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Adam Basanta
Adam Basanta

Adam Basanta (born 1985) is an artist and experimental composer from Montreal. He explores how technology connects different systems. Adam uses many types of art, like installations, moving sculptures, sound, and computer-made images. He also creates performances where people can join in and experience art with all their senses.

About Adam Basanta

Adam Basanta was born in Tel-Aviv in 1985. He grew up in Vancouver and has lived and worked in Montreal since 2010. He studied music composition at Simon Fraser University. Later, he earned a master's degree in fine arts from Concordia University.

Since 2015, his artworks have been shown in galleries and museums around the world. His art is part of important collections. These include the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Adam is also an active experimental composer and performer. His music and live shows are presented worldwide. He has released music on different record labels.

Adam Basanta has received many awards. In 2020, he won the Sobey Art Award. This is one of the biggest art awards in Canada. In 2018, he also won the Pierre-Ayot Prize. This award is for the best young contemporary artist in Montreal.

Adam Basanta's Artworks

Basanta is well-known for his sound sculptures and sound installations. His art process is very creative. He finds ways to combine technical ideas with artistic concepts. He often uses everyday technologies like microphones and speakers. He also uses moving systems and special computer programs.

Artist Survival Station (2020)

Artist Survival Station was a 60-day art project. It also included a series of YouTube videos. Adam created it during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This project was like a living sculpture. It showed how to grow microgreens from start to finish. He even delivered them by bicycle to artists in Montreal.

This long-term performance was about being self-sufficient. It focused on learning and sharing knowledge online. It also showed care for others when physical contact was not possible. The project used ideas of efficiency and growth. But it was not about making money or gaining power.

Landscape Past Future (2019)

Landscape Past Future gives a new look at landscape paintings. Each artwork is made from pixels. These pixels come from old landscape paintings or photos. Adam finds these images in online museum collections. He then uses special software and machine learning. This arranges the pixels into a mosaic.

The new image recreates the feeling of an older art period. This process shows small details of important artworks. It also reveals bigger patterns in the new image. In a world full of digital images, this project is important. It highlights the need to save digital copies of our disappearing natural world. Basanta's art summarizes old artworks into new ones.

All We’d Ever Need is One Another (Trio) (2018)

All We’d Ever Need is One Another (Trio) is an art installation. It has three flatbed scanners placed on their sides. They face each other. These scanners create digital images all by themselves. They scan each other's surfaces. The light and shadows in the room affect the scanning results.

A computer program then changes the colors and brightness. Each new image is then checked by special computer programs. These programs compare the image to 1.5 million artworks. These artworks come from big art databases like Artsy and the Museum of Modern Art. If a new image matches an existing artwork by more than 80%, it is put online. This art project makes us think about who owns art created by machines.

Curtain (White) (2016)

Curtain (White) is a sound installation. It is made of 240 pairs of white earbud headphones. They are arranged like a 3-meter-high curtain or waterfall. Patterns of white noise move across the curtain. This sound makes you think of waves, wind, rain, or insects.

In this artwork, Basanta rearranges common earbuds. He doesn't change how they look. He creates a space where these everyday items let people step away from the outside world. They can experience a single moment of sound.

Exhibitions and Collections

Major solo exhibitions

2019

  • The Unknown Future Rolls Towards Us. HBK Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
  • All We’d Ever Need Is One Another (Trio). Arsenal Contemporary Art Toronto, Canada.
  • Landscape Past Future. ELLEPHANT Gallery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Ballet Pathétique. Galerie Sans Nom. Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
  • A Large Inscription, A Great Noise. Optica Centre d’Art Contemporain. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

2018

  • All we’d ever need is one another. ELLEPHANT Gallery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Variations on a Theme. Galerie Bon Accueil, Rennes, France.

2017

  • Variations on a Theme. FOFA Gallery. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Five Lines, Crossing. Galerija SC. Zagreb, Croatia.

2016

2015

  • The sound of empty space. Carroll/Fletcher Gallery. London, UK.
  • Louder than a beating heart. Titanik Galerie. Turku, Finland.
  • A room listening to itself. Centre for Contemporary Arts - Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
  • The sound of empty space. Galerie B-312, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Significant group exhibitions

2021–2022

  • Possible Futures. Maison des arts de Laval, Salle Alfred-Pellan. Laval, Quebec, Canada.
  • A Truly Magical Moment. "Data Dating" curated by Valentina Peri. IMAL, Brussels, Belgium.

2021

  • Écran Total. Centre de Design de l'UQAM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Artist Survival Station. Parallel Lines, Phi Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

2019

  • Joueuses / Joueurs. Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Nemo Biennial. Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France.

2018

Collections

Adam Basanta's artworks are part of several important collections:

Awards and Recognition

Adam Basanta has received many awards for his art:

  • Winner ex-aquo, Sobey Art Awards 2020 (Quebec region), Ottawa, Canada.
  • Winner, Prix Pierre Ayot 2018. Ville de Montréal - Association des Galeries d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Longlisted (Quebec region), Sobey Art Awards 2018, Ottawa, Canada.
  • Winner, Aesthetica Art Prize 2017, Aesthetica Magazine, York, UK.
  • Excellence Prize, 19th Japan Media Arts Festival. Tokyo, Japan, 2016.
  • Winner, Edith-Russ-Haus Awards for Emerging Media Artists 2014, Oldenburg, Germany.
  • Finalist, Stephen and Claudine Bronfman Fellowship, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Honourable Mention. Prix Ars Electronica 2013, Hybrid Art category.
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