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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: James Webb, All that is unknown, 2016

James Webb South African, b. 1975

All that is unknown, 2016
Speakers, looped audio
Dimensions variable
Edition 1/3 + 1 AP
Courtesy of the Artist and Lawrie Shabibi
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In All that is unknown, two speakers separated by the length of a room pulse with recordings of two human heartbeats; one per speaker. Referencing signs of life, the pair...
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In All that is unknown, two speakers separated by the length of a room pulse with recordings of two human heartbeats; one per speaker. Referencing signs of life, the pair pulse incessantly at the threshold of audibility, their rhythms phasing inand out with each other like a hushed call and response, only accessible to the audience by touching the speakers to register the vibrations therein.

James Webb (born 1975, South Africa) is an interdisciplinary artist renowned for his site-specific installations that employ sound, found objects, and text to explore systems of belief and communication. Drawing on his background in religion, theatre, and advertising, Webb creates poetic and often disquieting spaces that test the boundaries between spiritual and secular experience. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including presentations at Kunsthuset Kabuso (Norway, 2025), Liljevalchs Konsthall (Stockholm, 2024), the Art Institute of Chicago (2018), and Yorkshire Sculpture Park (UK, 2016). Webb has also participated in major international exhibitions such as the Islamic Arts Biennale (2023), Documenta 14 (2017), the 16th Lyon Biennale (2022), the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), and the Sharjah Biennial (2017). His work is represented in leading public and private collections worldwide, including Tate Modern (London), the Art Institute of Chicago, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (Washington, D.C.), MAXXI (Rome), MAC VAL (Paris), and the Iziko South African National Gallery (Cape Town).
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Exhibitions

Previous exhibitions: Open Borders, 14th Bienal of Curitiba, Brazil (2019); Tamawuj, 13th Sharjah Biennale (2017); We listen for the future, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK (2016); Hope is a good swimmer, Galerie Imane Farés, Paris, France (2016); and Ecstatic Interference, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa (2016).
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