STANYA KAHN
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Curriculum Vitae
2003
MFA, Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
1992
BA, Magna Cum Laude, Interdisciplinary Social Science/ Minor in History, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Honors and Awards
2014
CCI Fellowship
2013
Artadia Award
2012 Guggenheim Fellowship, Film/Video
2011 ARC Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation
2010 Jury Prize: Best Short, Narrative Fiction, Migrating Forms Film Festival
2009 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, nomination
Durfee Foundation, Artist’s Resource Grant
2008 United States Artists Fellowship, nomination
Durfee Foundation, Artist's Resource Grant
2007 Rockefeller Film/Video Fellowship, nomination
California Community Fund Fellowship for Mid-Career Artists
2006 Durfee Foundation, Artist's Resource Grant
2004 Winner, Backyard Invitational Video Competition
2002-3 Best Screenplay (for By Hook or By Crook): OUTFEST. Best Feature: Seattle Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival; Mardi Gras Film Festival (Australia); Paris International Gay and Lesbian Film
Festival; London International Gay and Lesbian Festival; South by Southwest (Audience Award)
2001 Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art
2000 Jerome Foundation, commissioned work for P.S. 122, NY
Solo Exhibitions
2017
Museum of Modern Art/PS1, NY, curated by Klaus Bisenbach
Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, LA, CA
2016
The Pit, Glendale, CA
Stanya Kahn, Weiss Berlin, GDR
2015
Die Laughing, Marlborough Chelsea, NY
2014
"Blood Paper and Mud", Curated by Kendra Paltz, University Galleries, University of Illinois, Normal, IL
"Don't Go Back To Sleep", Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, LA, CA
Stanya Kahn, Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO
2013
"Downer (but your ass looks huge from down here)," Curated by Emi Fontana, Pigna Project Space, Rome, Italy
2012
"I can clearly see yer nuts", The New Museum, New York, NY
“It’s Cool, I’m Good”, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
“A cave walks into a bar…”, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA
2011
Galleria Perdida/Recess Activities, New York, New York
2010
“It’s Cool, I’m Good”, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2008
Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY, with Harry Dodge
2007
“No Ins and Outs”, Carlier | Gebauer Gallery, Berlin, Germany, with Harry Dodge
2006
Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY, with Harry Dodge
Group Exhibitions
2017
Triggered, New Museum, NY, curated by Johanna Burton
Teeter, Carl Louie Gallery, London, Canada
Videos, Anonymous Gallery, Armory Fair and Mexico City
Seasick in Paradise, Depart Foundation, curated by Amy Yao, LA/Rome
Mutual Admiration, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago
2016
"LA is a Fiction," curated by Gunnar Kvaran, Fernley Astrop Museet, Oslo
"Future Ruins," Naughton Gallery, Belfast, IR
"3AM Eternal," curated by David Quadrini, Dallas, TX
"Teen Choice," curated by Drew Heitzler, CNP, LA, CA
2015
"Survival is Not Enough," Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul and London
"Laugh-in: Art, Comedy, Performance," curated by Jill Dawsey, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
2014
"The Cat Show," curated by Laura Owens, 356 Mission, LA
“Real Emotions,” (collaborative work with Dodge), curated by Ellen Blumenstein at KW, Berlin, GDR
2013
“Always Worried”, video screening, Institute for Contemporary Art, London, GB
“Always Worried”, video screening, Temple Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
“Elegy for Voice and Silence,” Art Basel Miami Beach, FL
2012
"Between a Run and a Cascade: Constraint, Desperation, and Optimism in Water, CA" (w/Dodge); Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
“Sunday @ 4”, Todd Madigan Gallery, California State University, Bakersfield, CA
2011
“Two Schools of Cool”, curated by Sarah Bancroft, FOCA, Los Angeles, CA
“Suelto”, curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas and Adrian Rivas, La Central, Bogota, Colombia
“Keren Cytter, Stanya Kahn, Dafna Maimon, and Shana Moulton”, Future Gallery, Berlin, Germany
