RANU MUKHERJEE (b. Boston Ma. 1966)
EDUCATION
1993
M.F.A. Painting, Royal College of Art, London, UK
1988
B.F.A. Painting, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
SELECT SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2023
Alice Rahon and Ranu Mukherjee; Time Warriors, Gallery Wendi Norris | New York, NY
2022
Dear Future, 18th Street Arts Center | Los Angeles, CA
Ensemble for Non-Linear Time, 836M | San Francisco, CA
2020
Come Undone, Ranu Mukherjee and Sunè Woods, New Viewings, Galerie Barbara Thumm | Berlin, Germany
Ranu Mukherjee has been very busy (online), Gallery Wendi Norris
2019
If AI were Cephalopod, 0rphan drift @ Telematic | San Francisco, CA
2018
A Bright Stage, De Young Museum | San Francisco, CA
2017
Shadowtime, Gallery Wendi Norris | San Francisco, CA
Shivery Proof, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design | Lancaster, PA
2016-2017
Phantasmagoria, Tarble Arts Center | Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
Unruly City, Dold Projects | Sankt Georgen im Schwarzweld, Germany
2015-16
Extracted: a trilogy, Asian Art Museum |San Francisco, CA
2012
Ranu Mukherjee: Telling Fortunes, San Jose Museum of Art | San Jose, CA
2013-14
Apparitions, Gallery Wendi Norris | San Francisco, CA
2011
Absorption into the Nomadic and Luminous, Frey Norris Contemporary and Modern | San Francisco, CA
2010
Ranu Mukherjee: VideoHole, Noma Gallery, San Francisco, CA
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2026
Ruth Awards, Ruth Foundation For The Arts
2023
San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Award
2023
Mills College Art Museum, Art+Process+Ideas Residency
2022
18th Street Arts Center Residency
2022
836M Residency
2020-26
Lucas Visual Arts Fellowship, Montalvo Arts Center
2020
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2020
Facebook OpenArts Residency
2016
de Young Artist Studio Program, de Young Museum
2015
Space 118, Mumbai Residency
2010
Kala Fellowship Award and Residency, Kala Art Institute
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Asian Art Museum I San Francisco, CA
Escalette Permanent Art Collection of Chapman University I Orange, CA
de Young Museum I San Francisco, CA
Meta/Facebook Headquarters I Menlo Park, CA
Fidelity Investments I Boston, MA
JPMorgan Chase Collection I New York, NY
KADIST I San Francisco, CA and Paris, France
Oakland Museum of California I Oakland, CA
Robert D. Bielecki Foundation I New York, NY
San Francisco Arts Commission I San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Art I San Jose, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2010-2025
2025
Crossing, Kadist Foundation at A4 Art Museum (Chengdu)
Kunming Contemporary Art Gallery with Wu Art Museum (Kunming)
Tsenpo Museum (Nangqian), Organhaus (Chongqing), and Aranya Art Center (Beidaihe)
The Sky Below, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art I San Rafael, CA
2024
P L A C E; Reckonings by Asian American Artists, ICA San Jose I San Jose, CA
Multiple Voices, Gallery Wendi Norris I San Francisco, CA
Contemporary Art from the South Asian Diaspora, Speed Art Museum I Louisville KY
2023
Refuge, Queen Alexandra’s House I London, UK
Art+Process+Ideas, Mills College Art Museum | Oakland, CA
2022
Natasha, Singapore Biennial | Singapore
A Point Stretched; Views on Time, San Jose Museum of Art I San Jose, CA
Future Shock, (Re)visions of Tomorrow, Roswell Museum | Roswell, NM
2021
The Armory Show, Javits Center | New York, NY
Seeing Past the Future, Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center | Artland
Loss and Transience, Hong-Gah Museum | Taipei, Taiwan
La Luz Entre Nosotros/The Light Between Us, Kadist Foundation | San Francisco, CA
