Samson Young

Samson Young (born 1979)^[1] is a Hong Kong artist, working primarily in the mediums of sound performance and installations.^[2]

Samson Young, Songs for Disaster Relief, Hong Kong in Venice 2017

Samson Young performing at the Venice Biennale, 2017.

Early life and education

Samson Young was born in Hong-Kong.^[1] He received both his BA degree in Music, Philosophy and Gender Studies and his M.Phil in Music Composition from The University of Hong Kong, and his PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University in 2013.^[3]

He was an assistant professor in sonic art and physical computing at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Young is also the principal investigator at the Laboratory for Ubiquitous Musical Expression (L.U.M.E), and artistic director of the experimental sound advocacy organization Contemporary Musiking.^[4]

Work

While Young's background is in music composition, his work as an artist spans a broad range of media, including performance, sound, video, drawing, and wall transfers. Young's work is frequently political in nature, addressing military history and the British occupation of Hong-Kong as subjects.^[5][6]

Nocturnal Music, the artist's 2015 exhibition at Team Gallery, centered on a performance, in which the artist sat at a desk for six hours every day, watching muted video footage of night-time airstrikes by the United States on the Middle East and re-creating the audio via foley effects, which he broadcast locally via a pirate FM radio channel.^[7]

 

A 2015 drawing by Samson Young.

Career and recognition

In 2015, Young was the inaugural recipient of the BMW Art Journey Award^[8][9] and the Hong Kong Arts Centre Honorary Fellowship in 2018.^[10] Major exhibitions include A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I'll Play a Broken Music, at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in 2017, and the Hong-Kong pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.^[11][12]

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2021 – The World Falls Apart Into Facts, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan^[13]

2020 – MAM Collection 012: Samson Young, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan^[14]

2019 – Samson Young - It's a heaven over there, Centre A Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver, BC ^[15][16]

2018 – Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour, M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong^[17][18]

2017 – Furniture Music, Gallerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany^[19]

2017 – Songs for Disaster Relief, Hong Kong Pavilion, Venice Biennale^{[20][21][22][23]}

2016 – A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I'll Make A Broken Music, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany^[24][25]

2016 – The Mastery of Language Affords Remarkable Power, Experimenter Gallery, Kolkata, India^[26]

2016 – Orchestrations, Connecting Space (presented by Para Site), Hong Kong^[27][28]

2015 – Pastoral Music, Team Gallery, New York City^[29][30]

2015 – Video Program: Samson Young, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan

2015 – Avant-garde on speed, TKG+ gallery, Taipei^[31][32]

2015 – Pastoral Music, Discovery, Art Basel Hong Kong^[33]

2015 – MTVs, a.m. space, Hong Kong^[34]

2014 – I wanted to see everything: the Liquid Borders Project, a.m. space, Hong Kong^[35]

2013 – On the Musically Beautiful, Goethe-Institute, Hong Kong^[36]

2011 – Machines for Making Nothing, Cogut Center for Humanities, Brown University, USA^[37]

Awards

2019 - Prix Ars Electronica (Sound Art and Digital Music Category), Award of Distinction^[38]

2018 - Honorary Fellowship, Hong Kong Art Centre^[39]

2015 - BMW Art Journey Award^[40]

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^[4]

2012 - Japan Media Art Festival (Interactive Art Category), Jury Selection Award^[4]

2009 - New York Society for New Music, Brian M. Israel Prize

2007 - Bloomberg Emerging Artist Award^[4]

References

1. "MAM Collection 012: Samson Young | Mori Art Museum". www.mori.art.museum. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
2. Koon, Yeewan (September/October 2017). What is the sound of failed aspirations? Samson Young's Songs for Disaster Relief. Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Vol. 16 No. 5. Retrieved 08/03/22.
3. Sigg Prize 2019. ISBN 978-988-78130-1-9.
4. "Samson Young - Participants - Witte de With". www.wdw.nl. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
5. "Samson Young". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
6. Batty, David (2016-06-18). "Art Basel: a dose of reality with exhibits on snooping and migration". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
7. "Composing a Symphony of War with Instruments and Everyday Objects". Hyperallergic. 2015-12-09. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
8. "Samson Young Wins BMW Art Journey - artnet News". artnet News. 2015-05-21. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
9. Sigg Prize 2019. ISBN 978-988-78130-1-9.
10. Sigg Prize 2019. ISBN 978-988-78130-1-9.
11. "Samson Young to Represent Hong kong in Venice - artnet News". artnet News. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
12. The Editors of ARTnews (2017-01-27). "Samson Young at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf". ARTnews. Retrieved 2017-06-17. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
13. "The World Falls Apart Into Facts". Ota Fine Arts. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
14. "MAM Collection 012: Samson Young | Mori Art Museum". www.mori.art.museum. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
15. "Samson Young: It's a heaven over there". Global News. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
16. "Samson Young: It's a heaven over there". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
17. "Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
18. Radar, Art. ""Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour" at the M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong – artist and curator interview | Art Radar". Retrieved 2019-05-26.
19. "The Artist Making Spooky Appropriations of Pop Songs in Venice". www.sleek-mag.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
20. international, studio (2017-05-30), Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief | Hong Kong in Venice, retrieved 2019-05-26
21. "Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief | Venice Biennale 2017". 2017.venicebiennale.hk. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
22. "ArtAsiaPacific: Speeding Down The Electronic Super Highway". artasiapacific.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
23. "Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief". COBO Social. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
24. "Samson Young: A dark theme keeps me here, I'll make a broken music / Simon Fujiwara: Figures in a Landscape - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
25. "Samson Young: A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I'll Make a Broken Music". Asia Art Archive in America. 2017-06-07. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
26. "Samson Young's Mastery of Language". Verve Magazine. 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
27. Cotter, Lucy; Young, Samson (2017-12-14). "Sound as Knowledge: A Dialogue with Samson Young". MaHKUscript. Journal of Fine Art Research. 2 (1): 4. doi:10.5334/mjfar.26. ISSN 2397-0863.
28. Meanwell, Peter (15 February 2017). "Sound Control". Frieze (185). Retrieved 2019-05-26.
29. "Pastoral Music (But It Is Entirely Hollow) by Samson Young". COBO Social. 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
30. "Samson Young: Pastoral Music". Asia Art Archive in America. 2018-05-03. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
31. "aVanTGaRde oN sPeEd－Samson Young Solo Exhibition | TKG+ | Artsy". www.artsy.net. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
32. Archive, Asia Art. "aVanTGaRde oN sPeEd". aaa.org.hk. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
33. "Samson Young : Pastoral Music". www.teamgal.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
34. "MTVs: Samson Young's Screen-based Works | My Art Guides". myartguides.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
35. "Samson Young's Liquid Borders project aims to preserve natural sounds". South China Morning Post. 2014-04-09. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
36. "POWER | On the Musically Beautiful Exhibition, Samson Young". www.ppphk.com.hk. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
37. Tan, Xue (2011-07-20). "Invention & Intervention: A Showcase Of Young Hong Kong New Media Artists". Creators. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
38. "Die PreisträgerInnen 2019". Prix Ars Electronica (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-06.
39. "ArtAsiaPacific: Hong Kong Arts Centre Announces Inaugural Honorary Fellowship Recipients". artasiapacific.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
40. "BMW Art Journey". www.bmw-art-journey.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.

External links

• Samson Young's website
• Team Gallery
• Galerie Gisela Capitain
• Profile of Samson Young in Artforum
• Profile of Samson Young in Edouard Malingue