“Electromediascope: Inside/Out” (w/Dodge) curated by Gwen Widmer, Nelson-Atkins Museum, MO
2010
California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
"Ludicrous!", (w/Dodge) Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
“Virtuoso Illusions,” (w/Dodge) curated by Michael Rush, MIT, Cambridge, MA
“45 Years of Performance Video from EAI,” (w/Dodge) PS1 NY, NY
“45 Years of Performance Video from EAI,” (w/Dodge) Wiels, Brussels, Belgium
“Slightly Unbalanced,” (w/Dodge) curated by ICI, Harnett Museum, Richmond, VA
“Queer Voices,” (w/Dodge) Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
2009
“Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video,” (w/Dodge) curated by Lauren Ross, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
“Code Share”, (w/Dodge) CAC Vilnius, Lithuania, curated by Simon Reese
“Videonale 12”, (w/Dodge) Kunstalle Bonn, Bonn, Germany
“Unusual Behavior,” (w/Dodge) Santa Barbara Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2008
“Desert Shore,” (w/Dodge) Luckman Fine Arts, curated by Jan Tumlirm, Cal State, LA
“Whitney Biennial 2008,” (w/Dodge) Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
“California Video,” (w/Dodge) Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
“Laughing in a Foreign Language,” (w/Dodge) The Hayward, London, UK
2007
“Between Two Deaths”, (w/Dodge) ZKM/Center for Art and Media, Karlsrühe, Germany, curated by Ellen Blumenstein and Felix Ensslin
“Eden’s Edge”, (w/Dodge) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Gary Garrels
“Shared Women”, (w/Dodge) Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Eve Fowler, Emily Roysdon and A. L., Steiner
2006
“Defamation of Character”, (w/Dodge) PS 1, Contemporary Art Center, NY
“Locale” (w/Dodge) Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“VIDEO MARATHON 2006”, (w/Dodge) Art in General, New York, NY
“Fair Exchange”, (w/Dodge) Millard Sheets Gallery, LA County Fair, Los Angeles, CA
2005
“Marking Time” (w/Dodge) , Getty Museum and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
“Sugartown”, (w/Dodge) Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York and Angstrom Gallery, Dallas, TX
“The Early Show”, White Columns Gallery, New York (Masuka the Crazy Attack (1976) (by Stanya Kahn)
“Films/Stills”, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
2004
“Backyard Invitational Video Competition”, (w/Dodge) group show and competition (winner), sponsored by the Believer Magazine, Hollywood Hills House and Lazy-J
“Pilot: 1”, (w/Dodge) Old Limehouse Town Hall, London, UK
“LTTR Show: Fail More”, (w/Dodge) Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
“Inside of Inside”, The Lab, San Francisco, CA (Don’t Let the Turkeys Get You Down by Stanya Kahn)
2003
“Fail Better”, (w/Dodge) Ocularis, New York, NY
“Soft Machines” (w/Dodge), Brewery Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Screenings
2017
Performative Screenings, School Gallery, Vienna, AT
Stand in the Stream, Home, Manchester UK
Expo Chicago, curated by Ali Subotnick
New York Flowers, w/Dodge, Essex Flowers Gallery, NY
2016
"The Closer I Get to the End…," curated by Suzi Halajian and Clara Lopez, Human Resources, LA, CA
"Night Transmissions," Icelandic TV, curated by Margo Norton, TV/Internet
International Women’s Film Festival, Cologne, GDR
VIDEOS w/Dodge, Space Gallery, London, UK
2015
Don’t Go Back To Sleep, HOME, Manchester, UK
Winner (w/Dodge) at Human Resources, LA
Magic Lantern Cinema w/Dodge, Brown University, RI
2014
"Don’t Go Back To Sleep," Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum, LA
Stanya Kahn, selected works, Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
"The Expansion of the Instant," X-tra at Archive Books, Berlin, GDR
2013
“Always Worried”, video screening, Institute for Contemporary Art, London, GB
“Always Worried”, video screening, Temple Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
"Happy Song For You", New Museum, New York, NY (with Llyn Foulkes)
"Who Do You Think You Are?" “And I’m Always Worried: An Anxious Evening”, Bloomberg New Contemporaries Screening, ICA London, UK
2011
54th Venice Biennale, Film Program, Swiss Pavilion, (w/Dodge) Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, Venice, Italy
2010
