangen, ‘Survival of the Fittest. Zum Verhältnis von Natur un Hightech in der zeitgenössischen Kunst’, Erlangen, Germany
Sharjah Art Foundation, ‘Art in the Age of Anxiety’, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2019-2020
Kunstmuseum Basel, ‘Circular Flow’, Basel, Switzerland
Mori Art Museum, ‘The Future and Arts’, Tokyo, Japan
2019
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, ‘The Invisible Hand’, Sydney, Australia
MAK, ‘Brave New Virtues. Shaping Our Digital World’, Vienna, Austria
Blitz, ‘Face With Tears of Joy’, Valetta, Malta
ARoS, ‘Tomorrow is the Question’, Aarhus, Denmark
2018
12th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou Museum of Art, ‘As We May Think: Feedforward’, Guangzhou, China
Gwangju Biennale, ‘Imagined Borders’, Gwangju, South Korea
Museum für Neue Kunst, ‘Your North is my South’, Freiburg, Germany
Kunsthalle Mannheim, ‘Constructing the World: Art and Economy 1919-1939 and 2008-2018’, Mannheim, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, ‘I was Raised on the Internet’, Chicago, IL, United States
Lustwarande, ‘Hybrids’, Tilburg, Netherlands
Schinkel Pavilion, ‘Proof of Work’, Berlin, Germany
2017
Museum of Modern Art, ‘Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection’, New York, United States
MAXXI, ‘Please come back’, Rome, Italy
Hessel Museum, CCS Bard, ‘Dark Clouds Silver Linings’, New York, NY, United States
K11 Art Foundation, ‘Hack Space’, Shanghai, China
Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Ernesto Esposito Collection, ‘The Go-Between’, Naples, Italy
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, ‘Art Post-Internet’, Beijing, China
2016
T293, ‘Homo Mundus Minor’, Rome, Italy
Manifesta - The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, ‘What People do for Money’, Zürich, Switzerland
9th Berlin Biennale, ‘Blockchain Visionaries’, Berlin, Germany
Zabludowicz Collection, ‘Emotional Supply Chains’, London, United Kingdom
K11 Art Foundation, ‘Hack Space’, Hong Kong, China
2015
Kunsthalle Wien, ‘Political Populism’, Vienna, Austria
6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
Moderna Museet, ‘After Babel’, Stockholm, Sweden
13e Biennale de Lyon, ‘La vie moderne’, Lyon, France
2014
Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen, ‘The Darknet - From Memes to Onionland. An Exploration’, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland
Astrup Fernley Museum, ‘Europe Europe’, Oslo, Norway
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, ‘La Biennale de Montréal’, Montreal, Canada
Kunsthalle Dsseldorf, ‘Smart New World’, Dusseldorf, Germany
Auckland Art Gallery, ‘National Art Prize of New Zealand (Walters Prize)’, Auckland, New Zealand
2013
55th Venice Biennale, ‘Il Palazzo Enciclopedico’, Venice, Italy
Hamburger Bahnhof, ‘Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst’ (nominated), Berlin, Germany
Centre Pompidou, ‘Image into Sculpture’, Paris, France
Arnolfini, ‘Version Control’, Bristol, United Kingdom
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein and Kunsthalle Zu Kiel, ‘ars viva 2012/13 SYSTEME’, Vaduz, Liechtenstein and Kiel, Germany
2012
Neues Museum, ‘ars viva 2012/13 SYSTEME’, Nürnberg, Germany
Sprengel Museum, ‘Made in Germany Zwei’, Hannover, Germany
Institute of Contemporary Art, ‘Remote Control’, London, United Kingdom
Auckland Art Gallery, ‘Walters Prize National Art Prize of New Zealand (nominated)’, Auckland, New Zealand
Wilkinson Gallery, ‘How to Eclipse the Light’, New York, United States
2011
Kunsthaus Bregenz, ‘So machen wir es’, Bregenz, Austria
Renwick Gallery, ‘Various Transmitters’, New York, United States
Galerie Buchholz, ‘Quodlibet III – Alphabets and Instruments’, Berlin, Germany
Kunstwerke (KW), ‘Based in Berlin’, Berlin, Germany
2010
Kölnischer Kunstverein, ‘Verbotene Liebe: Kunst im Sog von Fernsehen’, Cologne, Germany
Kunstmuseum Bonn, ‘Der Westen leuchtet’, Bonn, Germany
Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, ‘Permanent Mimesis’, Turin, Italy
Malmö Konsthall, ‘Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line’, Malmö, Sweden
Witte de With, ‘Let us compare Mythologies’, Rotterdam, Netherlands Bortolami Gallery, ‘Re-Dressing’, New York, United States
2009
International Project Space, ‘Display with Sound’, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Andrea Rosen Gallery, ‘The Perpetual Dialogue’, New York, United States
Galerie Buchholz, ‘Quodlibet II’, Cologne, Germany
16th Biennale of Sydney 2008, ‘Revolutions: Forms that Turn’, Sydney, Australia
‘Brussels Biennale’, Brussels, Belgium
Center, ‘Aquarium Paintings’, Berlin, Germany
2007
Museion, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, ‘Domestic Irony’, Bolzano, Italy
European Kunsthalle / Galerie Sprueth Magers, ‘The Köln Show 2’, Cologne, Germany
Residencies & Lectures
2017
Next Generation Internet Summit, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium
DLD, Munich, Germany
2016
Tech and Distributed Governance: Lecture and Seminar by Simon Denny, ICA, Miami, United States
Technology Now: Christopher Kulendran Thomas in conversation with Simon Denny, ICA, London, United Kingdom
Google Roast with Casey Jane Ellison and guests Simon Denny, Daniel Keller, and Ada O’Higgins, Berlin, Germany
Open Score: Art and Technology, New Museum, New York, United States
2014
7x7, Rhizome, New Museum, New York, United States
Isa Genzken, Was, Is and Will Be, MoMA, New York, United States
2012
Kunstzeitraum, Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne in collaboration with Suedhausbau
2010
Artspace, Sydney
Prizes
Baloise (Art Statements) Art-Prize at Art 43 Basel (2012)
Ars Viva-Preis for Art, Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e. V. (2012)
Projects
2016
Co-Founder of Berlin Program for Artists, mentoring project for emerging artists in Berlin
Publications
2015
‘The Innovator‘s Dilemma’, MoMA PS1
‘Simon Denny: Secret Power’, Mousse Publishing and Koenig Books
‘Products for Organising’, Koenig Books
2014
‘New Management’, Mousse Publishing
2013
‘All You Need is Data - The DLD 2012 Conference Redux’, Koenig Books
‘The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom’, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König
2012
‘Full Participation’, Aspen Art Press
2011
‘Cruise Line’, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König
2010
‘Video Aquarium Broadcast’, Galerie Daniel Buchholz and Michael Lett
2008
‘Simon Denny’, Ursula Blickle Stiftung