Samson Young
Samson Young (born 1979) is a Hong-Kong artist, working primarily in the mediums of sound performance and installations. Early life and education. Samson Young was born in Hong-Kong. He received both his BA degree in Music, Philosophy and Gender Studies and his M.Phil in Music Composition from The University of Hong Kong, and his PhD in music composition from Princeton University. He was an assistant professor in sonic art and physical computing at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Young is also the principal investigator at the Laboratory for Ubiquitous Musical Expression  (L.U.M.E), and artistic director of the experimental sound advocacy organization Contemporary Musiking. Work. While Young's background is in music composition, his work as an artist spans a broad range of media, including performance, sound, video, drawing, and wall transfers. Young's work is frequently political in nature, addressing military history and the British occupation of Hong-Kong as subjects. "Nocturnal Music," the artist's 2015 exhibition at Team Gallery, centered on a performance, in which the artist sat at a desk for six hours every day, watching muted video footage of night-time airstrikes by the United States on  the Middle East and re-creating the audio via foley effects, which he broadcast locally via a pirate FM radio channel. Career and recognition. In 2015, Young was the inaugural recipient of the BMW Art Journey Award. Major exhibitions include "A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I'll Play a Broken Music", at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in 2017, and the Hong-Kong pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale. Selected exhibitions. Solo exhibitions. 2019 – "Samson Young - It's a heaven over there," Centre A Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver, BC 2018 – "Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour," M+ Pavilion , Hong Kong 2017 – "Furniture Music," Gallerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany 2017 – "Songs for Disaster Relief", Hong Kong Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2016 – "A Dark Theme Keeps Me Here, I'll Make A Broken Music," Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany 2016 – "The Mastery of Language Affords Remarkable Power," Experimenter Gallery, Kolkata, India 2016 – "Orchestrations", Connecting Space (presented by Para Site), Hong Kong 2015 – "Pastoral Music", Team Gallery, New York City 2015 – "Video Program: Samson Young", Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan 2015 – "Avant-garde on speed", TKG+ gallery, Taipei 2015 – "Pastoral Music, Discovery", Art Basel Hong Kong 2015 – "MTV"s, a.m. space, Hong Kong  2014 – "I wanted to see everything: the Liquid Borders Project", a.m. space, Hong Kong 2013 – "On the Musically Beautiful", Goethe-Institute, Hong Kong 2011 – "Machines for Making Nothing", Cogut Center for Humanities, Brown University, USA Awards. 2019 - Prix Ars Electronica (Sound Art and Digital Music Category), Award of Distinction 2018 - Honorary Fellowship, Hong Kong Art Centre 2015 - BMW Art Journey Award 2013 - Artist of the Year (Media Art Category), Hong Kong Arts Development Council 2012 - Prix Ars Electronica (Sound Art and Digital Music Category), Honorary Mention 2012 - Japan Media Art Festival (Interactive Art Category), Jury Selection Award 2009 - New York  Society for New Music, Brian M. Israel Prize 2007 - Bloomberg Emerging Artist Award