Samson Young works in sound, performance, video, and installation. In 2017 he represented Hong Kong with a solo project titled Songs for Disaster Relief at the 57th Venice Biennale. He was the recipient of the BMW Art Journey Award, a Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction in Sound Art and Digital Music, and in 2020, he was awarded the inaugural Uli Sigg Prize.
He has exhibited at venues such as the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Performa 19, New York; Biennale of Sydney; Kochi-muziris Biennial; Shanghai Biennale; Guangzhou Triennial; Sonic Acts Biennial, Amsterdam; Boras Art Biennale, Sweden; National Museum of Art, Osaka; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; the Nam June Paik Art Center, Korea; Ars Electronica, Linz; documenta 14: documenta radio; and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, among others. Selected solo projects include: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; SMART Museum, Chicago; the De Appel, Amsterdam; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf; Villa Hugel, Essen; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; Centre for Contemporary Chinese Art & Manchester International Festival, Manchester; M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Ryosoku-in at the Kenninji Temple, Kyoto; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; and Jameel Art Centre, Dubai, among others.
His works are in the collections of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Modern, UK; M+ Museum, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Busan; the Israel Museum of Contemporary Art, Jerusalem; Jameel Art Center, Dubai; Kadist Foundation, Paris & San Francisco; ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart & Berlin; Sunpride Foundation and K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai; SMART Museum of Art, University of Chicago; University of Salford Art Collection, Manchester; Sigg Collection, Switzerland; r/e Collection, Madrid; Taguchi Art Collection, Tokyo; Akeroyd Collection, Burger Collection and Living Collection, Hong Kong; and the UBS Art Collection, among others.
Samson Young holds a B.A. in music, philosophy and gender studies from the University Sydney, an M.Phil. in music composition from the University of Hong Kong, and a Ph.D. in music composition from Princeton University. He was the founder of sound art & experimental music group CMHK, and a member of the Tomato Grey artist collective.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024. “Intentness and songs,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
2023. “Situated Listening,” Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
2023. “Sonata for smoke,” Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
2023. “Variation of 96 chords in space,” Fotografiska Shanghai
2023. “The World Falls Apart Into Facts,” Kyoto Experiment, Kyoto
2023. “Frames and variations,” Petzel Gallery, New York
2022. “Sonata for smoke,” Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri
2022. “Music for selective hearing, or assisted living,” Kiang Malingue, Hong Kong
2022. "The mind blanks at the glare,” Gallerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
2022. “New Drawings,” Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Dartmouth College, Hanover
2022. “Sonata for Smoke & Reasonable Music (Lyrica)," Tomorrow Field Studio, Taiza
2021. “Artists Room,” Jameel Art Centre, Dubai
2021. “Studio exhibition,” Capitain Petzel, Berlin
2021. “The World Falls Apart Into Facts,” Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo
2021. “Closer Reading,” ORDET, Milan
2020. “Real Music,” Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
2020. “MAM Collection 012: Samson Young,” Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2020. “Close Reading,” Ryosoku-in Temple, Kyoto, Japan
2019. “Available Forms,” Experimenter, Kolkata
2019. “Silver Moon Or Golden Star, Which Will You Buy Of Me?” SMART Museum, Chicago
2019. “Real Music,” Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
2019. “Instrumentation,” Hong Kong Visual Art Centre, Hong Kong
2019. “Decoders Recoders (duo solo with Steffani Jemison)”, De Appel (at Looiersgracht 60), Amsterdam
2019. “It’s a heaven over there,” Center A, Vancouver International Center for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver
2018. “The Highway Is Like A Lion’s Mouth,” Edouard Malingue Gallery, Shanghai
2018. "Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour," M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong
2017. "Furniture Music," Gallerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
2017. "One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles)," Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Manchester
2017. "Songs for Disaster Relief," Hong Kong Pavillion, Venice Biennale
2016. "A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I'll Make A Broken Music," Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
