Simon Denny

Biography

Simon Denny, Optimism, 2023, suspended sculpture in 3D-printed plastic filament, augmented reality; screen printed whiteboards from Twitter, Inc. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023. Supported by Auckland Contemporary Art Trust and the Contemporary Benefactors of the Auckland Art Gallery, © Installation view courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023

Simon Denny, Optimism, 2023, suspended sculpture in 3D-printed plastic filament, augmented reality; screen printed whiteboards from Twitter, Inc. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023. Supported by Auckland Contemporary Art Trust and the Contemporary Benefactors of the Auckland Art Gallery, © Installation view courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023

Simon Denny, Metaverse Landscape 21: The Sandbox Land (-2, -23), 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz, Altman Siegel Gallery and Petzel Gallery. Photograph: Nick Ash

Simon Denny, Metaverse Landscape 10: Voxels 23 Clarion Alley, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz, Altman Siegel Gallery and Petzel Gallery. Photograph: Nick Ash

Simon Denny, Creation Stories, 2022. Installation view, Michael Lett, Karangahape Road

Simon Denny, Creation Story Cable Harness 4 (detail), 2022, custom-built cable harness, 1220 x 2400 x 120mm

Simon Denny, Creation Story Cable Harness 4, 2022, custom-built cable harness, 1220 x 2400 x 120mm

Simon Denny, Document Relief 31 (Palantir Image Identification patent), 2021, Ink Jet Print on Archival Paper, Glue, Custom metal wall mount, 297 x 210 x 110 mm

Simon Denny et al., 2021 Installation view, Michael Lett, Karangahape Road

Simon Denny, Document Relief 30 (Palantir Image Identification patent), 2021, Ink Jet Print on Archival Paper, Glue, Custom metal wall mount, 297 x 210 x 110 mm

Simon Denny, Mine, 2019 Installation view, MONA, Hobart

Simon Denny, Mine, 2019 Installation view, MONA, Hobart

Simon Denny, The Founder’s Paradox, 2017 Installation view, Michael Lett, Karangahape Road

Simon Denny, Products for Organising, 2015 Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London

Simon Denny, Modded Server Rack Display with Hacking the Commons 2015 (detail) [Narrative by Matt Goerzen, suggested product title by Emily Segal], Mixed media including: LED strips, custom printed books, Revostage platform, powder coated 19″ server rack, Cisco Systems WS-C2948G switch, Microsoft wired natural ergonomic Keyboard 4000, Microsoft 5KV-00002 Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard with Numeric Pad, Free software logo stickers, plush toy animals, 100 x 245 x 100 cm

Simon Denny, Secret Power, 2015 Installation view, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice Biennale, Venice

Simon Denny, Modded Server-Rack Display with Some Interpretations of Imagery from GCHQ ‘The Art of Deception’ Slides, 2015, UV prints on Revostage platforms, powder-coated 19” server racks, Cisco Systems WS-C2948G switches, LAN cables, Bachmann power strips, steel trays, Extra Chrome SXD II cassette tape, UV prints on Plexiglas, coloured Plexiglas cutouts, acrylic paint on blackboard, Kevin D. Mitnick The Art of Deception paperback book, Penn & Teller Bill of Rights Securi-
ty Edition trick cards, Penn & Teller A Perfectly Ordinary Deck of Cards cards and box, miniature camou age net, model plastic barrels, hand-painted Panda Pzkpfw. 38 T Ausf. E/F 1:16 model tank, handmade plastic tank shield, hand-painted Trumpeter HMS Dreadnought 1915 1:350 model battleship, 3D-printed nylon mantis, Warhammer Visions magazines, Warhammer gaming models, hard rubber lizard model, hand-painted foam-core dummy tank, The Spinx: an Independent Magazine for Magicians magazine, UV print on Plexiglas cutout, transparent and coloured Plexiglas, UV prints on Dibond, Fisso stainless-steel spacers, laser-cut Plexiglas letters, anodised aluminium panels, permanent `marker on paper, UV print on sandblasted laminated safety glass, powder-coated steel and aluminium, LED strips.

