SHARON DANIEL is a media artist who creates online artworks and multimedia installations that examine social, racial, and environmental injustice. The interactive documentaries and installations Daniel has co-authored with incarcerated people, homeless injection drug users, and victims and offenders participating in restorative justice mediation have been exhibited internationally in museums, University Galleries and festivals including: STUK Kunstencentrum (Leuven, Belgium), the Gropius-Bau (Berlin), Université de Paris I, Panthéon, Sorbonne (France), Museu da Imagem e do Som (São Paulo, Brazil), Mediateca of the Fundació "la Caixa," (Barcelona, Spain), Corcoran Museum (Washington, DC), the San Jose Museum of Art (San Jose, CA), the Museum of Capitalism (Oakland, CA), Parsons School of Design (NY, NY), the Schmidt Center (Boca Raton, FL), Tufts University (Boston, MA), University of New South Wales, Australia, University of California, Los Angeles, Sheffield Doc|Fest (UK), CPH:DOX (Copenhagen, Denmark), Transmediale (Berlin), the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival (Rotterdam), WRO Media Art Biennial (Wroclaw, Poland), Kwangjoo Biennial Media Art Project (Korea), Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria),and the Lincoln Center Festival (NY, NY).

Her work has been supported by Rockefeller (2007), Fulbright (2017), and Guggenheim (2023-24) Foundation Fellowships.

Daniel’s writing has been published in books, including Female Authorship and the Documentary Image (Oxford University Press, in press), Context Providers (Intellect Press 2011), Database Aesthetics (Minnesota University Press 2007) and the Sarai Reader05, as well as in professional journals such as ASAP, Cinema Journal, Leonardo, Studies in Documentary Film and Springerin.

Daniel has been honored by the Webby Awards (2008), and included in the 2015 “Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100,” a list of “the creative minds that are asking questions and making the provocations that will shape the future of American culture.” For over twenty years, Daniel’s creative research has focused on documenting injustice in the criminal legal system in an effort to persuade people to rethink their assumptions about the criminal punishment system and the people it imprisons.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS

2025-26 “Distant Early Warning,” multimedia installation in Weather and the Whale Institute of the Arts and Sciences, UCSC (May-March)

2025    “Reasonable Doubts: Central Valley” screening, Todo Cambia, UC Merced’s annual Human Rights Film Festival, March 3rd.

2024    “Reasonable Doubts: Central Valley” screening at Visible Evidence XXX, Melbourne, Australia, December 17-20

2024    “Reasonable Doubts: Central Valley” in Seeing Through Stone, Institute of the Arts and Sciences, UCSC (April-Jan)

2021     "Exposed" at CPH:DOX Copenhagen Documentary Festival Interactive Media Art Program, Copenhagen, Denmark (April-May)

2021     "Exposed" at Electronic Literature Organization Conference and Festival "COVID E-Lit" exhibition, Bergen, Norway (April)

2020     "Undoing Time | Pledge" and "Undoing Time | Amends | Excessive Force" in Barring Freedom, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA (Oct - May 2021) (https://barringfreedom.org/)

2019     "Undoing Time | Pledge" in the Museum of Capitalism, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons School of Design, NYC, NY (Oct - Dec 2019)

2018     "In the Fourth World" at the Global Health Film Festival, Wellcome Center, Bloomsbury, London, UK (Dec 6-7)

2018     "Undoing Time | Pledge" in Take Action/For Freedoms, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA (Oct - Nov)

2018     "Undoing Time | Pledge" in the Museum of Capitalism, Grossman Gallery & Anderson Auditorium, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University, Boston, MA (Aug - Oct)

2018     Website: UNDOING TIME | ARCHIVE - evolving interactive documentary and digital archive containing audio, video, images and texts related to the installation pieces of UNDOING TIME.

