Image courtesy Cody Sells, 2023.
BIO
Daniel Sharp (b. 1994, Grand Rapids, Michigan) is an artist, musician, writer, and interdisciplinary organizer. The majority of their work deals with deterioration, social patterns, public policy, and land.
His work has been seen at MOCAD, Detroit; PLAYGROUND, Detroit; GOODNEWS, Brooklyn; Basilica Soundscape, Hudson; The Works, Detroit; Bossa Nova Civic Club, Brooklyn; The Lot Radio, Brooklyn; the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Magick City, Brooklyn, among others.
They have spoken widely about their visual, music, and consulting work across universities and organizations, including Creative Capital; the Kresge Foundation; Chautauqua Visual Arts; Brown University; The Dutch Art Institute; University of California, Berkeley; Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA); and Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD).
Sharp’s writing has been published in The Creative Independent, Public Parking, Testudo, NYFA, Kickstarter, and The Agora Journal of Urban Planning. Their collaborative work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, The Guardian, TODAY, NYFA, Metro Times Detroit, The Art Newspaper, Vogue, Artnet News, CNBC, USA TODAY, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Forbes, and Insider.
His music practice via the moniker Endash explores loss, memory, and science fiction, and has released three EPs, a full length record, and an upcoming release with Acid Camp (Los Angeles, CA). Sharp is a 2024 Change Collective Fellow, a NEW INC, Mentor and the host of Practices After Capitalism with Anticapitalism for Artists. They are an alumn of NYC Crit Club and MEMCO and founded DSCS, a consultancy that scales cultural work.
Sharp can be reached at dsharp13 [at] gmail [dot] com, and uses they/them, he/him, and she/her pronouns.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work unpacks how our bodies—and the world we’ve built around them—deteriorate. Using the United States as a case study, I unearth the social patterns and public policies that cause collective fallout. I then transform this research into tangible systems that build a more equitable, sustainable world I want to live in.
I gravitate to four mediums to achieve this: film, sculpture, sound, and social practice. I first collage photographs and video clips into short films that discuss the deterioration of my own body, religious beliefs, and public policy. Second, my sculptures repurpose materials “leftover” from capitalism, like shipping supplies and plastic bags, into warning signs for future generations. Third, my sounds from field recordings and sonic sculptures are translated into music and live deejay sets that meditate on breaking inherited systems designed to privilege.
Fourth, my social practice takes the shape of writing, interdisciplinary organizing, strategic consulting with cultural workers, archival podcasts, public installations, and bartering. With this work, I design support structures that find and allocate the resources my community needs to collectively craft the world we want to inhabit. My goal is to offer these structures as templates for the greater public to use and co-create solutions to the problems they face. Some consider this “queering” the system; I call it functional optimism.
I do not hold a BFA or MFA; I simply identify as a “citizen artist”—one who feels responsible for solving a failing society in need of reconsidering itself.
EDUCATION
2013-2017
University of Michigan — BA Public Policy, Art History Minor
2016
Freie Universität — Semester Program: German, Public Monuments
AWARDS
2024
Change Collective Fellow, co-hosted by Civic Nation and the Obama Foundation
EXHIBITIONS AND MUSIC PERFORMANCES
2024
MOCAD (Detroit, MI) — Word of Mouth, group exhibition.
Technotel (Detroit, MI) — deejay set with Bale Defoe.
2023
PLAYGROUND (Detroit, MI) — COMM[UNITY] II, group exhibition.
Palmetto (Brooklyn, NY) — Vinyl set with Kels Davidson.
Disco Zwei (Mannheim, Germany) — deejay set with Vinculum.
Hunter Thompson Saloon (Saarbrücken, Germany) — deejay set with Vinculum.
Imbolc (Detroit, MI) — Ambient set.
2022
Remix release, Does It Matter? (Endash Remix), on Bandcamp, Spotify, and more.
Flyover (Minneapolis, MN) — live set.
