Stanya Kahn is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in film/video with a practice that includes ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture/installation, sound, and writing. She foregrounds humor, pathos and the uncanny to re-work relationships between fiction and document, the real and the hyper-real, narrative time and the synchronic time of impulse. Her sculptural works and paintings often utilize anthropomorphic characters, talking animals and usually inanimate objects, using absurdist imagery to speak to real-life global anxieties and traumas.
Kahn’s feature-length work, Stand in the Stream (2011-2017), is an ambient digital film shot on multiple camera formats over the course of six years. The film’s footage (all shot by Kahn or screen-recorded by Kahn in real-time) moves globally and locally through the wild, the streets, the home, and online. The resulting work is a visceral, phenomenological reflection of life, power, and uprising in late capitalism. Tracing the decline of her mother into dementia and the birth and growing up of her now young adult son against a backdrop of evolving technology and increasing violence in the face of uprisings against police violence and inequality, Stand in the Stream affirms the political in the personal and the personal in collective resistance. No Go Backs (2020), shot on 16mm film, then transferred and edited digitally, follows two teenage boys as they escape the city for the wild. The boys, while unprepared and vulnerable, are strong in their commitment to working together. No Go Backs posits a possible future made manifest by the resistance documented in Stand in the Stream, the immediate need and possibility to not only imagine but create a new world. Created before the global pandemic, No Go Backs presaged the psychological impact of the pandemic and alluded to the climate catastrophes that have accelerated in the last few years.
Stanya Kahn was born in 1968 in San Francisco and lives and works in Los Angeles. She graduated from Bard College’s Milton Avery School of the Arts with an MFA in 2003. Recent solo exhibitions include shows at Institute for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Wexner Center for the Arts, MoMA, PS1, New Museum, NY, British Film Institute, London Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Marlborough Chelsea, NY, Weiss Berlin, The Pit, LA, Cornerhouse/Manchester, UK. Select group exhibitions include Weslyan Art Gallery, the Walker Art Center, CAM, St. Louis, the Gwanju Biennial (’18), Hammer Museum, New Museum, MOCA, SD, Fernley Astrup, Norway, Transmediale, The California Biennial (’10). Her collaborative work with Harry Dodge has shown at Elizabeth Dee Gallery, NY, the Whitney Biennial (08), Sundance Film Festival, MOCA, LA, MoMA, NY, ZKM, Karlsrüh, among others. Kahn was a 2012 Guggenheim Fellow in Film/Video. She was a contributing writer and actor in feature film By Hook or By Crook. Her writings and drawings appear in multiple publications including Die Laughing (2nd Cannons), Moving Image (MIT Press), It’s Cool, I’m Good (Cornerhouse), and Abstract Video (UC Press.) Her work is in the collections of the Hammer Museum, MoMA, NY, LACMA, the Walker Art Museum and among others.
![This image depicts an artwork by Stanya Kahn titled "The Dead of Winter." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 38 ⁷⁄₈" x 42 ⁷⁄₈" x 2" [HxWxD] (98.74 x 108.9 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Oil painting on linen on board with reclaimed old growth Douglas Fir frame.](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Stanya-Kahn_KAH617_1715730712-768x1024.jpg)
“The Dead of Winter,” 2024
“The Dead of Winter,” 2024
Oil painting on linen on board with reclaimed old growth Douglas Fir frame
38 ⁷⁄₈" x 42 ⁷⁄₈" x 2" [HxWxD] (98.74 x 108.9 x 5.08 cm) framed
Inventory #KAH617
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Photo credit: Jeff McLane
![This image depicts an artwork by Stanya Kahn titled "New Dogs/Old Tricks." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 12" x 6 ³⁄₄" x 7 ³⁄₈" [HxWxD] (30.48 x 17.15 x 18.75 cm). Its medium is Unglazed porcelain figure, glazed porcelain and reclaimed old growth Douglas Fir.](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Stanya-Kahn_KAH613_1701291955-768x1024.jpg)
“New Dogs/Old Tricks,” 2023
“New Dogs/Old Tricks,” 2023
Unglazed porcelain figure, glazed porcelain and reclaimed old growth Douglas Fir
12" x 6 ³⁄₄" x 7 ³⁄₈" [HxWxD] (30.48 x 17.15 x 18.75 cm)
Inventory #KAH613
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Photo credit: Brica Wilcox
![This image depicts an artwork by Stanya Kahn titled "Six skull vase." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 10" x 9 ³⁄₄" [HxW] (25.4 x 24.77 cm). Its medium is Glazed stoneware.](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Stanya-Kahn_KAH614_1700006007-759x1024.jpg)
