James Webb is an interdisciplinary artist, known for his site-specific interventions and installations. His practice often involves sound, found objects, and text, invoking references to literature, cinema, and the minimalist traditions. By shifting objects, techniques, and forms beyond their original contexts and introducing them to different environments, Webb creates new spaces of tension. These spaces bind Webb’s academic background in religion, theatre, and advertising, offering poetic inquiries into the economies of belief and dynamics of communication in our contemporary world.

Webb has had solo exhibitions at numerous institutions including, amongst others, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2024); Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2018); SPACES, Cleveland, USA (2018); Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden (2018); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom (2016); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway (2015); CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain (2013); Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (2012); and mac, Birmingham, United Kingdom (2010).

Major group exhibitions include the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale (2023), the 16th Lyon Biennale (2022), Borås Art Biennial in Sweden (2021), 14th Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art (2019), 13th Biennial of Dakar (2018), 4th Prospect Triennial of New Orleans (2017), Documenta 14 (2017), 13th Biennial of Sharjah (2017), 12th Bienal de la Habana (2015), 55th Biennale di Venezia (2013), 3rd Marrakech Biennale (2009), Melbourne International Arts Festival (2009), and the 8th Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (2007). Other notable group shows include those at spaces such as Museum Tinguely, Basel; Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania; A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town; Wanås Konst and Historiska, Sweden; MAXXI Roma, Italy; Darat al Funun, Jordan; Théâtre Graslin, France; and the Tate Modern, London. 

Webb’s work has been acquired for numerous local and international public and private collections, and his projects have been the subject of the two monographs, “. . .” (blank projects, 2020), and “Xenagogue” (Hordaland Kunstsenter, 2015).

For more information on the artist, and audio/video samples, visit http://theotherjameswebb.tumblr.com



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curriculum vitae


1975    Born in Kimberley, South Africa



education


1999    Diploma (Copywriting) The Red & Yellow School, Cape Town, South Africa

1996    B.A. (Drama & Comparative Religion) University of Cape Town, South Africa



selected solo exhibitions


2024    The moon will not stay hidden forever, Liljevalchs+, Stockholm, Sweden

2020    What Fresh Hell Is This, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2019    Choose the Universe, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France

2019    Three dreams of the sinking world, POOL, Johannesburg, South Africa

2018    It’s not what it looks like, SPACES, Cleveland, USA

2018    Prayer (Chicago), Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA

2018    Supernature, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire, UK

2018    The dreamer in me meets the dreamer in you, Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden

2016    Hope is a good swimmer, Galerie Imane Fares, Paris, France

2016    We Listen for the Future, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire, UK

2016    Ecstatic Interference, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2015    Xenagogue, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway

2015    Nous نحن , with Ninar Esber, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France

2014    The Two Insomnias, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2013    Audiopolis, Centro Centro, Madrid, Spain

2012    MMXII, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010    Aleph, Goethe On Main, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010    Terms Of Surrender, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010    Untitled States, MAC, Birmingham, UK

2010    Prayer, Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham, UK

2010    JWAKZNSA, KZNSA, Durban, South Africa

2010    One day, all of this will be yours, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2008    Prayer, Huddersfield Art Gallery, West Yorkshire, UK

2007    Beau Diable, Gallery In The Round, Grahamstown, South Africa

2006    Untitled, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2002    Phonosynthesizer, US Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa



selected group exhibitions

2024    There is a light that never goes out, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France

2023    You to Me, Me to You, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa

2023    A Dobradiça - Encontros contemporâneo, A Dobradiça Biennale, Mação, Portugal

2023    Au hasard des oiseau, Biennale Internationale Saint-Paul de Vence, Saint-Paul de Vence, France

2023    Vävda Rum, Riksförbundet Sveriges Konstföreningar, Augmented Reality throughout Sweden

2023    lO, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2023    The Sound, 2nd Monheim Triennale, Monheim am Rhein, Germany

2023    À bruit secret: Hearing in Art, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland 

2023    MONA FOMA festival, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania

2023    Awwal Bayt (First House), Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2022    The Future is Behind Us, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa

2022    manifesto of fragility, 16th Biennale de Lyon, France

2021    Deep listening for longing, Borås Art Biennial, Borås, Sweden 

2021    The Normal, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

2020    Audiosphere: Sound Experimentation 1980-2020, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain

2020    Helicotrema, La Fratellanza 1874, Modena, Italy

2020    freq_wave (Seven Seas), Curated by Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Alonso Vázquez, TBA21-Academy, Austria [online]

2020    Konst i Ån, Norrtälje, Sweden

2019    Ngoma: Art and Cosmology, JAG, Johannesburg, South Africa

2019    the head the hand, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2019    Rennie at the WAG, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada

2019    Open Borders, 14th Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Curitiba, Brazil

2019    Listening Room, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town, South Africa

2018    Hacer Noche, Centro Cultural San Pablo, Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico

2018    Radiophonic Spaces, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland

2018    Truth is black, write over it with a mirage’s light, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2018    Radiophonic Spaces, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany

2018    Ways of Seeing, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2018    African Metropolis: An Imaginary City, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy

2018    blank, Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin, Germany

2018    Gegen die Strömung: Reise ins Ungewisse, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany

2018    More for less, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa

2018    The Red Hour, 13th Biennial of Dakar, Senegal

2018    Common Ground, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK

2017    17, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2017    The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, Prospect New Orleans 4, New Orleans, USA

2017    Ways of Seeing, Villa Empain Fondation Boghossia, Brussels, Belgium

2017    Mixed Signals, Helicotrema 6, Teatro di Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

2017    Utocorpis, Silenco, Paris, France

2017    Cinéphémere for LOOP Barcelona, Grand Palais, Paris, France

2017    Every Time An Ear Di Soun, documenta 14 radio

2017    Tous, des sang mêles, MAC VAL, Paris, France

2017    Home is so fucking complicated, Galerie Nathalie Halgand for the Curated by_ series, Vienna, Austria

2017    Picasso et la maternité, Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France

2017    Image Drain, Tallin Art Hall, Tallin, Estonia

2017    Afrique Capitales, La Villette, Paris, France

2017    Becoming an Apricot, an apple, a crow, a tree, a cockroach, a glacier, a plant, a mushroom, a shell, a bird, algae for Survival Kit 9, Former Faculty of Biology of the University of Latvia, Riga

2017    Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13, United Arab Emirates

2016    Silencio, in collaboration with Raphaëlle Delaunay, Paris, France

2016    Sonic Somatic, Firenze, Italy

2016    Nothing is Impossible, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sante Fe, USA

2016    Helicotrema, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

2016    History Unfolds, Historiska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

2016    Malmös Leende, Malmö, Sweden

2016    Sèvres Outdoors 2016, Sèvres Cité de la Céramique, Paris, France

2016    Le Voyage à Nantes Festival, Théâtre Graslin and Jardin de la Psalette, Nantes, France

2016    A Place In Time, Nirox Foundation, South Africa

2016    Alive in the Dead Sea (1995-2015), The Khalid Shoman Foundation Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2016    The 55-Minute Hour, Trubok Factory, Cape Town, South Africa

2015    Libertas, 7th Bienal de Jafre, Girona, Spain

2015    Handle with care, Ostrale 15, Dresden, Germany

2015    Barrier, Wanås Konst Sculpture Park, Sweden

2015    Between the idea and experience, Bienal de la Habana, Havana, Cuba

2014    Frestas, Trienal of Sorobaba, Sesc, Sao Paulo, Brazil

2014    Helicotrema, Recorded Audio Festival, Viafarini DOCVA, Milan, Italy

2014    No Fixed Abode, The New Church Museum, Cape Town, South Africa

2014    Fittja Pavilion at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale, Serra dei Giardini, Venice, Italy

2014    Dirty Ear Forum: Sound, Multiplicity and Radical Listening, Galleri 3,14 and Rom8, Bergen, Norway

2014    next thing you know, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2013    This is the thing, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2013    blank projects in Johannesburg, Ithuba Arts Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2013    Imaginary Fact, South African Pavillion, 55th La Biennale di Venezia, Italy

2013    Between The Lines, Former Tagesspiegel Building, Berlin, Germany

2013    No Limit 2, Galerie Imane Fares, Paris, France

2012    GIPCA Live Art Festival, City Hall, Cape Town, South Africa

2012    When Form Becomes Attitude, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2012    Experience Pommery 10, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France

2012    Making Way, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa

2012    Fierce Festival, various venues, Birmingham, UK

2012    In Other Words: the black market of translation, NGBK, Berlin, Germany

2011    Experience Pommery 9, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France

2011    Neither Man, Nor Stone, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2010    Sentences On The Banks and other activities, Darat Al-Funun, Amman, Jordan

2010    Reflex / Reflexión, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010    Article Biennale, various venues, Stavanger, Norway

2010    My World Images, various venues: Copenhagen, Denmark, Istanbul, Athens, Marrakech, Palermo, Catania, Riso Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia, Palermo

2010    In Other Words, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010    Twenty, Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010    Contemporary Artists From South Africa, Stiftelsen 314, Bergen, Norway