Hunter Thompson Saloon (Saarbrücken, Germany) — recorded mixtape.
2021
BEVERLY’S (New York, NY) — Endash & DJ Black Helmet, curated by Leah Dixon.
Nemeth Art Center (Park Rapids, MN) — Nemeth Home Deliveries 01, curated by Tessa Beck.
2020
8 Ball Radio (Online) — deejay set, curated by Jordan Stanton.
Twitch Livestream (Online) — deejay set, Missedconnection 001.
The Lot Radio (Brooklyn) — deejay set, Bright Patterns with Vicki Siolos.
2019
4 Charlotte St (Ridgewood, NY) — record release, Come Home.
Basilica Soundscape (Hudson, NY) — deejay set. Curated by Meredith Graves.
Green House Records (Connecticut) — mix series contribution.
The Lot Radio (Brooklyn) — deejay set, Kickstarter Takeover.
GOODNEWS (Brooklyn) — solo exhibition, Shipping and Handling. Curated by Izzy Dow.
The Pharmacy (New York) — deejay set. Curated by Nancy Kim.
Surrealchemistry (Los Angeles) — radio station mix. Curated by Max Ellington.
2018
Beverly’s (New York) — deejay set, Moods Presents: Jazz to Techno.
The Annex (Brooklyn) — deejay set, Moods Presents: Ambient Brunch.
Bossa Nova Civic Club (Brooklyn) — deejay set, Moods on Tuesday.
Magick City (Brooklyn) — summer residency, Palate.
The Lot Radio (Brooklyn) — deejay set, Kickstarter Takeover.
2017
FoolMoon Fest (Ann Arbor) — public installation, Bubbled.
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) — public installation, Filter.
Necto (Ann Arbor) — installation and poster design, MEDMA x Groove x D/ART.
The Works (Detroit) — deejay set, Strictly Fridays.
Techno Dungeon (Ann Arbor) — deejay set and installation, The D/ART Party.
Self-released EP, Cyclical Tendencies, Or Round and Around.
2016
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) — public installation, Fall Waterfall.
Techno Dungeon (Ann Arbor) — curator, MEDMA Presents: All Female DJ Night.
2015
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) — public installation, Bubbled.
Self-released EP, Damp.
Necto (Ann Arbor) — curator, MEDMA Presents: All Female DJ Night.
CURATING
2023
Technotel (Detroit, MI) — Moods @ Movement 2023 curated by Daniel Sharp, Crystal Gause, Miguel Cisne, and Fabiola Belaen.
2022
Technotel (Detroit, MI) — Moods @ Movement 2022.
2021
Til Death (Brooklyn, NY) — Moods x Finjams 02 with Jordan Stanton and Gilad Granot.
Til Death (Brooklyn, NY) — Moods x Finjams 01 with Jordan Stanton and Gilad Granot.
LECTURES
2024
“Live Q&A: How to Surpass Your Goal: Crowdfunding,” CreativeStudy, virtual.
“Crowdfunding 102: marketing and strategy for successful campaigns,” California Institute of the Arts, CA.
“Narrative and communication as a muscle and practice,” Sotheby’s Institute of Fine Art, NY
“Transferable skills: consulting and community strategy for artists,” Brown University / RISD, RI.
2023
“Narrative and communication as a muscle and practice,” Brown University / RISD, RI.
“Organizing as care and practice in Detroit,” Dutch Art Institute, St. Erme, France.
2022
“Introducing the Post-Center Art Center,” US Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC), virtual.
“Network Mapping,” with Continuus at Common Field’s What Now?, Seattle, WA.
“The difference between a community and a crowd, and how to get both,” Chautauqua Visual Arts Residency program, NY.
2021
“Innovation in Crowdsourcing,” UC Berkeley.
2020
“Crowdfunding in 2020,” Art World Conference.
“Kickstarter for Artists 101,” with KODA Lab, published on True Africa.
“How to fund an Exhibition on Kickstarter,” at Maryland Institute College of Art.