2017     "Undoing Time | Pledge" in the Museum of Capitalism, Oakland, CA (Jun - Aug)

2017     Solo Exhibition: Secret Injustices, Sharon Daniel - Schmidt Center Gallery, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton (Feb-April)

2016     Installation of "Undoing Time | Pledge" and "Undoing Time | SOS" and launch of project website at Sheffield Doc|Fest Alternate Realities exhibition (June)

2015     "Inside the Distance" in Interventions exhibition at the Electronic Literature Organization Festival "The Ends of Electronic Literature", Bergen, Norway (August) INVITED

2013     Solo Exhibition: Convictions, at STUK Kunstencentrum, Leuven, Belgium (Sept - Nov)

2011     "Blood Sugar," at the 14th WRO Media Art Biennial, Wroclaw, Poland (May-September)

2010     "Name Your Price: tracking the social cost of consumer culture," at ZerO1SJ biennial exhibition (September)

2010     "Public Secrets" at the Artefact Festival Expo, STUK center, Leuven, Belgium (February)

2009     "Blood Sugar" at Steven Spielberg gallery in the School of Cinematic Arts at University of Southern California, Exhibition for Visible Evidence X (August)

2009     "Public Secrets," in Real Emergency, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Australia (Aug-Sept)

2009     "Blood Sugar," at Visible Evidence X, Steven Spielberg Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (August)

2009     "Blood Sugar + Public Secrets" in Scalable Relations, UCLA Art|Sci Center/Nanosystems Institute (Jan- Feb)

2008     "Public Secrets," at Transmediale08 Festival, Berlin, Germany (Jan-Feb)

2008     "Public Secrets," at The Lab, San Francisco, CA (May)

2007     "Palabras_" special project exhibition in online journal Stretcher, http://www.stretcher.org/

2007     "Palabras_" in Dispatx SHOW, Dispatx Art Collective http://www.dispatx.com/

2006     "Palabras_" installation in juried exhibition, ZeroOne/ISEA2006 San Jose, CA (August)

2005     "Improbable Monument to the end of the Prison Industrial Complex," Subrealities, University of Texas, Dallas (March-April)

2004     "Improbable Monument to the end of the Prison Industrial Complex," Improbable Monuments, CameraWork, San Francisco (Nov)

2004     "Need_X_Change," Anthology of Art exhibition at the Gropius-Bau, Berlin. (April-August)

2003     "Subtract the Sky," DEAF03 - the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival, V2 Institute, Rotterdam, Holland (February- March)

2002     "Subtract the Sky," at Université de Paris I Gallery, Panthéon, Sorbonne, (November)

2001     "Narrative Contingencies," FILE-2001 festival, Museu da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo, Brazil (August-September)

2001     "Narrative Contingencies," Mediateca of the Fundació "la Caixa," Barcelona (February-July)

2000     "Narrative Contingencies Installation and Community Site," Corcoran Biennial 2000, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., (December 2000-March, 2001)

2000     "Brain Opera," permanent installation in the new House of Music Museum, Vienna, Austria (July)

2000     "Narrative Contingencies," AAA - Archiving as Art, Université de Paris I, Panthéon, Sorbonne, UFR des Arts Plastiques et Sciences de l'Art, salle Michel Joumiac, 162 Rue St. Charles, Paris and Showroom Dine Chelabi, 36-38 Rue Charlot, Paris.

2000     Solo Exhibition: "Narrative Contingencies Community Site," interactive web project and interactive installation, curated by Christophe Le François and Patricia d´Isola at the art space RDV in Auvers sur Oise, France (January)

2000     "Narrative Contingencies" interactive installation at ARCHIVES OF CREATION symposium at the French National Science Research Center (CNRS), Paris, France (January)

2000     "Narrative Contingencies" Interactive Installation, 46th Corcoran Biennial Exhibition, Media/Metaphor, 2000, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Dec 2000 - March 2001)

2000     "Narrative Contingencies," Korean Biennial exhibition, New Media Art "Scar," 2000 Kwangjoo Biennial Media Art Project (March)

1999     "Narrative Contingencies," Il Bienal do Mercosul, Mostra Arte e Tecnologia, Ciberarte: Zonas de Interação, Porto Alegre, Brazil (Nov 1999-Jan 2000)

