SOCIÉTÉ

Darren Bader

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020


Darren Bader is a conceptual artist working across a broad range of media. He is known for his experiments with language, misattribution, found objects, and chance. With works that have included gestures like selling money, releasing live goats into a gallery, or a sculpture that has its owner buy every item in an eBay seller’s shop, Bader’s practice considers the processes through which we ascribe value to objects and how they become art. “Contemporary art is by its very nature kind of a tenuous proposition and category,” Bader claims, “I always sense these fault lines, and perhaps I’m overly sensitive to it—perhaps paranoid, I don’t know.”

Darren Bader (b. 1978, Bridgeport) lives and works in New York. Selected solo exhibitions include MACRO, Rome; MoMA Ps1, New York; and Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne. He has exhibited work at the 2019 Venice Biennale and 2014 Whitney Biennial, as well as group exhibitions at UCCA, Beijing; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; MOCA, Miami; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art.


fünfdreier

Société, Berlin 2023

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Daniel was persistent. His enthusiasm unflagging. He would not be deterred.

He pined/designed to realize amazon.com sculpture @ Wielandstraße 26 as natural sequel to eBay sculpture.*

Yes the two works were co-conceived, but I wanted to leave them to their lives—those their owners give them.

Daniel persisted. (Perhaps he knows I enjoy pleasing as much as I “enjoy” being inflexible.)

So we've come to a happy medium: he gets to enjoy the medium of "instruction-based sculpture," i.e. he gets to follow the instructions himself.

There are** five medium-specific works in this show (tentatively titled fünfdreier). One work is realized here for the first time. Another may yet remain unrealized. Two others have never gone beyond exhibition copy.*** One of these copies won't appear as one here, instructions for the work staying strictly instructional.**** The fifth and/or primal work will be Amazon.com sculpture, which I've never known as non-exhibition-copy (present iteration included), but may exist somewhere as the “real thing”.

Per its title, the show’s related to the number 3. I'm sure I'll have to wait a fair while to understand whether the relation is important—terse ternary, atonal tercet, mere sequence… Till then, here's a quincunxish quintet that may or may not be: tertiary, part-ternate, a “third third” preferred word I’ve been unable to pin-down, 33%…

*Our 2020 inflatables spectacle, also instruction-based.
**Only if you're reading this at the right moment. If not "are", "will be" and/or "have been".
***Industry term.
****At least in the hands of Société or hands they could purposefully instruct to see instructions through.
Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, fünfdreier, Société, Berlin, 2020

eBay sculpture

Société, Berlin 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

The work has its owner buy every item a single eBay seller has for sale.* The owner can then do whatever they’d like with the items, though it’s recommended they keep the items somewhat near them** and keep the group of items in its entirety as long as possible.

*After which it’s probable the seller will start to sell new items. The work’s owner can continue to purchase from this seller.
**At times.

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

Installation view, eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin, 2020

 
Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

Installation view, fruits, vegetables; fruit and vegetable salad, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020

 
Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

Installation view, Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2021

 

I don't know

Société, Berlin 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Installation view, I don't know, Société, Berlin, 2018

Solo exhibitions

  • 2022

    Wonths every few Monce, Sadie Coles HQ, Regent Street viewing room, Kingly Street, London, England

    Spring Cleaning / Vernal Post-Hibernal Journal, online/chain

  • 2021

    Darren Bader: The American Express Holiday Show, Harkawik, New York NY, USA

    Group Show, Dries Van Noten off-site: The Little House, Los Angeles CA, USA

    Bootlicker Suite, MACRO — Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome
    The Plastic Arts (Life Suffuses, Cells Amused), Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
    Mends of Scott Friendes, Sadie Coles HQ, London

  • 2020

    I plantain platitudes..., Andrew Kreps Gallery, digital
    Fomo Haber, Felix Art Fair, Los Angeles
    eBay sculpture, Société, Berlin

  • 2019

    Interlude, Galleria Franco Noero, Turin

  • 2018

    character limit, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
    I don’t know, Société, Berlin
    E/either e/Either n/Neither N/neither, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
    more or less, Sadie Coles HQ, London

  • 2017

    (@mined_oud), Madre. Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina, Naples
    Forest/Trees, Greenspon, New York