2010    Ampersand, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

2010    No Soul For Sale, L’appartement 22 / Tate Modern, London, UK

2010    1910 – 2010,  Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2010    Printemps des Poètes, Salon de lecture, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France

2009    Happy House, Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, Germany

2009    3rd Arts In Marrakech Biennale, Museum of Marrakech, Morocco

2009    L’effacement des traces, Musée d’histoire contemporaine, Paris, France

2009    Melbourne International Arts Festival, Melbourne, Australia

2009    Open Frame, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

2009    CAPE 09, Cape Town’s 2nd biennale of contemporary African culture, Cape Town, South Africa

2009    This Is Now 2, L’Appartment 22, Rabat, Morocco

2008    Delusions Of Grandeur, Unit B Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, USA

2008    Jozi & The (M)Other City, Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2008    Home Bound, Stiftung Kunst:Raum Sylt Quelle, Sylt, Germany

2008    za, Giovane arte dal Sud Africa, Palazzo delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy

2008    Light Show, Bank Gallery, Durban, South Africa

2007    Sakra!, St. Andrä, Graz, Austria

2007    9th Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France

2007    3C, Critic’s Choice Exhibition, Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town, South Africa

2007    (In)visible Sounds (with Brandon LaBelle), Netherlands Media Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2007    Afterlife, Michael Stevenson Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2006    MTN New Contemporaries, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2005    Aqua Art Sound Broadcast, Aqua Art Hotel, Miami, USA

2005    Gallery Puta, Cape Town, South Africa

2005    Incidental Amplifications, Various venues, Melbourne, Australia

2005    CCA Kitakyushu Open Studio, Kitakyushu, Japan

2004    Typhoon, Maeda Gallery, Kitakyushu, Japan

2004    The Brett Kebble Art Awards (with Matthew Kalil), CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

2004    Listening to The World Today, BBC Radio 4

2004    A Decade Of Democracy, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2004    Zèppelin 2004-Festival de Arte Sonor, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Spain

2003    Mooimark, Mooimark House, Johannesburg, South Africa

2003    YDEsire, The Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa

2002    The Long Night Of Radio Art, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria



selected installations


There’s No Place Called Home (Hökarängen), Konsthall C, Stockholm, Sweden

Nothing here does not hear you, National Arts Festival, Makhanda, South Africa

The dreamer in me meets the dreamer in you, Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden

Let Me Lose Myself, Skogskyrkogården, Stockholm, Sweden

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

There’s No Place Called Home (Amman), Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

There’s No Place Called Home (Pommery), Vranken-Pommery Monopole, Reims, France

There’s No Place Called Home (La Villa Demoiselle), Vranken-Pommery Monopole, Reims, France

Untitled, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Siren, Main Street Life, Johannesburg, South Africa



selected commissions


2021    As Yet Untitled, sound installation, Norval Foundation Sculpture Garden, Cape Town, South Africa

2014    The Shadow Of The Hummingbird, written and directed by Athol Fugard, Fugard Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa

2013    The Conversation, time capsule to be opened on 4 August 2103, Egebjerg, Denmark

2013    Die Laaste Karretjiegraf, written and directed by Athol Fugard and Riana Steyn, Fugard Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa

2011    Telephone Voice, Répondeur, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France

2011    The Bird Watchers, written and directed by Athol Fugard, Fugard Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa



residencies


2018    SWAP, SPACES, Cleveland, United States of America

2017    Fountainhead Residency, Miami

2017    Atelier Mondial, Basel, Switzerland

2016    IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden

2011    Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011    Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2010    USF, Bergen, Norway

2009    Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France

2009    KIT – Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, Germany

2009    Visby International Composers’ Centre, Götland, Sweden

2008    MediaLab Prado, Madrid, Spain

2006    MALAB, Amazonas, Brazil

2004/5 CCA Kitakyushu, Yahata, Japan



prizes + grants


2016    IASPIS grant, Sweden

2013    Turquoise Harmony Institute Art Award, South Africa

2009    Art Moves Africa Travel Grant

2008    ABSA L’Atelier Award

2006    Nominated for the MTN New Contemporaries Award

2006    ABSA L’Atelier Top 5 finalist

2002    ABSA L’Atelier Top 5 finalist



selected public collections


The Art Institute of Chicago, United States of America

MAC VAL Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Paris, France

MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy

FRAC Champagne Ardenne, Reims, France

Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

The Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany



selected private collections and foundations


Darat al Funun, Khalid Shoman Foundation

A4 Arts Foundation, South Africa

Jordan Vranken Pommery Monopole

Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada

The Life Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa

Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa

Ellerman House, Cape Town, South Africa

Gordon Schachat Art Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa

UNISA Art Gallery & Collection, Pretoria, South Africa