biography
Joan Jonas was born in 1936 in New York, where she lives and works.
Jonas is one of the most significant artists in the history of video and performance. Beginning in the 1960s, she placed female subjectivity at the center of her work, employing a complex linguistic repertoire including gestures, storytelling and images in movement.
A tireless experimenter, Jonas explores the possibilities inherent to the interdisciplinary nature of art, a characteristic that has made her a point of reference for a young generation of artists. Over time, she has established an intense relationship of exchange in collaborations with visual artists such as Peter Campus and Richard Serra, the performer Ragani Haas and musicians Alvin Curran and Jason Moran.
The continuous renewal and transpositions of the media Jonas experiments with sources from fairy tales to essays, from myths to local folklore and relate newly to contemporary life, both poetically and politically.
Joan Jonas was born in 1936 in New York, where she lives and works.
Jonas is one of the most significant artists in the history of video and performance. Beginning in the 1960s, she placed female subjectivity at the center of her work, employing a complex linguistic repertoire including gestures, storytelling and images in movement.
A tireless experimenter, Jonas explores the possibilities inherent to the interdisciplinary nature of art, a characteristic that has made her a point of reference for a young generation of artists. Over time, she has established an intense relationship of exchange in collaborations with visual artists such as Peter Campus and Richard Serra, the performer Ragani Haas and musicians Alvin Curran and Jason Moran.
The continuous renewal and transpositions of the media Jonas experiments with sources from fairy tales to essays, from myths to local folklore and relate newly to contemporary life, both poetically and politically.
In 2021 Dia Beacon devoted an important personal exhibition to her. In 2019, the Art Gallery of the University of the City of Kyoto presented Five Rooms For Kyoto: 1972-2019, Jonas’ largest solo exhibition in Japan. In 2018 Tate Modern organized a major retrospective exhibition (later travelled at the Haus der Kunst, Munich), alongside a program of performances and screenings. Her retrospectives have been shown in the following museums: HangarBicocca, Milan (2014), Queens Museum of Art, New York (2003), Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart (2000), and at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1994).
In 2015 Jonas represented the United States at the 56th Venice Biennale. In 2009, the artist received the Guggenheim’s first Lifetime Achievement Award. She took part in Documenta V, VI, VII in Kassel, Germany. For Documenta XI Jonas created and enacted a performance entitled Lines in the Sand. The same performance was then recreated at the Tate Modern in London, and at the Kitchen in New York in 2004.
Jonas has also had solo exhibitions and performances at the following museums: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna; Fundacion Botin, Santander, Spain; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona; Le Plateau and Jeu de Paume / Hotel de Sully, Paris; Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago.
gallery exhibitions
In Full Bloom
may 12 – july 30, 2010
via a. stradella 7, brown project space, kaleidoscope, luigi presicce studio
images
Installations
Stream or River Flight or Pattern II, 2016
Multimedia installation: tinted walls, wall drawings, 2 video projections
Dimensions variable
Stream or River Flight or Pattern II, 2016 (video still)
Multimedia installation: tinted walls, wall drawings, 2 video projections
Dimensions variable
Stream or River Flight or Pattern II, 2016 (video still)
Multimedia installation: tinted walls, wall drawings, 2 video projections
Dimensions variable
Reading Dante IV, 1976/2010
Installation view at Galleria Raffaella Cortese, via Stradella 7, Milan, 2010
Multimedia installation: 4 videos, 3 wall drawings, 2 tables with plexiglass, 2 benches, 1 chalkboard, 1 hanging lamp, 2 floor lamps, 15 drawings
Dimensions variable
Reading Dante IV, 1976/2010
Installation view at Galleria Raffaella Cortese, via Stradella 7, Milan, 2010
Multimedia installation: 4 videos, 3 wall drawings, 2 tables with plexiglass, 2 benches, 1 chalkboard, 1 hanging lamp, 2 floor lamps, 15 drawings
Dimensions variable
Reading Dante IV, 1976/2010
Installation view at Galleria Raffaella Cortese, via Stradella 7, Milan, 2010
Multimedia installation: 4 videos, 3 wall drawings, 2 tables with plexiglass, 2 benches, 1 chalkboard, 1 hanging lamp, 2 floor lamps, 15 drawings
Dimensions variable
Video works
Flawless Decoys, 2017
Single-channel video (color, sounds)
24' 07" looped
FUTURE LOT: Reading Dante, 2008
Video
6' 25"
Mirror Improvisation, 2005
Single-channel video (color, sounds)
6' 33" looped
Wolf Lights, 2004-2005
Single-channel video (color, sounds)
2' 49" looped
Drawings
Untitled, 2017
oil stick on paper
97,1 × 69,85 cm; 107 × 94,4 cm framed
Untitled from Reanimation performance, 2014
Chalk on paper
76,5 × 56,7 cm; 82,8 × 62,7 × 4 cm framed
Untitled from Reanimation performance, 2014
Oil stick on paper
76,5 × 56,5 cm; 83 × 62,8 × 4 cm framed
Untitled from Reanimation performance, 2014
Ink on paper
74,5 × 105 cm
Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
21 × 30 cm
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
21 × 30 cm
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
29,3 × 20,5 cm
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
29 × 20 cm
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
29,5 × 20 cm
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
28 × 39 cm
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
21 × 30 cm
Untitled, 2015
Ink on paper
30 × 30 cm
Untitled from Reanimation performance, 2014
Chalk on paper
126 × 106 cm; 134,5 × 113,8 cm framed
Untitled from Reanimation performance, 2014
Chalk on paper
126 × 106 cm
Reading Dante III, Philadelphia # 1, 2010
Ink on paper
25 × 32 cm; 29,5 × 36,5 cm framed
Reading Dante III, Philadelphia # 3, 2010
Ink on paper
25 × 32 cm; 29,5 × 36,5 cm framed
Reading Dante III, Philadelphia # 5, 2010
Ink on paper
25 × 32 cm; 29,5 × 36,5 cm framed
Reading Dante III, Philadelphia # 8, 2010
Ink on paper
25 × 32 cm; 29,5 × 36,5 cm framed
public exhibitions
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia
Madrid
Moving Off the Land IV
23.11.2021 – 1.2.2023
Photo: Roman Lores
Fondazione Ratti
Como, Italy
Antonio's dream
10.10.2021 – 20.2.2022
Photo: Agostino Osio
Dia:Beacon
Beacon, NY, USA
Joan Jonas
8.10.2021
Joan Jonas, installation view, Dia Beacon, Beacon, New York, 2021. © Joan Jonas/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Bill Jacobson Studio, New York. Courtesy Dia Art Foundation, New York.