  • 2016

    such are promises, Sadie Coles HQ, London

  • 2015

    rocks and mirrors, Galleria Franco Noero, Turin
    Reading Writing Arithmetic, Radio Athènes, Athens
    light (and) regret; The World as Will and Representation; Final Fantasy, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne

  • 2014

    Egg, Chicago
    Darren Bader, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York

  • 2013

    Heaven and Earth, Blum and Poe, Los Angeles
    #I am just living to be dying by your side, Galleria Franco Noero, Turin

  • 2012

    New Buildings About Songs and Food, Sadie Coles HQ, London
    Where Is a Bicycle’s Vagina (and Other Enquiries), or, Around the Samovar, 1857, Oslo
    Images, MoMA PS1, New York

  • 2011

    Chad Ochocinco, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York

  • 2010

    Darren Bader, Alex Zachary, New York
    Number[s], Eighth Veil, Los Angeles

  • 2009

    New Work, 303 Gallery, New York
    Darren Bader, T&Sn’Kreps, New York

  • 2008

    Darren Bader, gallery.sora, Tokyo
    Nic Cage: A Bridal Tour of Southern California Foundries, 2nd Cannons Publications; Pauline Gallery, Los Angeles

  • 2007

    as = poaching the poachers, Rivington Arms, New York

  • 2004

    Cat, Rivington Arms, New York

Group exhibitions

  • 2022

    Corridor, ELDERS, Kortrijk

    The Painter’s New Tools, Nahmad Contemporary, New York NY, USA

  • 2021

    sub/dominium, Château Shatto, Los Angeles CA, USA

    It Is What It Is, Chateau Shatto, online
    The Going Away Present, Kristina Kite Gallery, Los Angeles
    Tales of Manhattan, Anton Kern Gallery, New York
    Fair Use: What’s Mine is Yours, curated by Alison Gass, Altman Siegel, San Francisco
    The Looking Glass, Acute Art w/ The Shed and High Line Art, New York
    100 Sculptures, anonymous gallery, New York
    BREADCRUMBS, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne
    Doomed and Famous: Selections from the Adrian Dannatt Collection, Miguel AbreuGallery, New York
    La Boîte-en-Valise, Office Baroque, Antwerp, online

  • 2020

    Mirage: Contemporary Art in Augmented Reality, UCCA Beijing, curated by Daniel Birnbaum
    Me, Family., Mudam, Luxembourg, online, curated by Francesco Bonami, Emanuela Mazzonis di Pralafera and Luigi Alberto Cippini
    4,571 miles, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
    Animal Kingdom, Alexander Berggruen, New York, online
    Sarah Lehrer Graiwer curates, Gallery Platform LA, online
    Focus Group II, Von Ammon Co., Washington, online
    Il Lenzuolo Viola, Ermes-Ermes, Vienna

  • 2019

    Furniture of Desire, Lie Lay Lain, New York
    who knows one, Vistamare, Pescara, Italy, curated by Haim Steinbach
    Chairs Beyond Right and Wrong, R & Company, New York, organized by Raquel Cayre
    May You Live in Interesting Times, the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, curated by Ralph Rugoff

  • 2018

    Fake As More, Simon Lee Gallery, New York, organized by Front Desk Apparatus
    Could you visit me in dreams?, curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini, Galerie Nadia Halgand, Vienna
    Stop Making Sense, Transmitter, Brooklyn
    Pizza Is God, NRW-Forum, Dusseldorf
    Stories of Almost Everyone, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

  • 2017

    This Light, Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart
    Pompei@Madre. Materia Archelogica, Madre. Museo d’Arte Contemporanee Donna Regina, Naples
    Publishing as an Artistic Toolbox: 1989-2017, Kunsthalle Wien
    Ripple Effect, Centre for Contemporary Art FUTURA, Prague
    (Interlude), Cookie Butcher, Antwerp
    Synthetic Divide, ACRUSH, Zurich
    Fleming Faloon, Office Baroque, Brussels
    Earth Day, Ramekin Crucible, New York
    Friend ? ?, Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich
    Acordo de confiança, Biblioteca Mario de Andrade, São Paulo, curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti
    .com/.cn, curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Peter Eleey, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; chi K11 art museum, Shanghai
    LOW, XYZ Collective, Tokyo
    Jade Bi, Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon, curated by Sara de Chiara
    Dreamlands (Screenings), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

