James Webb South African, b. 1975
Overview
James Webb, 'I do not live in this world alone, but in a thousand worlds (There is a light that never goes out)', 2023, Water, ink, paper and glass medicine bottle, 14.5 x 7 cm
James Webb is an interdisciplinary artist, known for his site-specific interventions and installations. His practice often involves sound, found objects, and text, invoking references to literature, cinema, and the minimalist traditions. By shifting objects, techniques, and forms beyond their original contexts and introducing them to different environments, Webb creates new spaces of tension. These spaces bind Webb’s academic background in religion, theatre, and advertising, offering poetic inquiries into the economies of belief and dynamics of communication in our contemporary world.
Biography
Portrait of James Webb. Photograph by Pieter Hugo.
James Webb is an interdisciplinary artist, known for his site-specific interventions and installations. His practice often involves sound, found objects, and text, invoking references to literature, cinema, and the minimalist traditions. By shifting objects, techniques, and forms beyond their original contexts and introducing them to different environments, Webb creates new spaces of tension. These spaces bind Webb’s academic background in religion, theatre, and advertising, offering poetic inquiries into the economies of belief and dynamics of communication in our contemporary world.
Webb has had solo exhibitions at numerous institutions including, amongst others, Kunsthuset Kabuso, Øystese, Norway (2025), Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2024); Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2018); SPACES, Cleveland, USA (2018); Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden (2018); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom (2016); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway (2015); CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain (2013); Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (2012); and mac, Birmingham, United Kingdom (2010).
Major group exhibitions include the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale (2023), the 16th Lyon Biennale (2022), Borås Art Biennial in Sweden (2021), 14th Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art (2019), 13th Biennial of Dakar (2018), 4th Prospect Triennial of New Orleans (2017), Documenta 14 (2017), 13th Biennial of Sharjah (2017), 12th Bienal de la Habana (2015), 55th Biennale di Venezia (2013), 3rd Marrakech Biennale (2009), Melbourne International Arts Festival (2009), and the 8th Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (2007). Other notable group shows include those at spaces such as Museum Tinguely, Basel; Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania; A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town; Wanås Konst and Historiska, Sweden; MAXXI Roma, Italy; Darat al Funun, Jordan; Théâtre Graslin, France; and the Tate Modern, London.
Webb's work is represented in numerous public and private institutional collections, including the Tate Modern (London), Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art (Washington DC), KADIST Foundation (Paris), Red Sea Museum (Jeddah), Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago), MAC VAL Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (Paris), MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo (Rome), FRAC Champagne Ardenne (Reims), Iziko South African National Gallery (Cape Town), Johannesburg Art Gallery (Johannesburg), Wits Art Museum (Johannesburg), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum (Gqeberha), Kaiser Wilhelm Museum (Krefeld), Darat al Funun - Khalid Shoman Foundation (Amman), Rennie Museum (Vancouver), UNISA Art Gallery & Collection (Pretoria).
His projects have been the subject of the two monographs, “. . .” (blank projects, 2020), and “Xenagogue” (Hordaland Kunstsenter, 2015).
Webb has had solo exhibitions at numerous institutions including, amongst others, Kunsthuset Kabuso, Øystese, Norway (2025), Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2024); Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2018); SPACES, Cleveland, USA (2018); Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden (2018); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom (2016); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway (2015); CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain (2013); Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (2012); and mac, Birmingham, United Kingdom (2010).
Major group exhibitions include the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale (2023), the 16th Lyon Biennale (2022), Borås Art Biennial in Sweden (2021), 14th Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art (2019), 13th Biennial of Dakar (2018), 4th Prospect Triennial of New Orleans (2017), Documenta 14 (2017), 13th Biennial of Sharjah (2017), 12th Bienal de la Habana (2015), 55th Biennale di Venezia (2013), 3rd Marrakech Biennale (2009), Melbourne International Arts Festival (2009), and the 8th Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (2007). Other notable group shows include those at spaces such as Museum Tinguely, Basel; Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania; A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town; Wanås Konst and Historiska, Sweden; MAXXI Roma, Italy; Darat al Funun, Jordan; Théâtre Graslin, France; and the Tate Modern, London.
Webb's work is represented in numerous public and private institutional collections, including the Tate Modern (London), Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art (Washington DC), KADIST Foundation (Paris), Red Sea Museum (Jeddah), Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago), MAC VAL Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (Paris), MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo (Rome), FRAC Champagne Ardenne (Reims), Iziko South African National Gallery (Cape Town), Johannesburg Art Gallery (Johannesburg), Wits Art Museum (Johannesburg), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum (Gqeberha), Kaiser Wilhelm Museum (Krefeld), Darat al Funun - Khalid Shoman Foundation (Amman), Rennie Museum (Vancouver), UNISA Art Gallery & Collection (Pretoria).
His projects have been the subject of the two monographs, “. . .” (blank projects, 2020), and “Xenagogue” (Hordaland Kunstsenter, 2015).
James Webb lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.