“Six skull vase,” 2023
“Six skull vase,” 2023
Glazed stoneware
10" x 9 ³⁄₄" [HxW] (25.4 x 24.77 cm)
Inventory #KAH614
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Photo credit: Brica Wilcox
![This image depicts an artwork by Stanya Kahn titled "Powder blue four handle skull and bird vase." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 14" x 6" [HxW] (35.56 x 15.24 cm). Its medium is Glazed stoneware.](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Stanya-Kahn_KAH506_1715730968-768x1024.jpg)
“Powder blue four handle skull and bird vase,” 2022
“Powder blue four handle skull and bird vase,” 2022
Glazed stoneware
14" x 6" [HxW] (35.56 x 15.24 cm)
Inventory #KAH506
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles

“Black Snake,” 2022
“Black Snake,” 2022
Bronze
Edition 2 of 3, 2 AP
Inventory #KAH449.02
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer

“Prairie Dog,” 2022
“Prairie Dog,” 2022
Oil on linen with stump and six porcelain sculptures
53" x 38 ¹⁄₄" x 1 ¹⁄₂" [HxWxD] (134.62 x 97.16 x 3.81 cm)
Inventory #KAH450
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Photo credit: Brica Wilcox

“Harambe (RIP),” 2022
“Harambe (RIP),” 2022
Oil on linen with reclaimed old growth redwood frame
30 ¹⁄₄" x 23" x 3" [HxWxD] (76.84 x 58.42 x 7.62 cm)
Inventory #KAH437
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Photo credit: Brica Wilcox

“Meadow,” 2022
“Meadow,” 2022
Oil and acrylic on linen with reclaimed old growth redwood frame and two sculptures
53" x 37 ³⁄₄" [HxW] (134.62 x 95.89 cm); 54 ³⁄₄" x 39 ³⁄₄" x 8" [HxWxD] (139.06 x 100.96 x 20.32 cm) Framed
Inventory #KAH451
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer
![Stanya Kahn [still] "No Go Backs," 2020](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mono-bikes-2_3-1588122595-1024x620.jpg)
[still] "No Go Backs," 2020
[still] "No Go Backs," 2020
![Stanya Kahn [still] "No Go Backs," 2020](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/chips-2.jpeg)
[still] "No Go Backs," 2020
[still] "No Go Backs," 2020
![Stanya Kahn [still] "Stand in the Stream," 2011-2017](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cop_w_seal.jpeg)
[still] "Stand in the Stream," 2011-2017
[still] "Stand in the Stream," 2011-2017
![Stanya Kahn [still] "Don't Go Back to Sleep," 2014](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/smoke1-1024x576.jpg)
[still] "Don't Go Back to Sleep," 2014
[still] "Don't Go Back to Sleep," 2014
![Stanya Kahn [still] “So Low You Can't Get Over It,” 2020](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/screen-shot-2020-01-09-at-3.10.19-pm-1024x608.png)
[still] “So Low You Can't Get Over It,” 2020
[still] “So Low You Can't Get Over It,” 2020
Digital animation
TRT: 3 minutes 25 seconds
Edition 1 of 3, 2 AP
Inventory #KAH425.01
Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles ©2020 Stanya Kahn
![Stanya Kahn [still] "It's Cool, I'm Good," 2010](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/dirtbike1-1024x742.jpg)
[still] "It's Cool, I'm Good," 2010
[still] "It's Cool, I'm Good," 2010

Installation view of "Sandra," 2010
Installation view of "Sandra," 2010
![Stanya Kahn [still] "Kathy," 2009](https://vielmetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/stanya_kahn_1266957147_1.jpg)
[still] "Kathy," 2009
[still] "Kathy," 2009
- 1968
- Born in California
- Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
- 2003
- MFA, Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, Red Hook, NY
- 1992
- BA, Magna Cum Laude, Interdisciplinary Social Science/ Minor in History, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Selected Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
- 2023
- "PERIPHERIE #1: Detouring with Traction: Stanya Kahn," Screenings of "Stand in the Stream" and "No Go Backs," Kunstmuseum Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Stanya Kahn, “For the Birds,” “Friends in Low Places,” “Happy Song for You,” “No Go Backs,” “So Low You Can’t Get Over It,” “Winner,” &"Stand in the Stream," International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 2022
- "Forest for the Trees," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
- 2020-2021
- "Stanya Kahn: No Go Backs," ICALA, Los Angeles, CA (Link)
- 2020
- "No Go Backs," Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
- 2018
- "Stand in the Stream," The Box at Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (Link)
- “Stanya Kahn: Friends in Low Places,” Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
- 2017
- “Stand in the Stream,” MoMA PS1, New York, NY (Link)
- “Stand in the Stream,” Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA
- 2016
- “Heatstroke,” The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (Link)
- "Stanya Kahn," Weiss Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- 2015
- "Stanya Kahn: Die Laughing," Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY
- 2014
- "Don't Go Back To Sleep", Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA
- "Stanya Kahn," Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO
- "Blood, Paper, and Mud (leave your slippers at the door)", curated by Kendra Paltz, University Galleries, University of Illinois, Normal, IL
- 2013
- "Downer (but your ass looks huge from down here)," Curated by Emi Fontana, Pigna Project Space, Rome, Italy
- 2012
- "I can clearly see yer nuts," The New Museum, New York, NY
- "It's Cool, I'm Good," Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
- "A cave walks into a bar," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA
- 2011
- Galleria Perdida/Recess Activities, New York, New York
- 2010
- "It's Cool, I'm Good," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA
- 2008
- Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY, with Harry Dodge
- 2007
- "No Ins and Outs," Carlier | Gebauer Gallery, Berlin, Germany, with Harry Dodge
- 2006
- Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY, with Harry Dodge
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2024
- "Wild Grass: Our Lives," 8th Yokohama Triennale’s Second Chapter, Yokohama, Japan (Link)
- 2023
- “Some Trees,” The Floating Gallery, Auto Brake Center, Los Angeles, CA
- "Unbound: Performance as Rupture," Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin, Germany
- "Together in Time: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection," Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- "Full Burn: Videos from the Hammer Contemporary Collection," Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- 2020
- "A Sculpture, A Film, AND Six Videos," Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
- "20 Years," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
- "All of Them Witches," Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA
- 2019-2020
- "Get well soon," Kunsthaus, Nuremberg, Germany
- 2019
- "Fruitful Labors," Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA
- 2018
- "TEN," Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles, CA
- Gwangju Biennale 2018, Gwangju, South Korea
- 2017
- “Crossroads,” Anren Biennale, Anren, Sichuan Province, China
- “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon,” New Museum, New York, NY (Link)
- “Sea Sick in Paradise,” curated by Amy Yao, Depart Foundation, Malibu, CA
- “Teeter: Stanya Kahn, Anna-Sophie Berger, Aleksander Hardashnakov, Dena Yago,” Carl Louie, London, Ontario, Canada
- “Greater works than these shall he do…,” Edward Cella Art + Architecture, Los Angeles, CA
- 2016
- “Los Angeles – A Fiction,” Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway, travelling to Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France (Link)
- 2015
- Looking Back / The 9th White Columns Annual, White Columns, New York, NY
- Stand Up!, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Laugh-In: Art, Comedy, Performance, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
- 2014
- "Real Emotions: Thinking in Film," KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (with Harry Dodge)
- "Cherub," curated by Andrew Berardini and Brian Kennon, 2nd Cannons, Los Angeles, CA
- "Artadia's 15th Anniversary exhibition," curated by Gianni Jetzer, Longhouse Projects, New York, NY
- "Special Madness: Aaron Garber-Maikovska, Stanya Kahn, Chloe Seibert, Jesse Stecklow, and Ian Swanson," curated by Keith J. Varadi, David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX
- 2012
- "Between a Run and a Cascade: Constraint, Desperation, and Optimism in Water, CA," Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
- "Sunday @ 4," Todd Madigan Gallery, California State University, Bakersfield, CA
- 2011
- "Two Schools of Cool," curated by Sarah Bancroft, FOCA, Los Angeles, CA
- "Suelto," curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas and Adrian Rivas, La Central, Bogota, Colombia
- "Keren Cytter, Stanya Kahn, Dafna Maimon, and Shana Moulton," Future Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- "Electromediascope: Inside/Out," curated by Gwen Widmer, Nelson-Atkins Museum, MO
- 2010
- California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
- "Ludicrous!" Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
- "Virtuoso Illusions," curated by Michael Rush, MIT, Cambridge, MA
- "45 Years of Performance Video from EAI," PS1 NY, NY
- "45 Years of Performance Video from EAI," Wiels, Brussels, Belgium
- "Slightly Unbalanced," curated by ICI, Harnett Museum, Richmond, VA
- "Queer Voices," Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- 2009
- "Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video," curated by Lauren Ross, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
- "Code Share: 5 continents, 10 biennales, 20 artists," CAC Vilnius, Lithuania, curated by Simon Reese
