Daniel Arsham is a Cleveland-born New York-based interdisciplinary artist whose artistic endeavours extend beyond traditional art world platforms. His art plays with the concept of future history and fictional archaeology, presenting fossilised versions of contemporary objects and architecture.

Raised in Miami, Daniel Arsham studied art at The Cooper Union in New York. He graduated and received the Gelman Trust Fellowship in 2003. His ensuing practice has crossed the disciplines of drawing, film, sculpture, installation, and architecture, playfully historicising the tangible cultural and material icons of the contemporary era.

Architecture is another core element of Daniel Arsham’s practice, where the artist often plays with the architectural environment of the gallery. In several works, artefacts and objects intersect with exhibition walls. The analogue clock in Falling Clock (2011), for example, appears to have been lodged into a softened gallery wall. He also constructs surreal architectural environments, such as the monochrome Japanese zen gardens of Blue Garden (2017) and Lunar Garden (2017).

Beyond the gallery walls, Daniel Arsham has collaborated, since 2007, with Alex Mustonen on ‘Snarkitecture’: a highly acclaimed design practice. In 2014 he established ‘Film the Future’, creating films set in a fictional future. He has also created set designs for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; signed to Adidas; collaborated with Dior and Pharrell Williams; and in 2020 he became creative director for the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team in his home state of Ohio.

Daniel Arsham’s art has been shown in commercial contexts as well as gallery and institutional shows worldwide. His works feature in major public collections, such as the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the National Museum of Qatar, Doha.