Daniel Joseph Martinez: States of Being

Daniel Joseph Martinez transforms his body into post-human identities through large-scale photography, exploring surveillance, AI, and the human species as an invasive force.

Why go

The exhibition presents the final movement of Martinez's 30-year trilogy *Three Critiques*, premiering *The Post-Human Manifesto for the Future* in its first solo presentation after its debut at the 2022 Whitney Biennial. The work uses augmentation and analog prosthetics to stage cinematic post-human mutations—from Frankenstein to Alien—interrogati

What to expect

Five large-scale photographic panels shot on large-format film showing Martinez inhabiting supernatural post-human identities, alongside a new three-panel blackboard work *Memento Mori* (2026) featuring chalk text derived from art historical and philosophical sources, exploring language and meaning in the post-human condition.

Things to know

• Artist's practice spans five decades incorporating text, sculpture, photography, painting, robotics, performance, and installation.
• *The Post-Human Manifesto for the Future* premiered at the 80th Whitney Biennial in 2022, curated by David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards.
• *Three Critiques* trilogy took 30 years to complete: *Museum Tags* (1993), *Divine Violence* (2008), and *Post-Human Manifesto* (2026).
• Martinez is a Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Art at UC Irvine, teaching in Graduate Studies, New Genres, and Critical & Curatorial S
• Born 1957 in Los Angeles; studied with Michael Asher, John Baldassari, and Douglas Hubler at CalArts (1979).
• Work addresses collective identity, surveillance, power, resistance, war, AI, and systems of exchange through conceptual operations.

Plan your visit

Gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–6 pm. The gallery is closed 19 June 2026. Located at 385 Broadway, New York, NY 10013; phone (212) 977-7160.