- "Videonale 12," Kunstalle Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- "Unusual Behavior," Santa Barbara Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, CA
- 2008
- "Desert Shore," Luckman Fine Arts, curated by Jan Tumlirm, Cal State, LA
- Whitney Biennial 2008, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
- "California Video," Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- "Laughing in a Foreign Language," Hayward, London, UK
- 2007
- "Between Two Deaths," ZKM/Center for Art and Media, Karlsrhe, Germany, curated by Ellen Blumenstein and Felix Ensslin
- "Edens Edge," Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Gary Garrels
- "Shared Women," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Eve Fowler, Emily Roysdon and A. L., Steiner
- 2006
- "Defamation of Character," PS 1, New York, NY
- Locale Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
- "VIDEO MARATHON 2006," Art in General, New York, NY
- "Fair Exchange," Millard Sheets Gallery, LA County Fair, Los Angeles, CA
- 2005
- "Marking Time," Getty, Los Angeles, CA; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, CA
- "Sugartown," Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York and Angstrom Gallery, Dallas, TX
- "The Early Show," White Columns Gallery, New York, NY
- "Films/Stills," New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
- 2004
- Backyard Invitational Video Competition, group show and competition (winner), sponsored by the Believer Magazine, Hollywood Hills House and Lazy-J
- "Pilot: 1," Old Limehouse Town Hall, London, UK
- "LTTR Show: Fail More," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
- "Inside of Inside," The Lab, San Francisco, CA
- 2003
- "Fail Better," Ocularis, New York, NY
- "Soft Machines," Brewery Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Performances
- (Evening-length works, unless indicated by )
- 2016
- Die Laughing, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA
- 2006
- Jimbo Cherry and Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
- 2005
- Lois Live Sundown Salon, Los Angeles, CA
- 2004
- Let the Good Times Roll Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- 2003
- Ballad of Crappy and Seapole Diverseworks, Houston, TX
- 2002
- Delirium, production of 1996 one-person play Yale School of Drama, CT
- Nobble Reading series curated by Lydia Lunch, Los Angeles, CA
- 2001
- The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole National Queer Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
- The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole Jack Tilton Gallery, NY, NY
- The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole Stromereien Festival of Performance, Zurich, Switzerland
- The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole University Settlement, NY, NY
- 2000
- The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole Performance Space 122 (P.S. 122), NY, NY
- The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole Galapagos Performance Space, NY, NY
- 1999
- Rank Stranger Dixon Place, NY, NY
- Rank Stranger Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia, PA
- Rank Stranger Mad Alex Presents, NY
- Rank Stranger Links Hall, Chicago, IL
- 1998
- Specimens, collaborative work w/ P.S. 122, NY and Christ Church Philadelphia, PA
- Ishmael Houston-Jones
- Delirium SUSHI Performance Space, San Diego, CA
- Delirium Cleveland Performance Art Festival, Cleveland, OH
- Delirium Default Propaganda, HERE Space, NY
- This is Not Enough P.S. 122, NY, NY
- Movement Research/Judson Church, NY
- Entertainment for the Apocalypse, Pfefferberg, Berlin, Germany
- collaborative work w/ performance Fabrik, Potsdam. Germany
- company CORE (as co-founder Lot Theater, Braunshweig, Germany
- and performer)
- Various Excerpts Sister Spit Spoken Word Tour, 30 Venues, US
- 1997
- Delirium Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
- Delirium The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX
- Delirium WOW Caf, NY
- Delirium P.S. 122, NY
- Delirium San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
- New Work, reading Brooklyn Museum, NY
- Entertainment for the Apocalypse P.S. 122, NY
- Entertainment for the Apocalypse Highways, Los Angeles, CA
- Entertainment for the Apocalypse SUSHI Performance Space, San Diego, CA
- Entertainment for the Apocalypse Brady St. Dance Center, San Francisco, CA
- 1996
- Delirium New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
- Delirium Dixon Place, NY, NY
- Delirium Climate Theater, San Francisco, CA
- Entertainment for the Apocalypse Bay Area Dance Series, Lainey College, Oakland, CA
- Utility Beast P.S. 122, NY, NY
- Utility Beast WOW Caf, NY, NY
- 1987-1995
- Selected performances and readings at Theater Artaud, Intersection for the Arts, New College of California, New Performance Gallery, Southern Exposure Gallery, SOMARTS, all in San Francisco. Selected live action street performance events with Theater Action Group.