Simon Denny, Modded Server-Rack Display with David Darchicourt LinkedIn Profile (detail), 2015

Simon Denny, Secret Power, 2015 Installation view, Marco Polo Airport, Venice Biennale, Venice

Simon Denny, The Innovator’s Dilemma, 2015 Installation view,
MoMA PS1, New York City

Simon Denny, New Management, 2014 Installation view, Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany

Simon Denny, All You Need Is Data – The DLD 2012 Conference REDUX, 2012 Installation view, Walters Prize, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Simon Denny, The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom, 2014 Installation View, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington

Simon Denny, The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom: Seized Property #29, 2014, spray paint and digital print on POWER-SOL SI 453 Premium Artist Canvas Polycotton Semi-Matt 350 gsm, 160 x 110 cm

Simon Denny, Corporate Video Decisions, 2011 Installation view, Michael Lett

Simon Denny, Corporate Video Decisions: Creating The Corporate Video Plan, 2011, inkjet print on two canvas, bolts, aluminium, 600 x 990 x 85mm

Simon Denny, Optimism, 2023, suspended sculpture in 3D-printed plastic filament, augmented reality; screen printed whiteboards from Twitter, Inc. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023. Supported by Auckland Contemporary Art Trust and the Contemporary Benefactors of the Auckland Art Gallery, © Installation view courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023

Simon Denny, Metaverse Landscape 10: Voxels 23 Clarion Alley, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz, Altman Siegel Gallery and Petzel Gallery. Photograph: Nick Ash

Simon Denny, Creation Story Cable Harness 4 (detail), 2022, custom-built cable harness, 1220 x 2400 x 120mm

Simon Denny, Document Relief 31 (Palantir Image Identification patent), 2021, Ink Jet Print on Archival Paper, Glue, Custom metal wall mount, 297 x 210 x 110 mm

Simon Denny, Document Relief 30 (Palantir Image Identification patent), 2021, Ink Jet Print on Archival Paper, Glue, Custom metal wall mount, 297 x 210 x 110 mm

Simon Denny, Mine, 2019 Installation view, MONA, Hobart

Simon Denny, Products for Organising, 2015 Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London

Simon Denny, Secret Power, 2015 Installation view, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice Biennale, Venice

Simon Denny, Modded Server-Rack Display with David Darchicourt LinkedIn Profile (detail), 2015

Simon Denny, The Innovator’s Dilemma, 2015 Installation view,
MoMA PS1, New York City

Simon Denny, All You Need Is Data – The DLD 2012 Conference REDUX, 2012 Installation view, Walters Prize, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Simon Denny, The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom: Seized Property #29, 2014, spray paint and digital print on POWER-SOL SI 453 Premium Artist Canvas Polycotton Semi-Matt 350 gsm, 160 x 110 cm

Simon Denny, Corporate Video Decisions: Creating The Corporate Video Plan, 2011, inkjet print on two canvas, bolts, aluminium, 600 x 990 x 85mm

Simon Denny

Born 1982, Auckland (NZ). Lives and works in Berlin (DE).

Simon Denny is an artist whose work explores the cultures and values behind some of the new technologies that are changing the world. In recent years, Denny has looked at the exploitation of information in data-economies, using his work to visualise systems of competing political and economic visions, interrelationships of labour, capital, developments in technologies, and impacts on the environment.

Denny graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, in 2004, and completed his Meisterschuler at Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt am Main (2009). In 2014 Denny was a nominee for Aoteaora New Zealand’s premiere contemporary art award the Walter’s Prize and In 2015 he was selected to represent New Zealand at the 56th Venice Biennale, exhibiting Secret Power at the New Zealand pavilion. Significant solo exhibitions include: Optimism, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland (2023-2024); Metaverse Landscapes, Kunstverein Hannover (2023); Creation Stories (with Karamia Müller) Michael Lett & Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland (2022); Mine Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf (2020), MONA, Hobart (2019); The Founder’s Paradox, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (2019), Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (2018) Michael Lett, Auckland (2017) Products for Organising, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London (2015); The Innovator’s Dilemma, MoMA PS1 (2015) and The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Wellington (2014).

