Daniel Arsham : biography

Daniel Arsham, an American multidisciplinary artist, has built a remarkable career by blurring the boundaries between art, architecture, and performance. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Miami, Arsham experienced a youth marked by Hurricane Andrew, an event that has influenced his artistic approach centered on time, transformation, and the ephemeral.

Graduating from Cooper Union in New York, where he received the Gelman Trust Fellowship Award, Arsham explored his unique vision of negative space and altered perception, partly influenced by his own experience with color blindness. This aspect shaped his initial artistic palette, which was dominated by shades of white and gray, before incorporating brighter colors after acquiring special glasses to correct his color perception.

Co-founder of Snarkitecture, an architectural exploration studio, with Alex Mustonen, Arsham works to make architecture surprising and interactive, often through interventions that challenge conventional expectations of spaces. The studio has completed several notable projects, seeking to infuse art and architecture with a sense of play and discovery.

Arsham's career is marked by multidisciplinary collaborations, including with choreographer Merce Cunningham and in the fashion world with figures like Kim Jones for Dior. These projects have allowed Arsham to explore and merge his interests in space, design, and performance while developing his concept of "future relics" — everyday objects transformed to suggest a future archaeological discovery.

In his work, Arsham invites reflection on the fragility of our present and how the objects surrounding us might be perceived in the future, a recurring theme in his series of works such as "Future Relic." His ability to play with expectations makes him one of the most innovative and influential artists of his generation.