Josh Kline

The Weitzman Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute of Contemporary Art are pleased to present an artist lecture and presentation with Josh Kline, whose practice questions how emergent technologies are being used to change human life in the 21st Century.

This free public lecture is part of a series that gathers distinguished artists, activists, writers, and disruptors whose work engages with the social and cultural themes of our time.

Josh Kline's art questions how emergent technologies are being used to change human life in the 21st Century. He often utilizes the technologies, practices, and forms he scrutinizes—digitization, data collection, image manipulation, 3D-printing, advertising, productivity-enhancing substances—aiming them back at themselves. Some of his most well-known videos use early deepfake software to speculate on the meaning of truth in a time of post-truth propaganda. At its core, Kline’s practice is focused on work and class, exploring how today’s most urgent social and political issues—climate change, automation, and the weakening of democracy—impact the labor force.

Josh Kline (b. 1979, Philadelphia, USA) lives and works in New York, USA. In 2024 he had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and was included in the 24th Biennale of Sydney and the 8th Yokohama Triennial. In 2023 his work was the subject of a major survey exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York. Kline’s art has been widely exhibited in the United States and internationally, in exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum, and MoMA PS1 in New York; The Hirshhorn Museum and The National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Louisiana Museum, Denmark; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; KW, Berlin; Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel; Modern Art Oxford, UK; Yuz Museum, Shanghai; and MCAD, Manila; among others.

Attend this program virtually via Zoom.

ICA is committed to creating a welcoming environment for all visitors. For more notes on accessibility including accessible parking nearby visit our Accessibility landing page. If you require any accessibility accommodations or have any questions about the program, please contact Derek Rigby (mrigby@ica.upenn.edu).

In their varied approaches and techniques, these individuals speak to ICA’s ethos of artistic experimentation and practice that engages with the social and cultural themes of our time. As artists, writers, and cultural producers, their artwork and criticism expand across themes of popular culture, queer life, kinship & community, and de/construction through the utilization of sculpture, performance, sound, collage, installation, and more.

In this lecture series, we invite you all to engage in conversation with our participants and become a part of an active dialogue that explores the stake of contemporary art in our society and culture.

Support
The Master of Fine Arts program at Penn is focused on the professional development of visual artists. Through workshops, seminar courses, international residency opportunities and interactions with curators, writers and artists, the program provides an open intellectual framework to foster independent methods of artistic research.

Programming at ICA is made possible in part by the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Fund to Support Contemporary Culture and Visual Arts and the Lise Spiegel Wilks and Jeffrey Wilks Family Foundation. Public and Student Engagement at ICA is supported by the Bernstein Public Engagement Fund, Suzanne Weiss Doft & Jacob W. Doft, Stacey & Robert Goergen Jr., Hilarie L. & Mitchell Morgan, the Nash Family Foundation, Joline & David Stemerman, and by Dana McDonald Strong & Mark W. Strong.