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Simon Denny, Optimism, 2023, suspended sculpture in 3D-printed plastic filament, augmented reality; screen printed whiteboards from Twitter, Inc. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023. Supported by Auckland Contemporary Art Trust and the Contemporary Benefactors of the Auckland Art Gallery, © Installation view courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023

Simon Denny, Optimism, 2023, suspended sculpture in 3D-printed plastic filament, augmented reality; screen printed whiteboards from Twitter, Inc. Commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023. Supported by Auckland Contemporary Art Trust and the Contemporary Benefactors of the Auckland Art Gallery, © Installation view courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2023

Simon Denny, Metaverse Landscape 21: The Sandbox Land (-2, -23), 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz, Altman Siegel Gallery and Petzel Gallery. Photograph: Nick Ash

Simon Denny, Metaverse Landscape 10: Voxels 23 Clarion Alley, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz, Altman Siegel Gallery and Petzel Gallery. Photograph: Nick Ash

Simon Denny, Creation Stories, 2022. Installation view, Michael Lett, Karangahape Road

Simon Denny, Creation Story Cable Harness 4 (detail), 2022, custom-built cable harness, 1220 x 2400 x 120mm

Simon Denny, Creation Story Cable Harness 4, 2022, custom-built cable harness, 1220 x 2400 x 120mm

Simon Denny, Document Relief 31 (Palantir Image Identification patent), 2021, Ink Jet Print on Archival Paper, Glue, Custom metal wall mount, 297 x 210 x 110 mm

Simon Denny et al., 2021 Installation view, Michael Lett, Karangahape Road

Simon Denny, Document Relief 30 (Palantir Image Identification patent), 2021, Ink Jet Print on Archival Paper, Glue, Custom metal wall mount, 297 x 210 x 110 mm

Simon Denny, Mine, 2019 Installation view, MONA, Hobart

Simon Denny, Mine, 2019 Installation view, MONA, Hobart

Simon Denny, The Founder’s Paradox, 2017 Installation view, Michael Lett, Karangahape Road

Simon Denny, Products for Organising, 2015 Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London

Simon Denny, Modded Server Rack Display with Hacking the Commons 2015 (detail) [Narrative by Matt Goerzen, suggested product title by Emily Segal], Mixed media including: LED strips, custom printed books, Revostage platform, powder coated 19″ server rack, Cisco Systems WS-C2948G switch, Microsoft wired natural ergonomic Keyboard 4000, Microsoft 5KV-00002 Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard with Numeric Pad, Free software logo stickers, plush toy animals, 100 x 245 x 100 cm

Simon Denny, Secret Power, 2015 Installation view, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice Biennale, Venice

Simon Denny, Modded Server-Rack Display with Some Interpretations of Imagery from GCHQ ‘The Art of Deception’ Slides, 2015, UV prints on Revostage platforms, powder-coated 19” server racks, Cisco Systems WS-C2948G switches, LAN cables, Bachmann power strips, steel trays, Extra Chrome SXD II cassette tape, UV prints on Plexiglas, coloured Plexiglas cutouts, acrylic paint on blackboard, Kevin D. Mitnick The Art of Deception paperback book, Penn & Teller Bill of Rights Securi- ty Edition trick cards, Penn & Teller A Perfectly Ordinary Deck of Cards cards and box, miniature camou age net, model plastic barrels, hand-painted Panda Pzkpfw. 38 T Ausf. E/F 1:16 model tank, handmade plastic tank shield, hand-painted Trumpeter HMS Dreadnought 1915 1:350 model battleship, 3D-printed nylon mantis, Warhammer Visions magazines, Warhammer gaming models, hard rubber lizard model, hand-painted foam-core dummy tank, The Spinx: an Independent Magazine for Magicians magazine, UV print on Plexiglas cutout, transparent and coloured Plexiglas, UV prints on Dibond, Fisso stainless-steel spacers, laser-cut Plexiglas letters, anodised aluminium panels, permanent `marker on paper, UV print on sandblasted laminated safety glass, powder-coated steel and aluminium, LED strips.

Simon Denny, Modded Server-Rack Display with David Darchicourt LinkedIn Profile (detail), 2015

Simon Denny, Secret Power, 2015 Installation view, Marco Polo Airport, Venice Biennale, Venice

Simon Denny, The Innovator’s Dilemma, 2015 Installation view, MoMA PS1, New York City

Simon Denny, New Management, 2014 Installation view, Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany

Simon Denny, All You Need Is Data – The DLD 2012 Conference REDUX, 2012 Installation view, Walters Prize, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Simon Denny, The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom, 2014 Installation View, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington

Simon Denny, The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom: Seized Property #29, 2014, spray paint and digital print on POWER-SOL SI 453 Premium Artist Canvas Polycotton Semi-Matt 350 gsm, 160 x 110 cm

Simon Denny, Corporate Video Decisions, 2011 Installation view, Michael Lett

Simon Denny, Corporate Video Decisions: Creating The Corporate Video Plan, 2011, inkjet print on two canvas, bolts, aluminium, 600 x 990 x 85mm