The Archive to Come, Telematic | San Francisco, CA
2020
Sanctuary, Agha Khan Museum | Toronto, Canada
2019
Karachi Biennale | Karachi, Pakistan
Video Art by Indian Contemporary Artists, Mumbai Edition, CSMVS Museum and Godrej India Culture Lab | Mumbai, India
Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance, De La Warr Pavilion | UK
Sanctuary, Smart Museum, Chicago, Asia Society Museum | NY
Speculative Frictions, PDX Contemporary I Portland, OR
2018
Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times, Part 2- commissioned projects by Victor Cartagena, Ranu Mukherjee, and Lava Thomas,
di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art | Sonoma, CA
Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance, Nottingham Contemporary | UK
Making Migration Visible; Traces, Tracks and Pathways, Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art and Design | Portland, Maine
Beyond Transnational, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum | Mumbai, Raza Foundation | New Delhi
Soul Mining, Vincent Price Museum | Los Angeles, CA
Our Bones are Made of Starlight, 1a Space | Hong Kong
2017
Soul Mining, Arizona State University Art Museum | Tempe, AZ
Sanctuary, Fort Mason Chapel | For-site Foundation | San Francisco, CA
0rphan drift @, eat code and die, Lomex gallery, New York, NY
Changjiang International Photo and Video Biennial, Chongqing Changjiang Museum of Art | Chongquing, China
Your Mind, This Moment and The Practice of Attention, San Jose Museum of Art | San Jose, CA
2016
Matter Fictions, Berardo Museum | Lisbon, Portugal
Sites of Transformation, (two-person show with Joey Fauerso), She Works Flexible | Houston, TX
0rphan drift @, Mutiny in Heaven, First Continents | Baltimore, MD
Bring it Home, (re)locating Cultural Legacy through the Body, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery | San Francisco, CA
2015
Momentum; Women, Art and Technology, Mary H. Dana Galleries, Rutgers University | Piscataway, NJ
Moving Image, Waterfront Tunnel | New York, NY Group Hang, Gallery Wendi Norris | San Francisco, CA
Time Travelers, Kala Institute | Berkeley, CA
Alternative 23 visitation, IMT Gallery | London
2014
Partial View; recoding sacred objects, Manresa Gallery | San Francisco, CA
New Acquisitions, Oakland Museum of California | Oakland, CA
Initial Public Offering, San Jose Museum of Art | San Jose, CA
Grotto Heavens, CAC Gallery | Vilnius, Lithuania
2013
This is not America: Resistance, Protest and Poetics, Arizona State University Art Museum | Tempe, AZ
Vital Signs, New Media Art from the SJMA Collection Wichita Art Museum | Wichita, KS
Grain, Gallery Espace | New Delhi, India
Occupations: Art Takes Up Space, Block Gallery | Oakland, CA
Fruitique, a Fallen Fruit project for the Hammer Museum | Los Angeles CA
A Tempting Fate: Inevitability and Scientific Fortune, Aggregate Space Gallery | Oakland, CA
Only a Signal Shown, Southern Exposure | San Francisco Death of Rave | CTM Berlin (0rphan drift)
Echoes of Eco, International Winter Arts Festival | Sochi Russia 2012 Making Camp, Sun Valley Center for the Arts | Ketchum, ID
Museum Store Mini Solos, SpaceBi at Asian Art Museum Store | San Francisco, CA
United States of Asian America, SOMArts | San Francisco, CA
2011
Bay Area Now 6, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts | San Francisco, CA
Picturing Parallax: Photography and Video from the South Asian Diaspora, San Francisco State University | San Francisco, CA
2nd Floor Window Projection Series, Luggage Store | San Francisco, CA
Washington Project for the Arts Experimental Media Series, Hirshhorn Museum | Washington DC
Pangea, art at the forefront of cultural convergence, Frey Norris Contemporary and Modern | San Francisco, CA