Jury Prize Films, BAM Cinematek, Brooklyn, NY
Migrating Forms, Closing Night Program, Anthology Film Archive, NY
2009
Modern Mondays, (w/Dodge) Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Mike Smith/E-Flux Video Screening, (w/Dodge)The Building, Berlin, Germany
2006
Combines Platter, (w/Dodge) (in conjunction with Rauschenberg Combines exhibition), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2005
Let the Good Times Roll, (w/Dodge)Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT
Winner, (w/Dodge) Ed Ruscha Film Night, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Let the Good Times Roll, (w/Dodge) New York Underground Film Festival, NY
Let the Good Times Roll, (w/Dodge) Provincetown International Film Festival, NY
2002
Winner, (w/Dodge) Slamdance, New York; Best of Slamdance, Los Angeles; Mix Festival, New York; Los Angeles Film Festival; New Festival, New York; Slamdance Film Festival, Utah; London Lesbian/Gay Int’l Film Festival; OUTFEST Film Festival, LA; Silverlake Film Festival, Los Angeles; Hallwalls Art Space, Buffalo, NY, Flaming Festival, Minneapolis, MN
2001
By Hook or By Crook (Contributing writer, actor, performance consultant: Independent feature film, written and directed by Harry Dodge and Silas Howard. DVD distributed by Wolfe Video. On cable TV, Sundance Channel. Selected Film Festival Screenings:
Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah; South by Southwest, Austin, TX; OUTFEST, Los Angeles, CA; New Festival, New York, NY; San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay, CA; Cleveland International, OH; Paris International Lesbian and Gay, Paris, France
Bibliography
2017
Diehl, Travis, Stanya Kahn, Frieze Magazine, May 2017
Mirzota, Sharon, Stanya Kahn, LA Times, May 4, 2017
Scrimgeour, Alex, Stanya Kahn, Spike Magazine Quarterly, January 2017
2015
Rosenthal, Tracy Jeanne, Stanya Kahn in the Studio, Art in America, June/July
Indrisek, Scott, The Apocalypse is Hilarious: Stanya Kahn, Blouin Artinfo/Modern Painters, September/December
Whyma, Chloe, Stand Up as the New Performance Art, Artspace, August 28th
Mendelsohn, Ben, Plenty of Causes for Concern, The Brooklyn Rail, February 5th
McGarry, Kevin, In San Diego Art is a Laughing Matter, NYTimes Magazine, January 23
Marcus, Michelle, 10 x 10: Stanya Kahn, Malibu Magazine, December issue
2014
Tumlir, Jan, "Stanya Kahn," Flashart, July-Sept
Guthrey, Summer, “Stanya Kahn,” Artforum Critic’s Pick May
Beck, Chelsea, “Selfing Togetherment Naturally: Stanya Kahn,” Artslant, May
Thorson, Allison, “Don’t Go Back to Sleep: The Time For Change is Now- Stanya Kahn,” Kansas City Star, May 22
Halter, Ed, Don’t Go Back To Sleep, brochure text, Grand Arts, June 2014
2012
Myers, Holly, “Llyn Foulkes' art of raw emotion”, The Los Angeles Times, October 28
Allsop, Laura, "Stanya Kahn: It's Cool, I'm Good", Art Monthly, No. 359, September
Rahman, Sophia, "Interview: 'It's cool, I'm good' artist discusses first UK solo exhibition at Manchester's Cornerhouse", Mancunian Matters, June 21
Yablonsky, Linda, “Women’s Work”, New York Times, May 10
Mohebbi, Sohrab, “Stanya Kahn’s ‘A cave walks into a bar…”, Art Agenda, April 3
Wiley, Chris, “Stanya Kahn”, Artforum Critics’ Picks, March
Myers, Holly, “Art review: Stanya Kahn at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects”, Los Angeles Times, March 8
Wagley, Catherine, “Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including a Penis Costume Film, LA Weekly, Februrary 29
“Stanya Kahn Exhibition Navigates the Art of the Joke”, Huffington Post, February 14
2011
Bancroft, Sarah, “Two Schools of Cool”, Orange County Museum of Art / Fellows Of Contemporary Art, DelMonico Books
Clothier, Peter, “PST/OC”, The Huffington Post, October
Kramer, David Jacob, “Stanya Kahn, A Video Artist Who Defies Characterization”, Paper Magazine, April
2010
Kilston, Lyra, “First View: Stanya Kahn – It’s Cool, I’m Good”, Artreview.com, March 26 (link)
Pagel, David, “Around the galleries: A film fest that is all her own”, Los Angeles Times, April 9 (link)
Hebron, Micol, “Critic’s Pick: Stanya Kahn at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects”, Artforum.com, March 25 (link)
Berardini, Andrew, “Scene & Heard: Tour of Duty”, ArtForum.com, March 19 (link)
