Julia Weist’s artistic practice is defined by a participatory aesthetic in which her artworks are shaped by the systems they foreground as subjects. Across various mediums, with a recent focus on photography, Weist is known for her deeply collaborative approach that emphasizes discovery as a defining factor in shaping material choices, formal qualities and display strategies.

Weist goes to remarkable lengths to gain access and build relationships, and the results of these efforts are often surprising. She has embedded within New York City government and Cuba’s underground media networks. She’s won a national advertising award and collaborated with an FBI agent who was undercover in the art world. For two years, Weist was a licensed private investigator. The common thread between these projects is an interest in revealing the hidden intricacies that create and confer power.

Working recursively from one project to the next, Weist’s embodied research blurs the line between creation and context. Her work visualizes the complexities of governance, circulation, surveillance and censorship, inviting viewers to reassess their understanding of the structures that shape our everyday lives.

Julia Weist is a visual artist based in New York. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Jewish Museum among other collections. She has recently exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Queens Museum and The Shed and internationally at the Hong-Gah Museum, Taiwan; nGbK, Berlin; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam and the Gwangju Biennale. Recent solo exhibitions include Private Eye at Moskowitz Bayse and Governing Body at Rachel Uffner Gallery. Her latest public artwork, Campaign, debuted in Times Square in 2022.

Artist’s CV