Dena Yago
BIO
Dena Yago is an artist, writer, and founding member of the trend forecasting group K-HOLE. Recent exhibitions and presentations include JTT Gallery, New York (forthcoming, 2023); Industry City, High Art, Paris (2022), Art Basel Statements, (2021); Image Power, Frans Hals Musem, Haarlem (2020); Dry Season, Bodega (now Derosia), New York (2020); Force Majeure, High Art, Paris (2019); and Made in L.A., Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016). Recent publications include Fade the Lure (After Eight Books, 2019). Her writing has appeared in e-flux journal, Flash Art, and frieze magazine. In addition to her visual practice, she works as a cultural strategist with the artist-based consultancy Applied Arts. Yago lives and works in New York City.
Contact
ARE.NA
CV (PDF)
Education
2010
BA Columbia University, New York
2009
Universität der Kunst, Klasse Josephine Pryde, Berlin, Germany
Solo & Two Person Exhibitions
2023
Body Hero, Sandy Brown, Berlin, Germany
Capacity, JTT, New York, NY
2022
Industry City, High Art, Paris, France
2021
Statements, Art Basel with Bodega (Derosia), Basel, Switzerland
2020
Dry Season, Bodega, New York, NY
2019
Force Majeure, High Art, Paris, France
2018
The Shortest Shadow, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA
2017
The Lusting Breed, Bodega, New York, NY
2016
Heck & The Divested Set, Sandy Brown, Berlin, Germany
In Escrow, High Art, Paris, France
2014
You and You’re People, Boatos Fine Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Dena Yago, White Flag Projects Library, St. Louis, MO
Distaff, Eli Ping Frances Perkins, New York, NY
a caelo usque ad centrum, Cubbit Gallery, London, UK (with Laurie Spiegel)
Heat Island, Gasconade, Milan, Italy
2013
Because Reasons, Malraux's Place, Brooklyn, NY
2012
A car ride driven topless taken alone
Reminds major city thoroughfares of their
Contracting hopes as they pass, to carry the
Breasts of the driver, Sandy Brown, Berlin, Germany
2011
ESPRIT, Tomorrow, Toronto, Canada
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
This American Life, Moran Moran, Los Angeles, CA
Those of Us, Sandy Brown, Berlin, Germany
2022
Flatlands, Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich, Switzerland
SIREN (some poetics), Amant Foundation, New York, NY
Barbe à Papa, CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
Crowd Control, High Art, Arles, France
Red Herrings for the Category Spell, Hudson House, Hudson
2021
Still Time, Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris, France
10 Works, Sharp Projects, Copenhagen, Denmark
2020
Image Power, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands
2019
Tabula Rasa, Watermill Center, Watermill, NY
2018
Post Institutional Stress Disorder, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
Archive Fever, curated by Elisa R. Linn and Lennart Wolff, Emalin, London, UK
A Kiss Under the Tail, Arsenal Contemporary, New York, NY
Caisson, Diver, Charmer, Commercial Street, Los Angeles, CA
Human Applause, curated by Nicolás Guagnini, Bortolami Gallery, New York, NY
Title II, Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran, Montreal, Canada
Softcore, curated by Matt Paweski, South Willard, Los Angeles, CA
2017
A Spaghetti Dress for World Peace, Park View, Los Angeles, CA
Caring For Animals...Benefiting People, Jeffrey Stark, New York, NY
Condo New York, Rachel Uffner hosting Sandy Brown, New York, NY
I’m Nobody!, High Art, Paris, France
Teeter, Carl Louie, London, Ontario, Canada
Ministry of Internal Affairs, Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
2016
Made in L.A.: a, the, through, only, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Misanthrope NY, Mathew Gallery, New York, NY
Grand Opening Reception, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany
Some Versions of Pastoral, Tomorrow, New York, NY
High Pressure Systems, Frontviews at Konsulat, Berlin, Germany
Jazz Endured, Sandy Brown, Berlin, Germany
New Needs, House Wittman, Vienna, Austria
No Body No Soul, Young Art, Los Angeles, CA
Columbidae, Cell Space, London, UK
Lands’ End, Bodega, New York, NY
Joshing the Watershed, Del Vaz Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Who Are Who, Studio for Propositional Cinema, Düsseldorf, Germany
Musique Concrete, Michael Thibault Gallery, Los Angeles, LA
Unlock the Gates, JTT, New York, NY
Dingum “A Matter of Taste”, The Ister at -1, Paris, France
Revelry…, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Photographs I Like, Andrew Kreps, New York, NY
Santal 26 / 33, Grand Century, New York, NY
Bloomington: Mall of America, Bartolami, New York, NY
STL: The Grand Opening, Shoot the Lobster, New York, NY
Urbanities, James Fuentes Gallery, New York, NY
Basic Zone, Casamadre, Naples, Italy
2013
Day Before This Place, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany
L.I.I.T., curated by Carlos Reyes, Eli Ping Gallery, New York, NY
Smiler’s Delicatessen, curated by Jason Lee and Ben Schumacher, Smiler’s Deli, New York, NY
