bio
Keturah Cummings's multi-disciplinary practice is, through conceptual necessity, decidedly materials-based. Working primarily with plant-based materials, she explores relationships between the utopian promise of new––or newly "rediscovered"––technologies and ideas of wellness, the feminized body and the labor that body performs. A heavily research-driven practice has brought her to disparate forests as an artist-in-residence at Tropenstation La Gamba in Costa Rica and Arteles in Finland, among others. She has recently exhibited at Come Again!, and Horse & Pony in Berlin, Field Projects in New York, Adjunct Positions in Los Angeles and D21 Kunstraum in Leipzig.
In 2008 she co-founded Nightmare City, a project to augment physical space and viewer experience through audio/visual experiments and distributed networks. Borrowing aesthetics from rave, party culture and post-shamanic rituals, the collective has created new media environments and exhibited video at spaces including Essex Flowers in New York, The Luminary in St. Louis, and Alter Space in San Francisco. Nightmare City's work has been written about in publications such as Art Forum and Modern Painters.
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Solo Exhibitions
2016 The Photic Wave: Cosmic Rivulet, The Luminary, St. Louis, MO*
2015 The Photic Wave: California Consciousness, Alter Space, San Francisco, CA*
2015 komische Nachbarn, Peephole Gallery, San Francisco, CA*
2014 California Nightmare, State of the Art, Berlin, Germany*
2013 NIGHTMARE CITY PRESENTS://RICH EVIDENCE <> THE PHOTIC WAVE, HORSEANDPONY, Berlin, Germany*
2010 The Pixie Troll Witch Hour: Into the 3 A.M. Void with Carol Anne & Keturah, Here, SF, CA*
2016 The Photic Wave: Cosmic Rivulet, The Luminary, St. Louis, MO*
2015 The Photic Wave: California Consciousness, Alter Space, San Francisco, CA*
2015 komische Nachbarn, Peephole Gallery, San Francisco, CA*
2014 California Nightmare, State of the Art, Berlin, Germany*
2013 NIGHTMARE CITY PRESENTS://RICH EVIDENCE <> THE PHOTIC WAVE, HORSEANDPONY, Berlin, Germany*
2010 The Pixie Troll Witch Hour: Into the 3 A.M. Void with Carol Anne & Keturah, Here, SF, CA*
Group Exhibitions
2023 Last Thursday, Studio Rangsdorf, Rangsdorf, Germany
2023 Lifestyles, Xandadu, Berlin, Germany
2022 The Venusians, Come Again!, Berlin, Germany
2022 Bad Budz, Adjunct Positions, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Primary Container, Swimming Pool, Berlin, Germany
2022 Zoonotic Hex, Field Projects, New York, NY
2022 Polar Opposites, D21, Leipzig, Germany
2021 nowhere, Horse & Pony, Berlin, Germany
2019 Ritual, Globe Gallery, Grabowsee, Germany
2018 Oops, Hoops, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
2018 Symbiosis, Globe Gallery, Grabowsee, Germany
2015 Glitch Cult, Essex Flowers, New York, New York*
2015 Friendship and Freedom, Mass Gallery, Austin, TX*
2014 These Streams, ACRE TV, Chicago, IL*
2013 Science Fictions, Warschau, Berlin, Germany*
2013 Translocura: Art at the Brink of Madness, Headlands Center for the Arts, CA*
2012 Not Free Not Dead: The Psychedelic End, Video Screening Tour
(ATA, San Francisco; Mandrake, Los Angeles; Space4Art, San Diego, CoLab, Austin; minicine?, Shreveport; Secret Robot Project, Brooklyn; USA)*
2012 Interpanel Relationships: A Spatial Discussion, S.H.E.D. Projects, Oakland, CA*
2011 Reformation, Somerset County Jail, Skowhegan, ME*
2011 Nightmare City Copy Lake The Horde, screening, BeiRoy, Berlin, Germany*
2010 Channel Drift, San Francisco International Animation Festival, San Francisco,CA
2010 All that is Solid Melts Into Air, Queen’s Nails Projects, San Francisco, CA*
2010 ATA Film & Video Festival, ATA, San Francisco, CA*
2010 VOX VI, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA*
2010 A Light at the End of the Tunnel, Scope Basel Cinema, Basel, Switzerland*
2009 Cinema by the Bay, San Francisco Film Society, San Francisco, CA
2009 Mash Up Show, NOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA*
2008 D.U.I., Maniac, Oakland, CA*
2008 Disembody, (Production Design with 23E Studios), Fringe Exhibitions, LA, CA*
2007 Night Moves, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
2023 Last Thursday, Studio Rangsdorf, Rangsdorf, Germany
2023 Lifestyles, Xandadu, Berlin, Germany
2022 The Venusians, Come Again!, Berlin, Germany
2022 Bad Budz, Adjunct Positions, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Primary Container, Swimming Pool, Berlin, Germany
2022 Zoonotic Hex, Field Projects, New York, NY
2022 Polar Opposites, D21, Leipzig, Germany
2021 nowhere, Horse & Pony, Berlin, Germany
2019 Ritual, Globe Gallery, Grabowsee, Germany
2018 Oops, Hoops, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
2018 Symbiosis, Globe Gallery, Grabowsee, Germany
2015 Glitch Cult, Essex Flowers, New York, New York*
2015 Friendship and Freedom, Mass Gallery, Austin, TX*
2014 These Streams, ACRE TV, Chicago, IL*
