MFA-VA Lecture Series: Shana Moulton

Shana Moulton is a California born and based artist who works in video, performance, and installation. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley in Art and Anthropology and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2002, Moulton began the video series Whispering Pines, in which she performs as Cynthia, an alter-ego searching for purpose and fulfillment through home decor, self-help paraphernalia and cosmetic rituals. In Whispering Pines 10, Moulton’s performance is accompanied by an original musical score and libretto from composer Nick Hallett. The video is adapted from Moulton and Hallett’s eponymous opera, which was developed at The Kitchen, Harvestworks, and the New Museum, and subsequently toured art museums and performance festivals across the US. In 2013 the duo received a Creative Capital grant to reshape Whispering Pines 10 for the internet. The project is simultaneously presented as a digital exhibition with The New Museum: First Look and Rhizome at www.whisperingpines10.com.

Moulton has had solo exhibitions at the Palais De Tokyo, Paris, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland, Art in General, New York, Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples, Galeria Arsenał, Białystok, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, La Loge, Brussels, and The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. Group exhibitions include Migros Museum Für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado, Lisbon, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Göteborgs Konsthall, Göteborg, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, and Wiels Center for Contemporary Art, Brussels. She has performed at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, The Kitchen, New York, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, The Getty, Los Angeles, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, South London Gallery, London and Cricoteka, Kraków among many others.

Moulton’s work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, ArtReview, Art in America, Flash Art, Artpress, Metropolis M, BOMB Magazine, and Frieze among others. Her work is distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix and she is a featured artist on Art21’s New York Close Up.