Meadows on the Grid Float, with Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Deweer Gallery, Ghent, Belgium
Bathrobe Baden Baden, a reading with Alex Field, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, and Natsuko Uchino,
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
Roman à clef, Bodega, Philadelphia, PA
2012
The Art of Cooking, curated by Hanne Mugaas, Royal/T, Los Angeles, CA
Ten Ten, Jason Alexander, New York, NY
UP AND PEARS L THE S with Ben Morgan Cleveland and Roger van Voorhees, Emily Harvey Foundation, New York, NY
2011
Combine #1, Cage, New York, NY
Formless Painting, Andrew Roth, New York, NY
2010
Uncontrollable Flesh, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
Larry’s Non-Profit State of Mind, Cleopatra’s, New York, NY
2009
Rundgang, Universität der Kunst Klasse Josephine Pryde, Berlin, Germany
Larry’s Canadian Sculpture and Image, Larry’s, Berlin, Germany
The Living and the Dead, Gavin Brown Enterprise, New York, NY
Talks & Readings
2022
Memes vs. Museums: Criticism after Instagram with Cem A. aka freeze_magazine, Joshua Citarella, Dena Yago Moderation: Gregor Quack, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
2021
First and Second Impressions, Paul Rand Lecture Series, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
2019
On Limits, Uncertainty Seminars, Stroom Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
On Orchids & Precarity, KW, Berlin, Germany
2018
Optics: Brand as Visual Culture x Visual Culture as Brand, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
Seven on Seven, Rhizome at The New Museum, New York, NY
2015
Next Top Models: New Forms for Artists’ Collectives, Frieze Talks, New York, NY
K-HOLE, Insights 2015, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
K-HOLE Miami Report, ICA Ideas, ICA Miami, Miami, FL
2014
89plus Resources Workshop and Panel, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland
2013
89plus Marathon, Serpentine Galleries, London, UK
Public Collections
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands
LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
FRAC Lorraine, Lorraine, France
Published
Writings
2021
Isn’t it ironic? No, it’s Cringe: Dena Yago’s defense of rising trends, Art Basel, September 2021
Blurred Vibrations: On Billie Eilish & Affect, appliedarts.mirror.xyz, June 14, 2021
Of Boomers and Bass, X-TRA Contemporary Art Quarterly, January 2021
2019
The Wall Stays in the Picture: Destination Murals in Los Angeles, e-flux journal #104, November 2019
Soft Serve, Frieze, Issue 205, September 2019, Print
2018
Figure Eight: On murals and the destination background, TANK Magazine, Autumn–Winter 2018, Print
Content Industrial Complex, e-flux journal #89, 2018
2017
Bad Memory, Flash Art, November–December 2017, Print
On Ketamine and Added Value, e-flux journal #82, 2017
Climate Change & Art: A Lexicon, The Distance Plan Press, 2017, Print
Deviant Art: Danny McDonald at House of Gaga Los Angeles, Texte zur Kunst, No.106, 2017, Print
2016
Empire Poetry, Texte zur Kunst, No. 103, 2016, Print
Art Production & Homelessness, Texte zur Kunst, No.102, 2016, Print
2015
The Animated Reader: Poetry of Surround Audience, New Museum and McNally Jackson, 2015, Print
2014
Love at Work, Flash Art, May–June, 2014, Print
Noon on the Moon, Sternberg Press, 2014, Print
Come Away With Me, Frieze Project by Darren Bader, 2014, Print
Heat Island: The Happy Hypocrite Issue 7, Book Works, 2014, Print
2010
Standard Remote, Sister Imprint, 2010, Print
Press
2022
Lose Your Sense of Reality In The Warped World of Dena Yago, Patrick McGraw, HighSnobiety, July, 2022
Tortured Disney, False Truths and Conflicted Memes. Institutional critique in the age of networked capitalism, Melanie Bühler, Arts of the Working Class, January 17, 2022
2018
Why the Gig Economy is Creatively Bankrupt, Travis Diehl, Garage, March 22, 2018
2017
Dena Yago, Boring Down, Josephine Graf, Cura, Issue 25, Summer 2017, Print
Dena Yago, Will Heinrich, The New York Times, March 16, 2017, Print
Dena Yago, Critic’s Guide: New York, Orit Gat, Frieze, February 28, 2017
Dena Yago, Sandy Brown, Michéle Faguet, Artforum, January 2017, Print
2016
Dena Yago at Sandy Brown, Flash Art, November–December 2016, Print
Self-Reliance, Sam Korman, Art in America, November 2016, Print
2015
Circle The Wagons, Laura McLean Ferris, Flash Art, November–December 2015, Print
Dena Yago, Marie Heilich, Bomb, May 8, 2015
Joshing the Watershed, Jared Baxter, Flash Art, March 17, 2015
2014
Unlock the Gates, Simone Krug, Flash Art, October 9, 2014
Dena Yago, Art in the Anthropocene, David Andrew Tasman, DIS Magazine, November 16, 2014
London Round-up, Martin Herbert, Art Monthly, July–August, 2014, Print
Dena Yago, Distaff, Coco Young, Alldayeveryday, June 18, 2014
In the Company of Flesh and Blood, Matthew Rana, Frieze, Issue 164, June–August 2014, Print
2013
Dena Yago, Life on Heat Island, Isla Leaver-Yap, Mousse, Issue 41, December 2013, Print
Publications
Fade the Lure, After 8 Books, 2019
Esprit Reprise, Pork Salad Press, 2015
Ambergris, Bodega Press, 2014
ESPRIT, Yesterday Press, 2011