2016. "The Mastery of Language Affords Remarkable Power," Experimenter, Kolkata
2016. "Orchestrations," Connecting Space (presented by Para Site), Hong Kong
2015. "Pastoral Music," Team Gallery, New York
2015. "Video Program: Samson Young," Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima
2015. "Avant-garde on speed," TKG+ gallery, Taipei
2015. "Pastoral Music," Discovery, Art Basel Hong Kong
2015. "MTVs," a.m. space, Hong Kong
2014. "I wanted to see everything: the Liquid Borders Project," a.m. space, Hong Kong
2013. "On the Musically Beautiful," Goethe-Institute, Hong Kong
2011. "Machines for Making Nothing," Cogut Center for Humanities, Brown University, Rhode Island
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024. “Seeing sound,” Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Pratt Institute, New York
2024. “Sound Pressure,” School of Digital Art, Manchester Metropolitan University
2024. “formazione di forme..,” Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna
2024. “CATTIVA LUCE by TBD magazine,” Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection, Venice
2024. “I Never Dream Otherwise Than Awake - Journeys in Sound,” Centre Pompidou X West Bund Museum
2024. “Voices from a Silent Path,” Indonesia Bertutur 2024
2024. “Big Brother Blockchain,” Nam June Paik Art Centre, Korea
2024. “Seeing sound,” Samek Art Museum, Bucknell University, Pennsylvania
2023. “In between the notes,” Experimenter, Kolkata, India
2023. “20 Hetreophonies (in Nam June Paik: I expose the music),” Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
2023. “Sounds like print,” Artist Book Library, Taikwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2023. “The Travellers and the Listeners,” Freespace, Hong Kong
2023. “Chinese Contemporary Art from the Sigg Collection,” SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation, Seoul
2023. Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou
2023. “Myth Makers,” Taikwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2022. Kochi-muziris Biennial, India
2022. Sonic Acts Biennial, Amsterdam
2022. “Cloud Walker,” Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul
2022. “Echo: Tomorrow Field,” Takano Shrine, Tango, Kyoto
2022. “Ersilia: Body of the Gateway Cities,” Gallerie L’ Agence en Résidence, Bordeaux
2022. “After the spectacle,” Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo
2022. “One song is very much like another, and the boat is always from afar,” Times Museum, Guangzhou
2022. “Safe House,” Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
2021. “The Wonderfulness of Memory,” Cukrarna, Ljubljana
2021. “Orchestral Manoeuvres,” Art Science Museum, Singapore
2021. “Seeing Sound,” Kadist, San Franciso
2021. Boras Art Biennale, Sweden
2021. ”Sound and Silence,“ Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
2021. “Chrono-contemporary,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
2020. “The Blue Peal of Bells,” Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Busan
2020. “100 Drawings from now,” the Drawing Center, New York
2020. “Replay,” C-LAB, Taipei
2020. “Us Against You,” Gyeonggi MOMA, Gyeonggi
2020. “Unconstrained Textiles: Stitching Methods, Crossing Ideas," Center for Heritage and Textile, Hong Kong
2020. “Next Acts,” Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Hong Kong
2019. “Sigg Prize Nominee Exhibition,” M+ Museum, Hong Kong
2019. “Spectrosynthesis II,” Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, Bangkok
2019. Performa 19 Biennale, New York
2019. “Walking Through Walls,” Gropius Bau, Berlin
2019. “The Hidden Pulse,” Sydney Opera House (in collaboration with M+), Sydney
2019. “Living Sound—Expanding the extra-musical,” Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taiwan
2019. “An Opera For Animals,'“ Shanghai Rockbund Museum, Shanghai and Para/site, Hong Kong
2019. “The Time Is Now,” Art Wuzhen, Wuzhen
2019. “Chinese Whispers: Recent Art from the Sigg Collection,” Austrian Museum of Applied Arts & Contemporary Art, Vienna
2018. “Proregress,” Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai
2018. "One Hand Clapping," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
2018. "Superposition," Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
2018. "William Lim: the Architect and His Collection," John Hartell Gallery, Sibley Dome, Cornell University, New York
2018. "I wish to let you fall out of my hands, chapter II," Experimenter, Kolkata, India
2018. "Frontiers: Re-assessment of Post-Globalisation Politics," OCAT Shanghai
2018. "Travelers: Stepping Into the Unknown," National Museum of Art, Osaka
2017. "Spectrosynthesis," Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan
2017. "Buried In the Mix," MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen, Germany
2017. "Re-enacting History: Collective Action and Everyday Gestures," National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
2017. "documenta radio," documenta 14
2016. "Ctrl+Alt: A Culture Lab on Imagined Futures," Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Centre, New York