Dia:Beacon
Beacon, NY, USA
Joan Jonas
8.10.2021
Joan Jonas, The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things (2004), installation view, Dia Beacon, Beacon, New York, 2021. © Joan Jonas/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Bill Jacobson Studio, New York, courtesy Dia Art Foundation, New York
Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Pavilhão da Bienal
São Paulo
Though it’s dark, still I sing
4.9.2020 – 5.12.2021
Photo: Levi Fanan
Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Pavilhão da Bienal
São Paulo
Though it’s dark, still I sing
4.9.2020 – 5.12.2021
Photo: Levi Fanan
Pinacoteca de São Paulo
São Paulo
Joan Jonas: Five Decades
15.10.2020 – 8.2.2021
Photo: Levi Fanan
Pinacoteca de São Paulo
Joan Jonas: Five Decades
15.10.2020 – 8.2.2021
Photo: Levi Fanan
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Madrid
Moving Off the Land II
25.2 – 18.5.2020
Photo: Roberto Ruiz
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Madrid
Moving Off the Land II
25.2 – 18.5.2020
Roberto Ruiz
Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery @KCUA
Kyoto
Joan Jonas. Five Rooms For Kyoto: 1972–2019
14.12.2019 – 2.2.2020
Photo by Takeru Koroda, courtesy of Kyoto City University of Arts
ROHM Theatre
Kyoto
Joan Jonas. Reanimation
12.12 – 12.12.2019
Photo by Yoshikazu Inoue, courtesy of ROHM Theatre Kyoto
Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
Porto
Joan Jonas
25.5 – 1.9.2019
Photo: Courtesy of Serralves © Filipe Braga
Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
Porto
Joan Jonas
25.5 – 1.9.2019
Photo: Courtesy of Serralves © Filipe Braga
Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
Porto
Joan Jonas
25.5 – 1.9.2019
Photo: Courtesy of Serralves © Filipe Braga
Walker Art Center
Minneapolis
The Body Electric
30.3 – 21.7.2019
Photo: Bobby Rogers. Courtesy: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Ocean Space
Chiesa di San Lorenzo
Venice
Joan Jonas, Moving Off the Land II
24.3 – 29.9.2019
Copyright: © Photo Enrico Fiorese, TBA21-Academy
Ocean Space
Chiesa di San Lorenzo
Venice
Joan Jonas, Moving Off the Land II
24.3 – 29.9.2019
Copyright: © Photo Enrico Fiorese, TBA21-Academy
Fenway Gallery
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Boston
Joan Jonas: I Know Why They Left,
23.1 – 30.10.2019
Photo: © Stewart Clements/Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
TATE Modern
London
They Come to Us without a Word II
14.3 – 5.8.2018
Photo: Moira Ricci
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
South Hadley, Massachusetts
Promise of the Infinite: Joan Jonas and the Mirror
17.7.2018 – 16.6.2019
Photo: © Laura Shea
press
‘It’s Like Practicing the Piano’: Watch Interdisciplinary Artist Joan Jonas Describe How Drawing Supports Her Other Creative Pursuits
Artnet news
February 27, 2020
publications
Joan Jonas: I Know Why They Left
Corraini
Milano
2019
Jonas Jonas
Hirmer Verlag
Munich
2018
Joan Jonas Is on Our Mind
CCA Wattis
San Francisco
2017
In the Shadow a Shadow: The Work of Joan Jonas
Gregory R. Miller & Co.
New York
2015
Joan Jonas: They Come to Us Without a Word
Gregory R. Miller & Co.
New York
2015
video
Moving Off the Land II
2020
Artist talk during the opening of Joan Jonas's exhibition "Moving Off the Land II", at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, on February 24, 2020. Joan Jonas, artist, and Stefanie Hessler, curator, introduced by Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, TBA21 founder and chairwoman, and Guillermo Solana, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza artistic director.
Joan Jonas: Drawings
2014
From Art21’s Extended Play series Video courtesy Art21, art21.org, founded 1997
Joan Jonas Lecture at CCA
2014
Lecture at California College of the Arts, October 9, 2014 organized by CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