1999     "Narrative Contingencies," ANPAP conference exhibition, Sao Paulo, Brazil (Nov)

1999     "Narrative Contingencies," SIBGRAPI exhibition, Campinas, Brazil (Oct)

1997     "The Brain Opera," multi-channel interactive video opera, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach, Florida (May)

1997     "The Brain Opera," multi-channel interactive video opera at the Festival Acarte, Fundação Caloust Gulbenkian, Av. de Berna, 45-1067 Lisboa Codes, Lisbon, Portugal (Sept)

1997     "Narrative Contingencies and Signal-to-Noise,"  SONAR 97, Barcelona, Spain (July-Aug)

1996     "Narrative Contingencies," Visión Múltiple / Multiple Vision, Museo Contemporáneo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, (Aug)

1996     "Narrative Contingencies," Visión Múltiple / Multiple Vision, Mobius Gallery and Performance Space, Boston, MA (May)

1996     "The Brain Opera," multi-channel interactive video opera, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria (Sep)

1996     "The Brain Opera," multi-channel interactive video opera, Lincoln Center Festival, New York, New York (July-Aug)

1996     "The Brain Opera," multi-channel interactive video opera, Electronic Cafe International and European Cultural Capital Celebrations, Copenhagen, Denmark (Oct)

1996     Interactive Installation, Three-Channel Video, web: BRAIN OPERA - role: Visual Design Director, Lead Visual Artist (video) and Web Project Design (collaboration with Tod Machover and the Opera of the Future Research Group at the MIT Media Laboratory)

SELECTED HONORS, AWARDS, GRANTS, and FELLOWSHIPS

2023-24    Guggenheim Fellowship: Fine Arts

2022-24    Artist Residency and Commission: Arnolfini Center for Contemporary Arts, Bristol, UK *New

2021-23    Visiting Professor: Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education, University of West England, DCRC, Bristol, UK

2020         Artist Residency: Hop Projects, Folkstone, UK

2020          Artist Residency: Tyrone Guthrie Center, Ireland

2018-19    Fellowship: Santa Fe Art Institute Truth and Reconciliation Fellowship and Residency

2017          Fellowship: Fulbright Scholar Fellowship: University of Ulster, Belfast, UK

2015          Honor: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, YBCA 100 – “a diverse list of artists, entrepreneurs, activists, and creative citizens from around the world that have one thing in common...They are all generating culture that moves people." https://www.ybca.org/ybca-100-2015

2011          Artist Residency: Emily Harvey Foundation Artist's residency program Venice, Italy.

2011          Award: Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival Design Award for Blood Sugar

2008          Fellowship: Rockefeller/Tribeca Film Institute New Media Fellowship (35,000.00)

2007          Award: Webby Award, category activism: Webby Awards Honoree for Public Secrets

2005          Fellowship: Vectors Fellowship, Annenberg Center, University of Southern California

2001          Fellowship: California Arts Council Artists Fellowship ($5,000)

2000          Artist Residency: Media and Visual Arts Co-production residency, The Banff Centre for the Arts (July-August 2000)

1999          Artist Residency: Media and Visual Arts Co-production residency, The Banff Centre for the Arts (July-August 1999)

PUBLISHED INTERVIEWS, ESSAYS and ARTWORKS IN BOOKS, PERIODICALS, AND PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS

2026         “Distant Early Warning,” multimedia installation published in the “Weather and the Whale” catalog, Institute of the Arts and Sciences, UCSC

2025         “Reasonable Doubts: Central Valley” published in the “Seeing Through Stone” catalog, Institute of the Arts and Sciences, and San Jose Museum of Art

2021          Film Interview: in COVID E -Lit: Digital Art during the Pandemic, co-produced by Anna Nacher, Søren Pold, Scott Rettberg and Ashleigh Steele. (June 13 2021)

2021         Television Broadcast Interview: The Cult and Contradictions of the American Flag, NBC LX (Mar 26 2021)

2020          Interview: "Inside The Distance: Tropes Of Performance, Justice And Emotional Contact: A conversation with Sharon Daniel" in The Digital Imaginary, ed. Roderick Coover and Sandy Baldwin, Bloomsbury Academic

