Dawn Kasper

Dawn Kasper (born 1977 in Fairfax, Virginia) is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist working across genres of performance, installation, sculpture, drawing, photography, video, and sound. Her often improvisational work derives from a "fascination with existentialism, subjects of vulnerability, desire, and the construction of meaning." Kasper uses props, costume, comedy, gesture, repetition, music, and monologue to create what she refers to as "living sculptures."

In 2017, the artist participated in the 57th Venice Biennale with a six-month durational performance in which she lived and worked in a public, itinerant "studio" space. The piece, entitled The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars (2017), was an installment of her ongoing "Nomadic Studio Practice" series, and consisted of various art supplies, work tables, drumsets, loudspeakers, and furniture. Kasper considered herself "in-residence," and made herself available to audiences for 'studio visits.' Writing in the catalogue for the Biennale, Marie Sarré notes: “The fusion between art and life and the desire to sunder ‘the fourth wall’ are at the heart of her pursuit. Her public scarification testifies to this.”