Smee, Sebastian, “MIT Exhibit bends More Thank Gender,” Boston Globe, February 14 (link)
Proctor, Roy, “Harnett Museum is Time-Based Art,” February 14
2009
Woodard, Josef,“Off the Off Radar Art”, Santa Barbara News Press, November 20
Smith, Michael, “Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn,” Bomb Magazine, No. 108, Summer
2008
Bedford, Christopher, “Focus: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn,” Frieze Magazine, Nov-Dec
Finkel, Jori, “Unsettling in a Funny Sort of Way,” New York Times, March 2
Kushner, Rachel “1,000 Words,” Artforum, January
"Art reviews, defamation of character", New Yorker, November
Halle, Howard, "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn," Time Out NY, July
Schambelan, Elizabeth, "Whitney Biennial," Art Forum, Summer
Armetta, Amoreen, "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn," Artforum.com, June
Volk, Gregory, "Spring in Dystopia," Art in America, May
Saltz, Jerry, “Whitney Biennial,” Village Voice, April
Alemani, Cecilia, "Whitney Girls", Mousse Magazine, March
Cotter, Holland, “Whitney Biennial,” New York Times, March
Schjeldahl, Peter, “Lessness: The Art World,” New Yorker, March
Halle, Howard, “Whitney Biennial,” Time Out NY, March
Shaffer, Grant, "Art Review", Harry Dodge & Stanya Kahn", New Yorker, March 18
Cornell, Loren, "Art Picks: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn," Time Out NY
Mellis, Miranda, “California Video,” Exhibition Catalogue, January
2007
Blumenstein, Ellen, “Between Two Deaths,” Exhibition Catalogue, July
Garrels, Gary, “Eden’s Edge,” Exhibition Catalogue, July
“Art and Politics in LA, Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn”, Modern Painters, January
2006
Catalogue, Fair Exchange Show, Sept-Oct
Smith, Roberta, “Art in Review: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn,” New York Times, May 12
“Arts About Town: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn,” New Yorker, May 15
“Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn,” Time Out New York, May 11
Kushner, Rachel, “Openings: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn,” Artforum, February
2005
Van, Tran Duc, “Scene and Heard: The Artforum Diary: Houses Proud”, December
Bailey, Cindy, “Radar Reading Series,” LitRave, September 9
Johnson, Ken, “Stanya Kahn and Harriet (Harry) Dodge,” New York Times, August 5
Cornell, Lauren, “Notes from Underground,” NYFA Interactive News, April
Gilani, Nadia, “Selected Shorts,” Gingerbeer, April
Weissman, Benjamin, “Slaves to the Visual,” The Believer, Dec 2004/January
2004
Halter, Ed, “A Few Odd Girls Out…,” Village Voice, November 19-25
Hall, Phil, “Winner,” Film Threat, February 16
2003
Specht, Mary, “Crappy Theater,” Houston Press, Volume 15, Number 19, May 8-14
2002
Kehr, Dave, “‘By Hook or By Crook’,” New York Times, Friday October 25
Anderson, Melissa, “Tracking Shots,” Village Voice, October 23-29
2001
“Success: By Hook or By Crook,” Seattle Gay Standard, November 2-8
2000
Covan, Ellie, “Politics, Nakedness, and Other Hot Topics,” New York Times, September 20
Pilger, Faith, “The Absurdist Brilliance of Shempco AKA Stanya Kahn,” Dance Insider, January 19
1999
Soloski, Alexis, “Rank Stranger,” Village Voice, May 25
Rasmusson, Erika, “Rank Stranger,” Shout Magazine, May
“A Bit of Strangeness in ‘Rank Stranger’,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 30
Molzahn, Laura, “Magnificent Irreverence: Ladylike Performance Festival,” Chicago Reader, February 5
1998
Jast, Frank, “Exciting Political Stage Art” (translation), Potsdamer Neuste Nachrichten Wochenendausgabe, September 19
“Wild, Political and Exciting” (translation), Neus Deutschland- Berlin, October 8
Seidel, Miriam, “Opening up to Interrogation and Self-Interrogation in ‘Specimens’,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 13
Dunning, Jennifer, “Fallen Angels in Energetic Theatricality,” New York Times, December 12
Campello, Lennox, “Stanya Kahn’s Delirium,” Echo Magazine Online, April
Jackson, Merilyn, “Thoughtful Gestures,” Philadelphia Weekly, June 12-18
Rudstrom, Sten, “Delirium: Stanya Kahn,” P-Form, Number 44 Fall1997/ Winter
1997
Knaff, Deborah, “CORE’s Activist Artists try to bring sense to the Millenium,” San Diego Union Tribune, April 10