2019          "The Blindness of Whiteness and the Labor of the Negative," in Kunstlicht Journal, Vol. 40 No. 1-2, 2019, Radical Imaginings: Art Practices of/for Justice (https://tijdschriftkunstlicht.nl/issues/)

2019          "Sharon Daniel: in conversation" by Ryan Watson, Studies in Documentary Film (Nov)

2018         Book Chapter: "More than One | The Female Author and Voice: A personal context", in Female Authorship and the Documentary Image: Theory, Practice and Aesthetics, Oxford University Press (Spring 2018)

2018          "Polyphony in Practice: Interview with Sharon Daniel", Sharon Daniel, Judith Aston, and Stefano Odorico, in Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media, Special issue on Polyphony (Oct 2018) http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue15/InterviewDaniel.pdf

                  “Materializing a Gesture of Resistance,” ASAP/Journal, Volume 3, Nubmer 2, May 2018, pp. 285-297

2017          Published Artwork: Undoing Time | Pledge and S.O.S. in Museum of Capitalism, Fictilis, Inventory Press, NY pg, 114-115

                  Undoing Time", in Thresholds, issue 1. Pilot INVITED

2015          Exhibition Catalog and essay collection” Art and Justice: Inside the Distance, STUK Kunstencentrum and Leuven Institute for Criminology

2014 "Sobre política y estética en Public Secrets y Blood Sugar", en Artes Mediales/Convergencias y Tecnologías, Instituto Distrital de las Artes/Cinemateca Distrital-Gerencia de Artes Audiovisuales del Idartes

2012          “On politics and aesthetics,” in iDocs Special Edition of Studies in Documentary Film, Intellect Journals(Spring)

              “Case Study: Public Secrets and Blood Sugar,” in Database/Narrative/Archive – a peer-reviewed web publication on the SCALAR platform – USC and Concordia University.

2012          “Blood Sugar,” in Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular, Volume 3, Issue 2, Memory

2011          Essay: “Public records/Secret publics: information architecture for new political subjects,” in special issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac

2010          “Systems and Subjects: Redefining Public Art,” in Context Providers, Victoria Vesna, Margot Lovejoy and Christiane Paul        editors, Intellect Press

2009          “Hybrid Practices” part of In Focus: Digital Scholarship and Pedagogy edited by Tara McPherson, Cinema Journal, 48, No. 2, (Winter)

2008          “Public Secrets/Secret Publics” in Springerin Magazine, Berlin, (Spring)

2007          “The Database: an Aesthetics of Dignity” in Database Aesthetics, Victoria Vesna, ed. University of Minnesota Press (Sept).

“Public Secrets,” in Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular, Issue 4, Perception,

The Public Secret: Information and Social Knowledge + forum texts,” Documenta 12 Magazine Project,

“Palabras_: Improvised Maps,” in Dispatx vol. 6, Dispatx Art Collective, http://www.dispatx.com/show/item.php?item=2312

2006          “The Public Secret: Information and Social Knowledge,” Intelligent Agent, vol. 6 no. 2, http://www.intelligentagent.com/, the NetArt Initiative.

2005          “Improbablevoices.net: An Improbable Monument to Witnessing and the Ethics of Trespass”, Sarai Reader 05 Bare Acts: Tresspassers and Enforcers in Precarious Times published by The Sarai Programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) Delhi, India

2004          “Mapping the Database: Trajectories and Perspectives,” co-authored with Karen O’Rourke, Leonardo 37:4, MIT Press

2003          “Need_X_Change,” Anthology of Art catalogue, CD-Rom, website and publication in issues of the German partner magazine Lettre International.

“Bases de données: trajectoires et perspectives,” co-authored with Karen O’Rourke, Plastik no. 3, La Revue du Centre d’Études et de Recherches en Arts Plastiques – CÉRAP, Publication de la Sorbonne, Paris.