Biography
Jimmie Durham (b. 1940, USA) Lives and works in Berlin. In the early 1960’s Jimmie Durham was active in theatre, performance and literature in the US civil rights movement and from 1973-1980 was a political organiser in the American Indian Movement. He studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts, Geneva, Switzerland. Since moving to Europe from Mexico in 1994, Durham has concentrated on the problems of belief and monumentalism in art and has worked against architecture. Jimmie Durham has described the role of the artist as one who rearranges objects that exist in society. He first showed at Matt’s Gallery in 1988 with Pocahontas and the Little Carpenter in London and more recently in 2006 with Building a Nation, which went on to tour to Henie-Onstad Kunstcenter, Oslo in 2007 as part of the group exhibition From 60 to 7. Recent solo exhibitions include: QUAUHNAHUAC, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel 2006; Glass, Christine König Gallery, Vienna 2005 Particle/Wave Theory #2, Reg Vardy Gallery, University of Sunderland with Banff Centre, Canada; From the West Pacific to the East Atlantic, GeM – Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Den Haag 2000 Jimmie Durham, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm. He has participated in several international exhibitions, such as Documenta IX in 1992, and the 50th Biennale di Venezia. In 2005 he curated The American West, at Compton Verney, Warwickshire, with Richard William Hill. Jimmie Durham’s work is held in collections worldwide such as Volpinum Kunstammlung, Vienna; MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwepen, Antwerp; S.M.A.K. – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. Jimmie Durham is represented by Christine König Gallery, Vienna.

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