Photo by Rogério Assis for LabVerde, 2018
Newsletter
About
Alexandra Lerman is a New York based artist whose work explores the ways in which the human body interfaces with technology and nature through sculpture, video, photography and performance. Lerman’s interest is located in the tensions that arise between narratives of progress, bodies of law, and natural and social histories. In order to develop a new language around the current technological innovations and the way they change human behavior she frequently turns to techniques and processes considered outmoded today. Lerman seeks to uncover the discursive potential underlying in early technologies such as ceramics or cyanotype – an early photographic technique in order to recontextualize technology today. The artist’s works draw parallels between the clay tablets of Sumer and the patented touch-screen gestures of Apple’s iPhone; copyrighted sequences of poses in Bikram Yoga and calligraphic gestures; and sunlight-activated photo-toxic plants and UV light-activated chemicals used in early photography.
Alexandra Lerman’s individual and collaborative projects have been shown at Artists Space, Whitney Museum, New Museum, Queens Museum, SculptureCenter, Drawing Center, Tina Kim Gallery, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Anthology Film Archives, Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, MUSAC in Spain, Manege and the Museum of Hygiene in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her films were screened at the INDIE Film Festival, Brazil and the Climate Crisis Film Festival, UK. She took part in the LMCC Workspace Program in New York; Banff Centre's "01 The Retreat: A Position of DOCUMENTA (13)" in Alberta, Canada, Open Sessions at the Drawing Center, New York and is participating in LabVerde Residency in the Amazon, Manaus, Brazil in 2018. Lerman holds an MFA from Columbia University (2012) and a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art (2004).
Education
2012 MFA, Columbia University School of the Art, New York
2004 BFA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York
Residencies and Grants
2019 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
2018 LabVERDE, Art Immersion Program in the Amazon, Manaus, Brazil
2016 Open Sessions, The Drawing Center, New York
2015 The Art & Law Program, in collaboration with Fordham Law School, New York
2014 Assets for Artists program by MASS MoCA, Arthome, and the Midas Collaborative
2013 LMCC Workspace Residency Program, New York
2012 The Banff Centre Visual Arts Program: 01 The Retreat: A Position of dOCUMENTA (13) Banff Research in Culture 2012, Banff, Alberta, Canada
2010 Columbia University School of the Arts Scholarship
2000 Cooper Union School of the Arts Scholarship
1999 The Mark Rothko Scholarship in Memory of Gustave Harrow for Excellence in Art
Selected Exhibitions
2022
Social Photography, organized by Peter Scott
Carriage Trade, NY
Emerge: A Festival of Futures
Cyfest 14 - Ferment
ASU MIX Center, Arizona, US
Digital Fermentation of the Moving Image
Curated by Victoria Ilyushkina
Armenian Center for contemporary experimental art (NPAK)
Yerevan, Armenia
2021
ART+ECOLOGY,
Hoxton 254 Project Space, London UK
2020
Social Photography, organized by Peter Scott
Carriage Trade, NY
Across the Universe, curated by Zach Nader
Microscope Gallery, NY
The Millenials, curated by Anastasiya Karlova and Maria Saltanova
The State Russian Museum, St.Petersburg, Russia
XI Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award Exhibition
Kuryokhin Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2019
PRO ARTE Festival: Contemporary Art in the Traditional Museum, curated by Dimitri Ozerkov
Museum of Hygiene, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2018
FRONT INTERNATIONAL: Cleveland Triannial for Contemporary Art, curated by Michelle Grabner
Cleveland, OH
Lucky Draw Annual Benefit
SculptureCenter, Queens, NY
2017
Digital Distress Consumed by Infinity, organized by Elena Tzotzi
Signal-Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö, Sweden
Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905–2016: Screening Program Dreams and Nightmares
Organized by Chrissie Iles
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2016
MDF Blog, organized by Grayson Cox and Brad Ewing
Planthouse Gallery,
Codes for Conduct, curated by Lindsey Berfond and Jocelyn Edens
NURTUREart
2015
Open Sessions 6, organized by Nova Benway and Lisa Sigal
The Drawing Center, NY
An Argument for Difference, curated by Yin Ho and Shama Khanna
Tiger Strikes Asteroid, NY
Name It by Trying to Name It: Open Sessions 2014-15, organized by Nova Benway and Lisa Sigal
Drawing Center, NY,
In Practice: Under Foundations, Curated by Jess Wilcox
Sculpture Center, NY,
Irregular Rendition, exhibition organized in conjunction with The Legal Medium. New Encounters of Law and Art, conference at the Yale Law School, curated by Lucy Hunter
Fred Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, CT
Drawing in Context/Field, organized by Onyedika Chuke
Queens Museum, New York
2014
Immediate Release (Solo show), organized by Ceren Erdem
Tina Kim Gallery
It Narratives, curated by Brian Droitcour and Zanna Gilbert
Franklin Street Works, Stamford, CT
2013
Groundstroke (solo project), organized by Sebastian Black
Malraux's Place, New York,
Where 1, curated by R.Lyon and Lucy Hunter
Where, 1397 Myrtle Ave, Suite 4, New York,
2012
Columbia University MFA Thesis Show, Curated by Fionn Meade
Fisher Landau Center For Art, NY
Crosstime Stories: Global Subjectivities After 1989, curated by Ceren Erdem
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, NY
2011
Strategies for Public Occupation, curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert
Storefront for Art and Architecture, NY, USA
Neither Lie Nor Confession, curated by Lisa Williams, Ceren Erdem, Jamie Schwartz
Court Square Gallery, New York
Columbia University School of the Arts First-Year MFA Exhibition, curated by Anna Craycroft
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, New York
2009
Postcards from Central Asia in exhibition Kyong Park. The New Silk Roads, curated by Octavio Zaya
MUSAC - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain
2006
When Artists Say We, curated by Andrea Geyer
Artists Space, New York, NY, USA
Bibliography
Catalogues
Where 1, catalogue edited by R. Lyon, Lucy Hunter with essays by Brian Arthur and Carlos Castellanos (downloadable PDF)
Superposition: Observing Realities, 2013
It's the Political Economy, Stupid. The Global Financial Crisis in Art and Theory, edited by Gregory Sholette, Oliver Ressler, 2013
Crosstime Stories calalogue by Ceren Erdem, 2012
Columbia University MFA Thesis Show, catalogue by Fionn Meade, 2012
Press
Fontanka.ru, Оборотень Павлова и дерево-полукровка. Что спрятал куратор из Эрмитажа в других петербургских музеях, Alina Tsiopa, September 28, 2019
Sydsvenskan, I den lilla skärmens sken, February, 2018
Shift Journal, On Curating “Irregular Rendition:” ExhibitionMaking as Public Address, Lucy Hunter, November 2015
Artforum, Barely Legal by Colby Chamberlain, March 4, 2015
Brooklyn Rail, In Practice: Under Foundations by Simone Krug, March 5, 2015
Hyperallergic, Some Where's Rainbow: Pink Floyd and Dorothy Land in Bushwick by Billie Neith, December 14, 2013
Art in America, It's the Political Economy, Stupid by David Markus, March 28, 2012
Blouin. Artinfo. The Enigmatic Debut of "Where 1″ in Brooklyn, October 24, 2013
Artforum, Weekend Report by Domenick Ammirat, December 24, 2011