  • 2016

    Not For Sale, Lovaas Projects, Munich
    For Pete’s Sake, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm
    Phantasmagoria, The Stolbun Collection, Chicago
    An Idle Visitation, AND NOW + Hester + Tomorrow, Santa Fe
    Goulding the Lolly, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York
    Not My Bridge, Not My Water, Aetopoulos, Athens
    Your Memories Are Our Future, ACRUSH, Zurich
    Tomorrow is a new day, Yacht Walanka, Monaco, curated by Stefan Tasch
    Roman à Clef And/Or The Appetite Of The Chef, Rainbow in Spanish, Los Angeles
    Can I Step on It?, Galleria Franco Noero, Turin
    In the Making, Luxembourg & Dayan, New York
    One, No One and One Hundred Thousand, Kunsthalle Wien
    The Coveter, Dickinson Roundell, New York, curated by Alex Glauber
    The Calder Prize: 2005-2015, Pace London
    Fluidity, Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg

  • 2015

    Political Populism, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
    The peoples biennial 2015, New York
    13th Biennale de Lyon, La vie moderne, curated by Ralph Rugoff
    Darren Bader, Liz Magic Laser, Takeshi Murata, A Video Exhibition, Boatos Fine Art, São Paulo
    The Daily Show, Bureau, New York
    What We Found, Non Objectif Sud, Tulette
    Objects, Foods, Rooms, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, curated by Andria Hickey
    The Visitors, Governors Island, New York, curated by Tom Eccles and Ruba Katrib
    Under the Clouds, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto
    Art Unlimited, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland, curated by Gianni Jetzer
    Love For Three Oranges, Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, curated by Karma
    Small Sculpture, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago
    The Luluennial: A Slight Gestuary, Lulu, Mexico City
    Constructed Culture sounds like Conculture, curated by Samuel Leuenberger, Ellis King, Dublin

  • 2014

    In Real Life, Christine Koenig Galerie, Vienna, curated by Luca Lo Pinto
    RRBGGGRWW (polysemes), Grand Century, New York, curated by Franklin Melendez
    Nuit Américaine, Office Baroque, Brussels
    Tragedy + Time, Public Fiction and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
    Urs Fischer, Sadie Coles HQ, London, curated by Urs Fischer
    Art Basel Parcours Basel, Switzerland, curated by Florence Derieux
    Little Nassau, Brooklyn, NY, organized by Liam Neff
    Never Enough: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
    Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
    Vegetal Passion, Royal Garden 5, online

  • 2013

    What we did the following year, Ritter/Zamet, London, curated by Christabel Stewart
    ANAMERICANA, DEPART Foundation @ American Academy in Rome, curated by Vincenzo de Bellis
    Ground Control to Major Tom, Cookie Butcher, Antwerp
    ‘Pataphysics, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
    PIZZA TIME!, Marlborough Broome St, New York
    Something About a Tree, FLAG Foundation, New York, curated by Linda Yablonsky
    Mixed Media Message, Gladstone Gallery, New York, curated by Neville Wakefield
    Antigrazioso, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, curated by Luca lo Pinto
    Jew York, Untitled, New York
    They might well have been remnants of the boat, Calder Foundation, New York
    Empire State, Palazzo delle Espozioni, Rome; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris; curated by Alex Gartenfeld and Sir Norman Rosenthal
    This is THIS, Zach Feuer, New York, organized by Isaac Brest
    Air de Pied-a-terre, Lisa Cooley, New York, curated by Lisa Cooley and Alan Reid

  • 2012

    Funny, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, curated by Heidi Zuckerman Jacobsen
    Inside the Banana, Algus Greenspon, New York
    Creature From the Blue Lagoon, Martos Gallery, Bridgehampton, organized by Bob Nickas
    Untitled (Tea Party), Klosterfelde, Berlin
    Home Again, Again, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn
    Oh you mean cellophane and all that crap, Calder Foundation, New York
    Kathryn Andrews, Darren Bader, Karl Haendel, United Artists Ltd., Marfa
    Ten Ten, Jason Alexander, New York
    D’Après Giorgio, Casa-Museo Giorgio de Chirico, Rome, curated by Luca Lo Pinto
    Blind Cut, Marlborough Gallery, New York, curated by Vera Neykov and Jonah Freeman