2016. "Museum of Rhythm," Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz
2016. "Retrograde," Logan Centre Gallery, University of Chicago, Chicago
2016. "Projects," Frieze London, London
2016. "Listen to Hong Kong," Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
2016. "Canon," Art Unlimited, Art Basel, Basel
2016. "No References: A Revisit of Hong Kong Video and Media Art from 1985," Videotage, Hong Kong
2015. "APT Institute," Art in the City, Shanghai
2015. "Waking In A Dream," Heritage Museum, Hong Kong
2015. "48HR Incident," 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney
2015. "Change Seed," Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA), Seattle
2015. "Kiinan Muuttuvat Maisemat," Amos Anderson Museum, Helsinki
2014. "Harmonious Society,” Asia Triennial Manchester 14, Manchester
2014. "China’s Changing Landscape,” Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn
2014. "Journal of a Plague Year," Arko Art Center, Seoul
2014. "A Time for Dreams - IV Moscow Biennale of Young Art," Museum of Moscow, Moscow
2014. "Distilling Senses: A Journey through Art and Technology in Asian Contemporary Art," Hong Kong Arts Centre
2013. "Revolution Per Minute: Sound Art China," Shanghai West Bund Biennale of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Shanghai
2013. "The Wizard's Chamber," Kunsthalle Winterthur, Switzerland
2013. "Crossroads, Another Dimension," He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen; Kaohsiung Museum of Art, Taiwan; Macau Museum of Art; City Hall, Hong Kong
2013. "Innovationist: the Spectacular Journey of New Media Art," Taipei Contemporary Art Museum, Taipei
2013. "Violence and Poetics," a.m. space, Hong Kong
2012. “Zero1 Biennial,” San Jose, California
2012. “No Transnational: Liquid Borders and Empty Promises,” ISE Cultural Foundation, New York
2012. “Why Do Trees Grow Till the End,” Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong
2011. “XXX: Next Ten Years of Contemporary Art,” Today Art Museum, Beijing
2011. “Shanghai Electronic Music Week Sound Art Exhibition,” Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai
2011. “T_XT_RT,” Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York
2011. “MONA FOMA,” Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmania
2010. “Hong Kong Whispers,” 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, London
2010. “18 Degrees of Acclimation,” White Box Gallery, New York
2010. “Beyond the Colony of Kitsch,” Crossing Art Gallery, New York
2010. “Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, “West Kowloon Cultural District Waterfront, Hong Kong
2009. “Last Intervention,” Osage Gallery, Hong Kong
2008. “Eric Ayotte and Samson Young,” Red Tin Shack Gallery, New York
2008. “Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win: Emerging Artists from the Chinese Diaspora,” Deutschebank Headquarters, New York
2007. “Again,” Osage Gallery, Hong Kong
2007. “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture,” Victoria Prison, Hong Kong and OCT, Shenzhen
2004. “Microwave International Media Art Festival,” City Hall, Hong Kong
SELECTED FESTIVAL PRESENTATIONS
2022. Rotterdam International Film Festival
2021. Image Forum Festival, Japan
2021. Movie Movie Life is Art Festival, Hong Kong
2019. Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria
2017. Manchester International Festival, UK
2016. Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, Germany
2016. Fusebox Festival, Austin Texas
2015. New York Electronic Art Festival, Museum of Moving Images, New York
2014. Prix Cube 2014, Le Cube centre de creation numérique, Paris
2014. Tonlagen Festival, Dresden, Germany
2014. Transart Festival, Bolzano, Italy
2014. INSTALAKCJE 3 - Festiwal Instalacji Muzycznych, Poland
2013. Lucerne Festival (Festival Lounge feat. the MIVOS Quartet), Switzerland
2012. Japan Media Art Festival, Tokyo, Japan
2011. MONA FOMA Festival of Music and Art, Australia
2010. Hong Kong Arts Festival
2010. International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) Festival, Australia
2008. Canberra International Music Festival, Australia
2008. Dark Music Days Contemporary Music Festival, Iceland
2005. Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), USA
AWARDS
2020. Sigg Prize
2019. Prix Ars Electronica (Sound Art and Digital Music Category), Award of Distinction
2018. Honorary Fellowship, Hong Kong Art Centre
2015. BMW Art Journey Award
2013. Artist of the Year (Media Art Category), Hong Kong Arts Development Council
2012. Prix Ars Electronica (Sound Art and Digital Music Category), Honorary Mention
2012. Japan Media Art Festival (Interactive Art Category), Jury Selection Award
2009. New York Society for New Music, Brian M. Israel Prize
2007. Bloomberg Emerging Artist Award
EDUCATION
2013. Ph.D. in Music Composition, Princeton University
2007. M.Phil. in Music Composition, University of Hong Kong
2002. B.A. in Music, Philosophy and Gender Studies, University of Sydney