Video Screenings
- 2023
- "It’s Cool, I’m Good," Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)
- "PERIPHERIE #1: Detouring with Traction: Stanya Kahn," Screenings of "Stand in the Stream" and "No Go Backs," Kunstmuseum Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Short Profile: Stanya Kahn, “For the Birds,” “Friends in Low Places,” “Happy Song for You,” “No Go Backs,” “So Low You Can’t Get Over It,” “Winner,” &"Stand in the Stream," International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 2020
- "No Go Backs," BFI London Film Fesitval
- 2018
- "Don't Go Back to Sleep," Canada, New York, NY
- "Stand in the Stream," Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- "Happy Song for You," ltd los angeles, Los Angeles, CA (Link)
- "Stand in the Stream," National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Link)
- 2017
- "Stand in the Stream," Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- "Stand in the Stream," School, Vienna, Austria
- 2016
- Lookin’ Good, Feelin’ Good, Dortmund I Cologne International Women’s Film Festival, Cologne, Germany
- 2015
- Its Cool, Im Good, TOTAL WORK, Los Angeles, CA
- 2013
- Always Worried, video screening, Institute for Contemporary Art, London, GB
- Always Worried, video screening, Temple Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
- "Happy Song For You", New Museum, New York, NY (with Llyn Foulkes)
- 2002
- Winner, Slamdance, New York; Best of Slamdance, Los Angeles; Mix Festival, New York; Los Angeles Film Festival; New Festival, New York; Slamdance Film Festival, Utah; London Lesbian/Gay Intl Film Festival; OUTFEST Film Festival, LA; Silverlake Film Festival, Los Angeles; Hallwalls Art Space, Buffalo, NY, Flaming Festival, Minneapolis, MN
- 2001
- By Hook or By Crook (Contributing writer, actor, performance consultant: Independent feature film, written and directed by Harry Dodge and Silas Howard. DVD distributed by Wolfe Video. On cable TV, Sundance Channel. Selected Film Festival Screenings:
- Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah; South by Southwest, Austin, TX; OUTFEST, Los Angeles, CA; New Festival, New York, NY; San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay, CA; Cleveland International, OH; Paris International Lesbian and Gay, Paris, France
Bibliography
- 2024
- Valie, Elaine. "Bid on an Artist’s Kite to Aid Gaza," Hyperallergic, January 30 (Link)
- 2023
- Wojtowicz, Kathrin. "Candid Real Life Spaces; An interview with Stanya Kahn," Publics And Publishings, September 1 (Link)
- Westall, Mark. "Unbound: Performance As Rupture Curated By: Lisa Long At The Julia Stoschek Foundation.," FADMagazine, August 14
- "Stanya Kahn," The Hoosac Institute, February 7 (Link)
- Westall, Mark. "Stanya Kahn Selected for 2023 R.U.IN.Art Commision at Frieze Los Angeles 2023," FAD Magazine, January 27 (Link)
- Lloyd-Smith, Harriet. "Stanya Kahn’s Frieze Los Angeles commission to unearth the ‘understory’ of human intervention in nature," Wallpaper*, January 27 (Link)
- Frieze Los Angeles. "Harambe, Fallen Trees and a Mutant Duck: Stanya Kahn’s R.U.in.ART Commission," Frieze, January 17 (Link)
- 2022
- Dawson, Aimee. "Let it snow, let it snow: wintry works bring the temperature down at Art Basel in Miami Beach," The Art Newspaper, December 1 (Link)
- 2021
- Staff, Frieze. "The Top 7 Shows to See in the UK and Ireland," Frieze EU, November 17 (Link)
- Fheorais, Iarlaith Ni. "Love, Longing and George Michael at TULCA Festival of Visual Arts," Frieze, November 17 (Link)
- 2020
- Tumlir, Jan. "Stanya Kahn’s Communication Breakdown," Frieze, November 17
- Reizman, Renée. "A Surreal and Eerie Look at Los Angeles Over the Past Decade," Hyperallergic, November 3
- Simmons, William. "Portfolio: Stanya Kahn," Bomb, October 26
- Beckhurst, Gabriella. "Against Inheritance: Stanya Kahn’s ‘No Go Backs’", Another Gaze Journal, August 20
- Diehl, Travis. "Teens Wander a Postapocalyptic World in Stanya Kahn's New Film," Art in America, May 14
- Regensburger, Jeff. "Art Review: Stanya Kahn – No Go Backs," Columbus Underground, March 23 (Link)