2013 Science Fictions, Warschau, Berlin, Germany*
2013 Translocura: Art at the Brink of Madness, Headlands Center for the Arts, CA*
2012 Not Free Not Dead: The Psychedelic End, Video Screening Tour
(ATA, San Francisco; Mandrake, Los Angeles; Space4Art, San Diego, CoLab, Austin; minicine?, Shreveport; Secret Robot Project, Brooklyn; USA)*
2012 Interpanel Relationships: A Spatial Discussion, S.H.E.D. Projects, Oakland, CA*
2011 Reformation, Somerset County Jail, Skowhegan, ME*
2011 Nightmare City Copy Lake The Horde, screening, BeiRoy, Berlin, Germany*
2010 Channel Drift, San Francisco International Animation Festival, San Francisco,CA
2010 All that is Solid Melts Into Air, Queen’s Nails Projects, San Francisco, CA*
2010 ATA Film & Video Festival, ATA, San Francisco, CA*
2010 VOX VI, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA*
2010 A Light at the End of the Tunnel, Scope Basel Cinema, Basel, Switzerland*
2009 Cinema by the Bay, San Francisco Film Society, San Francisco, CA
2009 Mash Up Show, NOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA*
2008 D.U.I., Maniac, Oakland, CA*
2008 Disembody, (Production Design with 23E Studios), Fringe Exhibitions, LA, CA*
2007 Night Moves, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
Publications
“Operation Blue Tarp: Plastics, Petrochemicals, Disaster and Displacement in South Louisiana,” Rare Earth, D21 Kunstraum, 2022
“Sap Garden,” Nowhere Hell, Yes!, Horse & Pony, 2022
“Double Double Toil and Trouble: Faunic Witches Floral Bitches,” Nightmare City Publications, 2015*
“Fuzzy Logic,” Nightmare City Publications in collaboration with Sarrita Hunn, 2012*
“Radical Access and Obscurity: San Francisco’s Zine Culture,” Art Practical, 2012
“Sssux to be Usss,” Nightmare City Publications, 2011*
“To Valie Export with Love and Kisses,” Color + Color: Black + White, 2010*
“Big Time: Nightmare City Thinks You Suck,” Nightmare City Publications, 2009*
“Operation Blue Tarp: Plastics, Petrochemicals, Disaster and Displacement in South Louisiana,” Rare Earth, D21 Kunstraum, 2022
“Sap Garden,” Nowhere Hell, Yes!, Horse & Pony, 2022
“Double Double Toil and Trouble: Faunic Witches Floral Bitches,” Nightmare City Publications, 2015*
“Fuzzy Logic,” Nightmare City Publications in collaboration with Sarrita Hunn, 2012*
“Radical Access and Obscurity: San Francisco’s Zine Culture,” Art Practical, 2012
“Sssux to be Usss,” Nightmare City Publications, 2011*
“To Valie Export with Love and Kisses,” Color + Color: Black + White, 2010*
“Big Time: Nightmare City Thinks You Suck,” Nightmare City Publications, 2009*
Bibliography
Tedford, Matthew Harrison: “The Photic Wave is a Cult You’ll Want to Join,” SF Weekly, May 2015*
Puleo, Risa: “Friendship & Freedom,” Modern Painters, April 2015*
Anani, Katie: “Critics’ Pick: Friendship and Freedom,” ArtForum, February 2015*
Gannon, Victoria: “Going to California: Nightmare City,” Art:21, Dec 3, 2010*
Wolfe, Megan: “Café Royale, Silverman & NOMA,” Fecal Face, May 21, 2009*
Ritchie, Andy: “A Breathalyzer of Fresh Air,” ArtSlant, January 12, 2009*
Tedford, Matthew Harrison: “The Photic Wave is a Cult You’ll Want to Join,” SF Weekly, May 2015*
Puleo, Risa: “Friendship & Freedom,” Modern Painters, April 2015*
Anani, Katie: “Critics’ Pick: Friendship and Freedom,” ArtForum, February 2015*
Gannon, Victoria: “Going to California: Nightmare City,” Art:21, Dec 3, 2010*
Wolfe, Megan: “Café Royale, Silverman & NOMA,” Fecal Face, May 21, 2009*
Ritchie, Andy: “A Breathalyzer of Fresh Air,” ArtSlant, January 12, 2009*
Artist in Residence
AIR Frosterus, Kärsämäki, Finland. May - June 2019
Olo Centre, Enonkoskie, Finland. April 2019
Tropical Research Station La Gamba, Costa Rica. November 2018
Arteles, Haukijärvi, Finland. December 2017
The Luminary, St. Louis, MO. Oct 2016
Jail Cell AIR, San Francisco, CA. May - June 2015
Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, Germany. Aug - Oct 2012
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. June 2012
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME. Summer 2011
ACRE, Steuben, WI. July 2010
AIR Frosterus, Kärsämäki, Finland. May - June 2019
Olo Centre, Enonkoskie, Finland. April 2019
Tropical Research Station La Gamba, Costa Rica. November 2018
Arteles, Haukijärvi, Finland. December 2017
The Luminary, St. Louis, MO. Oct 2016
Jail Cell AIR, San Francisco, CA. May - June 2015
Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, Germany. Aug - Oct 2012
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. June 2012
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME. Summer 2011
ACRE, Steuben, WI. July 2010
Education
MFA Film, Video, Performance; California College of the Arts, 2006
BA History; Centenary College of Louisiana, 2003
MFA Film, Video, Performance; California College of the Arts, 2006
BA History; Centenary College of Louisiana, 2003
*Denotes exhibition or authorship as Nightmare City