  • 2011

    Foot To Foot, Regina Gallery, London, curated by Margaret Lee
    Art Public, Art Basel: Miami Beach, curated by Christine Y. Kim
    The Color of Company, Abrons Art Center, New York, curated by David Everitt Howe
    Histoires de votre vie, Office Baroque, Antwerp
    Modify, As Needed, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, curated by Ruba Katrib
    Touchy Feely, Human Resources, Los Angeles, curated by Peter Harkawik
    Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials – typically stone such as marble – or metal, glass, or wood. Softer (“plastic”) materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals, Johann König Gallery, Berlin
    Untitled group show, Untitled Gallery, New York
    Broken Umbrellas, Laurel Gitlen, New York, organized by Christopher Aque
    On Forgery, LAXART, Los Angeles, curated by Andrew Berardini and Lesley Moon

  • 2010

    Looking Back / The Fifth White Columns Annual, White Columns, New York, curated by Bob Nickas
    Which Witch is Which and/or Summertime, White Flag Projects, St. Louis, curated by Ajay Kurian
    Salad Days, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, New Yok
    Greater New York, PS1 Center for Contemporary Art, New York
    Support Group, Cottage Home, Los Angeles, under the auspices of Mateo Tannatt
    Group Show: Katie Aliprando, Darren Bader, Matias Faldbakken, Mateo Tannatt, 2nd, Cannons, Los Angeles
    The hoax is a hoax or may or may not be again, Galerie Carlos Cardenas, Paris
    And So On…, And So On…, And So On…, Harris Lieberman Gallery, New York, curated by Matt Sheridan Smith
    with Margaret Lee and Michele Abeles, White Columns, New York

  • 2009

    Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market, Tate Modern, London
    Performa 09, New York (Cancelled)
    Cave Gallery, Detroit, curated by Michael E. Smith
    Don’t Perish, Leo Koenig Inc., Projeckte, New York, curated by Jesse Willenbring and Joe Montgomery
    To the Left of The Rising Sun, Small A Projects Upstate, Greenwich, NY
    Time–Life Part II (Odeon), Taxter & Spengemann, New York, with Ara Dymond and Uri Aran
    FAX, The Drawing Center, New York
    Odeon, Ritter/Zamet, London, with Ara Dymond and Uri Aran
    After Image, Peggy Tan & Antonio Serna’s Space
    Taki Ishii Gallery, Armory Show Booth, New York
    On From Here, Guild & Greyshkul, New York
    Boofthle Booth – Booth : Deux Doox – Hollywood Biennial, Pauline Gallery, Los Angeles
    Unfiction, Illinois State University Galleries, curated by Bill Conger

  • 2008

    8 ½ x 11 / A4, James Fuentes LLC
    The World is All That is The Case, Hudson Franklin, New York, curated by Arthur Ou
    Singular Friends: heaving up on one another’s shoulders, Gresham’s Ghost, New York,
    organized by Ajay Kurian
    To Illustrate and Multiply: An Open Book, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, organized by Lynda Bunting and Lisa Mark
    Object Salon, White Space Gallery, London, curated by Emily Speers Mears, et.
    Al Iconic Boston BBQ, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, curated by Jesse Willenbring and Laurel Gitlen
    Fair Market, Rental Gallery, New York, curated by Haley Mellin
    Abandoned Plot, Brooklyn, NY, curated by Andy Meerow
    PRUESSPRESS @ Rental, Rental Gallery, New York
    Gaping Hole Found in Universe, Daniel Hug, Los Angeles
    Boofthle, Pauline Gallery, Los Angeles

  • 2007

    Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market, Frieze Art Fair, London
    No Context, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo
    Overbite/ Underbite, Ritter/Zamet, London

  • 2006

    More Songs About Buildings and Food: A Recipe For Downtown, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, organized by Adam Kleinman
    GRUPE, GBE@Passerby, New York; Mandrake, Los Angeles, curated by Bonito Bachs
    Goodbye To All That, Rivington Arms, New York

  • 2005

    The Pumpkin Show, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York
    Put It In Your Mouth / I’ll see you on the dark side of the prune, Rivington Arms, New York

  • 2004

    Word of Mouth, Dinter Fine Art, New York
    Do Something, Floating IP, Manchester

  • 2003

    Study, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, curated by Ian Rosen
    Mad Little, Mad Little Gallery, New York, curated by David Greenberg
    Emergence, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, curated by Cara Baldwin

  • 2000

    Amok Festival of Experimental Film and Video, Brooklyn