- Oliphint, Joel. "Teens lead the way forward in ‘No Go Backs’," Columbus Alive, January 24 (Link)
- Aguirre, Abby. "Inside the Los Feliz Home of Frieze’s Bettina Korek," W, January 29 (Link)
- 2019
- Kahn, Stanya. "Sally Spitz of French Vanilla Likes her language deviant," Interview, July 2 (Link)
- 2018
- Brown, Laura, "Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon at New Museum (LA in NY)," CARLA, February 28 (Link)
- 2017
- Gritz, Anna, “And I Stop and I Turn and I Go for a Ride,” Mousse Magazine 60, November (Link)
- Lehrer, Adam, “‘Trigger’ Exhibition at thew New Museum Tackles Gender but Ponders So Much More,” Forbes (web), October 5 (Link)
- Cotter, Holland, "When It Comes to Gender, Let Confusion Reign," The New York Times (web), September 28 (Link)
- Taubin, Amy, “A River Runs Through It,” Artforum (web), August 31 (Link)
- Diehl, Travis, “Stanya Kahn at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects,” frieze (web), May 11 (Link)
- Mizota, Sharon, "Chat rooms, home movies, life, death: A tangled, touching video at Susanne Vielmetter," Los Angeles Times, May 4 (Link)
- Shaw, Michael, “Stanya Kahn,” ArtScene, May (Link)
- “Views: Stanya Kahn at Weiss Berlin,” Spike Quarterly, Winter (Link)
- 2016
- Whiteford, Meg, “Critics’ Pick: Stanya Kahn at The Pit,” Artforum (web), September 29
- Peterson, Jennifer, “Stanya Kahn at the Pit,” Contemporary Art Review LA (web), October 12
- Schneider, Hans, “Stanya Kahn’s ‘Don’t Go Back to Sleep’ at Weiss Berlin,” Blouin ArtInfo (web), November 9
- 2015
- McGarry, Kevin, In San Diego, Art is a Laughing Matter, New York Times T Magazine Blog, January 23
- Chute, James, Art imitates comedy, UT San Diego, February 18
- Connor, Michael, Eight Big Ideas from Seven on Seven, Rhizome, May 4
- Rosenthal, Tracy Jeanne, Stanya Kahn: In the Studio, Art in America, June / July
- Wyma, Chloe, Marina Abramovic, Meet Chelsea Handler? How Standup Comedy Became the New Performance Art, Artspace (web), August 28
- Emory, Sami, Mansions, Gore, and Party Food: The Apocalyptic Delights of Die Laughing, The Creators Project (web), September 12
- Indrisek, Scott, The Apocolypse is Hilarious: Stanya Kahns Bleak Laughter at Marlborough Chelsea, ArtInfo (web), September 23
- Stanya Kahn, Malibu Magazine, November / December
- Indrisek, Scott, The Apocalypse Will Be Hilarious, Modern Painters, December
- Something to Laugh About: La Jolla exhibit to explore stand-up comedy in contemporary art, La Jolla Light, January 21
- 2014
- Kahn, Stanya, Stanya Kahns Favorite Moving Pictures Experiences of 2014, ArtInfo, December 31
- Yue, Genevieve, "The 6th Annual Migrating Forms at BAMcinmatek," New York, art agenda, December 12
- Indrisek, Scott, "Waking Up to Stanya Kahns Oddly Moving Drama," ArtInfo, December 10
- Lehrer-Graiwer, Sarah, Best of 2014: Sarah Legrer-Graiwer, ArtForum, December
- Jovanovic, Rozalia, "Artadias 15th Birthday Adventure in NYC," ArtNews, October 16
- Thorson, Alice, " 'Don't Go Back To Sleep': The time for change is now," Kansas City Star, May 24 (Link)
- Halter, Ed, "Body Bags," essay on Stanya Kahn's 'Don't Go Back To Sleep,' commissioned by Grand Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, Summer (Link)
- Cook, Liz, "Stanya Kahn visits the suburbs for Grand Arts' 'Don't Go Back To Sleep,'" The Pitch, May 20 (Link)
- Guthery, Summer, "Critic's Pick: Stanya Kahn at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects," Artforum.com, May 19 (Link)
- Beck, Chelsea, "Review: Selfing Togetherment Naturally," ArtSlant, May 11 (Link)
- 2013
- Michno, Christopher, Review: Facing the Sublime in Water, CA, Artillery, January/February
- 2012
- Myers, Holly, Llyn Foulkes' art of raw emotion, The Los Angeles Times, October 28
- Allsop, Laura, "Stanya Kahn: It's Cool, I'm Good", Art Monthly, No. 359, September
- Rahman, Sophia, "Interview: 'It's cool, I'm good' artist discusses first UK solo exhibition at Manchester's Cornerhouse", Mancunian Matters, June 21
- Yablonsky, Linda, Womens Work, New York Times, May 10
- Mohebbi, Sohrab, Stanya Kahns A cave walks into a bar, Art Agenda, April 3