“Kickstarter 101 for Art Students,” at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
“Kickstarter for Visual Artists,” with KODA at FiveMyles, Brooklyn.
“Kickstarter for Visual Artists,” with Broward County Cultural Division, Fort Lauderdale.
2019
“Crowdfunding Community-Centered Art Projects,” at College Art Association.
2018
“Crowdsourcing Exhibitions: Lessons Learned,” with Katie Buckingham and Eric Schmalz, hosted by Rebecca McNamara and AAMC, webinar.
“Kickstarter 101 for Creative Capital Awardees,” webinar.
“Resourcing Your Practice,” with Kresge Fellows and Creative Many, Detroit.
“Rebranding Democracy,” with Suraj Patel, Rebecca Davis, and Nadia Asgari-Tari, hosted by Anjelica Triola, New York City.
WRITING/PRESS
2024
PCAC’s Mapping Detroit Microgrants, Outlier Media.
Imbolc’s social practice celebrations, Detour Detroit.
“15 Things to do in Detroit This Weekend,” Metro Times Detroit.
“Blurry Blueprints: Minami Kobayashi and Adrianne Rubenstein’s duo show at Et al. etc.,” Testudo.
“2023 Rear View Mirror,” Substack.
2023
“On the urgency of fallow,” Substack.
“Horizon Lines,” Substack.
2022
“Rear View Mirror: 2022,” Substack.
“Healing Sculptures, Traveling Time: A Conversation with Leah Dixon,” Testudo.
Interview with Kiana Hayeri, “On connecting to the world through your work,” The Creative Independent (TCI).
Interview with Sharon Loudon, “On why you’re more than what you make,” The Creative Independent.
“On administration as art,” Substack.
“Against specialization,” Substack.
“Community strategy: it’s a recipe, and it’s delish,” Substack.
“Retro: Four Day Work Week and the Overton Window,” Substack.
“Archives, The Dance Floor, and Using Art to Rethink Binaries: An Interview with Levani,” Testudo.
Interview with Steve Locke, “On telling the whole story,” The Creative Independent.
Interview with Tony Patrick, “On why nothing exists without collaboration,” The Creative Independent.
“One use, over and over: in conversation with Bat-Ami Rivlin,” Public Parking.
“Planning Your Photobook or Art Book,” Kickstarter.
2021
Interview with Josué Rivas, “On healing your inner child through your work,” The Creative Independent.
Interview with Gavin Turk, “On recycling ideas in your work.” The Creative Independent, 2021.
“How to Build Your Kickstarter Arts Community,” Kickstarter.
“How to Build Your Kickstarter Arts Campaign,” Kickstarter.
“How to Make a Photography Portfolio,” Kickstarter.
2020
“Business of Art | Crowdfunding 101,” NYFA.
Interview with LaToya Ruby Fraizer, “On working with dignity,” The Creative Independent.
Interview with Azikiwe Mohammed, “On being a steward to music and art,” The Creative Independent.
Resources for Artists in the COVID-19 Crisis, Kickstarter Blog.
Interview with The Family Interviews.
Interview with jackie sumell, “On working through resistance,” The Creative Independent.
2019
“Kickstarter Launches New Digital Resource for Emerging and Student Artists,” Kickstarter Blog.
Interview with Asif Mian, “On subverting trauma,” The Creative Independent.
2018
Interview with Mark Cross, “On working with your neighborhood,” The Creative Independent.
“You Created a Product on Kickstarter. Here’s What to Do Next,” Kickstarter, with Jamie Hoffman.
“5 Essential Product Design and Manufacturing Tips—for Artists,” Kickstarter, with Maura Lynch.
“Introducing Designed By Artists,” Kickstarter Blog.
Interview with Shanna Merola and Kate Levy, “On involving other people in your work,” TCI.
2017
“New Genre Public Art and the Law,” Agora Journal of Urban Planning and Design, 2017.