“Critics Pick,” Dallas Observer, December 8
Lloyd, Carol, “Intelligent Carnality,” San Francisco Weekly, Arpil 30 - May 8
“Entertainment for the Apocalypse,” San Francisco Weekly, April 16 - 22
“Guerilla Dance: Among the Ruins,” San Francisco Focus Magazine, July
1996
Murrin, Tom, “Probing Mars,” Paper Magazine Online, December
Chonin, Neva, “Art Revolution,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, September 25 - October 2
Chonin, Neva, “Utility Beast,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, by October 4 - 10
Publications
2016
Die Laughing, artist's book, 2nd Cannons Publications
2015
Abstract Video, ed. By Gabrielle Jennings, conversation with Trinie Dalton and Stanya Kahn, UCPress
2014
Artist Project, X-Tra Magazine, Vol. 16, No. 4
Forthcoming: New Drawings, 2nd Cannons Press, LA
Halter, Ed, "Stanya Kahn: Don't Go Back To Sleep", brochure/essay, Grand Arts
2012It’s Cool, I’m Good: Stanya Kahn, monograph, CornerHouse Publications, UK
2010
Bryant, Tisa, Miranda Mellis, Kate Schatz, eds., “Hell”, Encyclopedia Project, Vol. 2, SPD Press
2007
Cooper, Dennis, Ed. “Hell,” Userlands: New Fiction from the Blogging Underground, Akashic Press, January
Hull, Steven, Ed., “Let the Good Times Roll,” performance text in Nothing Moments, collection of art and fiction, Nothing Moments Press, Los Angeles
“Let the Good Times Roll,” performance text, Soft Targets Journal of Theory, Art and Literature, Vol. 1
“Lois and Conan,” short story, LTTR Journal of Art and Writing, #4
2002
Athey, Ron, Interview, POZ Magazine, June
“7:15 AM: On Timothy McVeigh,” Movement Research Journal, 23, August
2000
“The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole According to Shempco,” chapbook of performance text, December
1999
“Rank Stranger,” chapbook of performance text, April
1998
“Delirium,” chapbook of performance text, March
“Terminatrix Progeny,” Poetry and Performance Texts, Abundant F*CK Press, with M. Mellis and Anah-K
1995
“Utility Beast”, chapbook of performance text, September
Select Performances
(Evening-length works, unless indicated by °)
2016
Die Lauging, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA
2006
JimboCherry and Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005
Lois Live°Sundown Salon, Los Angeles, CA
2004
Let the Good Times Roll°Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2003
Ballad of Crappy and SeapoleDiverseworks, Houston, TX
2002
Delirium, production of 1996 one-person play Yale School of Drama, CT
Nobble Reading series curated by Lydia Lunch, Los Angeles, CA
2001
The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole, Jack Tilton Gallery, NY, NY, Stromereien Festival of Performance, Zurich, Switzerland, University Settlement, NY, NY
2000
The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole Performance Space 122 (P.S. 122), NY, NY
1999
Rank Stranger, Dixon Place, NY, NY, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia, PA, Links Hall, Chicago, IL
1998
Specimens, collaborative work w/ P.S. 122, NY and Christ Church Philadelphia, PA
Ishmael Houston-Jones
DeliriumSUSHI Performance Space, San Diego, CA, Cleveland Performance Art Festival, Cleveland, OH
Movement Research/Judson Church, NY
Entertainment for the Apocalypse, collaborative work w/performance company CORE,
Pfefferberg, Berlin, Fabrik, Potsdam, Lot Theater, Braunshweig, GDR
Various Excerpts° Sister Spit Spoken Word Tour, 30 Venues, US
1997
Delirium Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary,
Dallas, TX, WOW Café, NY, P.S. 122, NY, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Entertainment for the Apocalypse P.S. 122, NY, Highways, Los Angeles, CA, SUSHI
Performance Space, San Diego, CA, Brady St. Dance Center, San Francisco, CA
1996
Delirium New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA, Dixon Place, NY, NY
Entertainment for the Apocalypse Bay Area Dance Series, Lainey College, Oakland, CA
Utility Beast° P.S. 122, NY, NY, WOW Café, NY, NY
1987-1995
Selected performances and readings at Theater Artaud, Intersection for the Arts, New College of California, New Performance Gallery, Southern Exposure Gallery, SOMARTS, all in San Francisco. Selected live action street performance events with Theater Action Group.