- Wiley, Chris, Stanya Kahn, Artforum Critics Picks, March
- Myers, Holly, Art review: Stanya Kahn at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles Times, March 8
- Wagley, Catherine, Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including a Penis Costume Film, LA Weekly, Februrary 29
- Stanya Kahn Exhibition Navigates the Art of the Joke, Huffington Post, February 14
- 2011
- Bancroft, Sarah, Two Schools of Cool, Orange County Museum of Art / Fellows Of Contemporary Art, DelMonico Books
- Clothier, Peter, PST/OC, The Huffington Post, October
- Kramer, David Jacob, Stanya Kahn, A Video Artist Who Defies Characterization, Paper Magazine, April
- 2010
- Kilston, Lyra, First View: Stanya Kahn Its Cool, Im Good, Artreview.com, March 26 (Link)
- Pagel, David, Around the galleries: A film fest that is all her own, Los Angeles Times, April 9 (Link)
- Hebron, Micol, Critics Pick: Stanya Kahn at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Artforum.com, March 25 (Link)
- Berardini, Andrew, Scene & Heard: Tour of Duty, ArtForum.com, March 19 (Link)
- Smee, Sebastian, MIT Exhibit bends More Thank Gender, Boston Globe, February 14 (Link)
- Proctor, Roy, Harnett Museum is Time-Based Art, February 14
- 2009
- Woodard, Josef,Off the Off Radar Art, Santa Barbara News Press, November 20
- Smith, Michael, Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, Bomb Magazine, No. 108, Summer
- 2008
- Bedford, Christopher, Focus: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, Frieze Magazine, Nov-Dec
- Finkel, Jori, Unsettling in a Funny Sort of Way, New York Times, March 2
- Kushner, Rachel 1,000 Words, Artforum, January
- "Art reviews, defamation of character", New Yorker, November
- Halle, Howard, "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn," Time Out NY, July
- Schambelan, Elizabeth, "Whitney Biennial," Art Forum, Summer
- Armetta, Amoreen, "Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn," Artforum.com, June
- Volk, Gregory, "Spring in Dystopia," Art in America, May
- Saltz, Jerry, Whitney Biennial, Village Voice, April
- Alemani, Cecilia, "Whitney Girls", Mousse Magazine, March
- Cotter, Holland, Whitney Biennial, New York Times, March
- Schjeldahl, Peter, Lessness: The Art World, New Yorker, March
- Halle, Howard, Whitney Biennial, Time Out NY, March
- Shaffer, Grant, "Art Review", Harry Dodge & Stanya Kahn", New Yorker, March 18
- Cornell, Loren, "Art Picks: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn," Time Out NY
- Mellis, Miranda, California Video, Exhibition Catalogue, January
- 2007
- Blumenstein, Ellen, Between Two Deaths, Exhibition Catalogue, July
- Garrels, Gary, Edens Edge, Exhibition Catalogue, July
- Art and Politics in LA, Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, Modern Painters, January
- 2006
- Catalogue, Fair Exchange Show, Sept-Oct
- Smith, Roberta, Art in Review: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, New York Times, May 12
- Arts About Town: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, New Yorker, May 15
- Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, Time Out New York, May 11
- Kushner, Rachel, Openings: Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, Artforum, February
- 2005
- Van, Tran Duc, Scene and Heard: The Artforum Diary: Houses Proud, December
- Bailey, Cindy, Radar Reading Series, LitRave, September 9
- Johnson, Ken, Stanya Kahn and Harriet (Harry) Dodge, New York Times, August 5
- Cornell, Lauren, Notes from Underground, NYFA Interactive News, April
- Gilani, Nadia, Selected Shorts, Gingerbeer, April
- Weissman, Benjamin, Slaves to the Visual, The Believer, Dec 2004/January
- 2004
- Halter, Ed, A Few Odd Girls Out, Village Voice, November 19-25
- Hall, Phil, Winner, Film Threat, February 16
- 2003
- Specht, Mary, Crappy Theater, Houston Press, Volume 15, Number 19, May 8-14
- 2002
- Kehr, Dave, By Hook or By Crook, New York Times, Friday October 25
- Anderson, Melissa, Tracking Shots, Village Voice, October 23-29
- 2001
- Success: By Hook or By Crook, Seattle Gay Standard, November 2-8
- 2000
- Covan, Ellie, Politics, Nakedness, and Other Hot Topics, New York Times, September 20
