Doug Aitken

Doug Aitken is an American artist and filmmaker. Defying definitions of genre to reimagine what a work of art can be – and what an art experience can achieve – he visually articulates a world that is driven by information and continuously in flux. At their core, his works invite us to consider the nature of our present and signal possibilities for the future.

His is a unique immersive aesthetic, characterised by a fascination with motion and velocity, that demonstrates the nature and structure of our media-saturated cultural condition. To this end, Aitken edits together models of contemporary experience to create a new landscape, one in which he hopes we find points of anchor and experience a sense of connection. He employs a number of post-studio mediums – including photography, sculpture, architecture, sound installation and multichannel video installation. In each of his works, he chooses the medium or combination that amplifies and visually articulates the subject's qualities. The scale of his work can vary from a simple photograph, to a complex moving sculpture of infinitely reflective automated mirrors, to quasi-narrative films creating intricate mazes of open-ended stories told across reinterpreted physical architecture.

About the artist

Born in 1968, Doug Aitken currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Recent major solo exhibitions include Lightscape: Doug Aitken, Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, USA (2024); Doug Aitken: Naked City, Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey (2024); Doug Aitken: Return to the Real, Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Germany; Doug Aitken, migration (empire), The Princeton Art Museum, Princeton, USA (2023); Doug Aitken: Flags and Debris at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel (2022), and New Era at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, Australia (2021–22).

Previous major solo presentations of the artist's work have been staged at institutional venues including Faurschou Foundation, Beijing (2019); Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark (2018); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (2017); The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles (2016); Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2015); Nam June Paik Art Center, South Korea (2013); Seattle Art Museum (2013); Tate Liverpool (2012); LUMA Foundation, Arles, France (2012); Deste Foundation, Hydra, Greece (2011); Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati (2010); Museo d'Art Contemporanea Roma, Rome (2009); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2007); Aspen Art Museum (2006); Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2005); The Fabric Museum and Workshop, Philadelphia (2002) and Serpentine Gallery, London (2001).

Aitken's work has been displayed at institutions including Garage, Moscow (2019); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2019); Langen Foundation, Germany (2018); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Belgium (2018); ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark (2017); Somerset House, London (2016); Museum Folkwang, Germany (2016); Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (2015); ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2014]; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (2014); MAK Center for Art & Architecture, Los Angeles (2013); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2013); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2011–12); Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (2011); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2011); Moscow Museum of Art and Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2011); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota (2010); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2010); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2009); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2009); Stedejik Museum, Amsterdam (2007); ICA, Philadelphia (2007); ICA, London (2006); and Hayward Gallery, London (2005).

The artist was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1999; he has been the recipient of the 2012 Nam June Paik Art Center Prize, the 2013 Smithsonian Magazine American Ingenuity Award: Visual Arts, and the 2016 Americans for the Arts National Arts Award: Outstanding Contributions to the Arts. Aitken is the inaugural recipient of the Frontier Art Prize, a new contemporary art award that supports an artist of international stature pursuing bold projects that challenge the boundaries of knowledge and experience to reimagine the future of humanity.