- Pilger, Faith, The Absurdist Brilliance of Shempco AKA Stanya Kahn, Dance Insider, January 19
- 1999
- Soloski, Alexis, Rank Stranger, Village Voice, May 25
- Rasmusson, Erika, Rank Stranger, Shout Magazine, May
- A Bit of Strangeness in Rank Stranger, Philadelphia Inquirer, September 30
- Molzahn, Laura, Magnificent Irreverence: Ladylike Performance Festival, Chicago Reader, February 5
- 1998
- Jast, Frank, Exciting Political Stage Art (translation), Potsdamer Neuste Nachrichten Wochenendausgabe, September 19
- Wild, Political and Exciting (translation), Neus Deutschland- Berlin, October 8
- Seidel, Miriam, Opening up to Interrogation and Self-Interrogation in Specimens, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 13
- Dunning, Jennifer, Fallen Angels in Energetic Theatricality, New York Times, December 12
- Campello, Lennox, Stanya Kahns Delirium, Echo Magazine Online, April
- Jackson, Merilyn, Thoughtful Gestures, Philadelphia Weekly, June 12-18
- Rudstrom, Sten, Delirium: Stanya Kahn, P-Form, Number 44 Fall1997/ Winter
- 1997
- Knaff, Deborah, COREs Activist Artists try to bring sense to the Millenium, San Diego Union Tribune, April 10
- Critics Pick, Dallas Observer, December 8
- Lloyd, Carol, Intelligent Carnality, San Francisco Weekly, Arpil 30 - May 8
- Entertainment for the Apocalypse, San Francisco Weekly, April 16 - 22
- Guerilla Dance: Among the Ruins, San Francisco Focus Magazine, July
- 1996
- Murrin, Tom, Probing Mars, Paper Magazine Online, December
- Chonin, Neva, Art Revolution, San Francisco Bay Guardian, September 25 - October 2
- Chonin, Neva, Utility Beast, San Francisco Bay Guardian, by October 4 - 10
- 1995
- Noyes, Katia, Whos That Tomgirl, Dykespeak, April
- 1994
- Bussa, JJ, Face Lift, P-Form, January15
Group Exhibition Catalogues and Books
- 2017
- Burton, J., and Bell, N. (2017). Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon. Pg 100-103. New Museum.
- 2015
- Dawsey, Jill, Laugh-In: Art, Comedy, Performance, exhibition essay, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, January 23
- 2010
- Bryant, Tisa, Miranda Mellis, Kate Schatz, eds., Hell, Encyclopedia Project, Vol. 2, SPD Press
- 2007
- Cooper, Dennis, Ed. Hell, Userlands: New Fiction from the Blogging Underground, Akashic Press, January
- Hull, Steven, Ed., Let the Good Times Roll, performance text in Nothing Moments, collection of art and fiction, Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles
- Let the Good Times Roll, performance text, Soft Targets Journal of Theory, Art and Literature, Vol. 1
- Lois and Conan, short story, LTTR Journal of Art and Writing, #4
- 2002
- Athey, Ron, Interview, POZ Magazine, June
- 7:15 AM: On Timothy McVeigh, Movement Research Journal, 23, August
- 2000
- The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole According to Shempco, chapbook of performance text, December
- 1999
- Rank Stranger, chapbook of performance text, April
- 1998
- Delirium, chapbook of performance text, March
- Terminatrix Progeny, Poetry and Performance Texts, Abundant F*CK Press, with M. Mellis and Anah-K
- 1995
- Utility Beast, chapbook of performance text, September
Awards, Grants and Fellowships
- 2021
- MacDowell Fellowship
- 2015
- San Francisco Art Institute Artist in Residence
- 2014
- Investing in Artists grant, Center for Cultural Innovation
- 2013
- Artadia Award, Los Angeles Awardee
- 2012
- Guggenheim Fellowship, Film/Video
- 2011
- ARC Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation
- 2010
- Jury Prize: Best Short, Narrative Fiction, Migrating Forms Film Festival
- 2009
- Durfee Foundation, Artists Resource Grant
- Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, nomination
- 2008
- United States Artists Fellowship, nomination
- Durfee Foundation, Artist's Resource Grant
- 2007
- Rockefeller Film/Video Fellowship Nomination
- California Community Fund Fellowship for Mid-Career Artists
- 2006
- Durfee Foundation, Artist's Resource Grant
- 2004
- Winner, Backyard Invitational Video Competition, sponsored by Lazy-J, Hollywood Hills House, and the Believer Magazine