2010
Kala Fellowship Show, Kala Art Institute Gallery | Berkeley, CA
ONGOING COLLABORATIONS
Projects, workshops and performances with choreographer Hope Mohr
2025
Score for Transitional Times, Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University I Houston, TX
2023-4
Prototype for an Aftermath, Montalvo Art Center I CA
Float the Mark; A Mine in a Forest, Mills College Art Museum | Oakland, CA
2020-23
Ensemble for Non-Linear Time – Imagining Futures, San Jose Museum of Art | San Jose, CA
18th Street Arts Center | Santa Monica, CA
836M | San Francisco, CA
ARTogether | Oakland, CA
2018-2019
Succession, Di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art | Sonoma CA
Meditation on Trust, Fort Mason Chapel, For-Site Foundation | San Francisco
2017
Now Not Now, Gallery Wendi Norris | San Francisco, CA
Co-founder and co-channeler -media artist/avatar 0rphan drift 1994- present
2012
0(rphan)d(rift>), 2012 edition, published by Cabinet Gallery London
2004
0(rphan)d(rift>), 2005 edition, published by Cabinet Gallery, London
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2023-24
San Francisco Ballet Curtain Commission for Cool Britannia | San Francisco, CA
Home and the World, Mercy Housing | San Francisco, CA
2022
Tuning Forest, Pembroke | Boston, MA
2021
When the Path Through the Atmosphere is Longer; San Francisco International Airport | San Francisco Art Commission | San Francisco, CA
2020-21
When Change Moves Like the Forest Speaks, Facebook AIR | Menlo Park, CA
2018
Beam, Gallery Wendi Norris HQ | San Francisco, CA
2016
Phantasmagoric, 3-channel video, Los Angeles County Museum of Art | Los Angeles, CA
2015
Chimeric, video, Artprojx and The Royal College of Psychiatry | London
2014
Spicy Wild, Growing Gritty, Spirited Transmission, Art on Market | San Francisco, CA
OTHER MULTIMEDIA COLLABORATIONS
2014
A Procession for the Extracted with David Allan Burns, For-Site Foundation | Nevada City, CA
The Mission: Calle 24, Passport, San Francisco Arts Commission | San Francisco, CA
2013
Procession for Future Artifacts, Artists Drawing Club, Asian Art Museum | San Francisco, CA
Towards a Creole Procession, Luggage Store Annex | San Francisco, CA
2012
Live score and Listening Park with Mike Maurillo, San Jose Museum of Art and Zero1 Biennial | San Jose, CA
2011
Live score for Color of History , Bay Area Now 6 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts | San Francisco, CA
2009
Tender Transmissions, Luggage Store Annex/Tenderloin National Forest, Wonderland Show | San Francisco and www.tendertransmissions.com (http://www.tendertransmissions.com/)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2025
Featured Guest, The Body is the Brain Podcast
’The Sky Below’ Artists Depict Futures Worth Sticking Around For,Sarah Hotchkiss for KQED, (https://www.kqed.org/arts/13979110/marin-museum-contemporary-art-the-sky-below-sci-fi)
The Sky Below, Marin MOCA, Square Cylinder
2024
Featured Guest, Planet Critical Podcast
2023
Featured guest, The Side Woo Podcast
In Mills College Art Museum Show, Technology Becomes an Active Collaborator Alexander Ullman, KQED Arts- the Do list
2022
From the Vault: Ranu Mukherjee, “Future Shock” and Approaching Equilibrium through layers, Aaron Wilder, Roswell Daily Record ‘Ensemble for Non-Linear Time at 836M Gallery comes to a close with two performances’ Broadway World
‘Fusing Art and Movement in Ensemble for Non-Linear Time’, SF Classical Voice
2021
Ranu Mukherjee: Shadowtime, monograph, Gallery Wendi Norris
Ranu Mukherjee: Raíces Diagonales, Carolina Magis Weinerg
Revista de la Universidad de México, April 2021, Decolonization Issue
2020
Ranu Mukherjee has been very busy, essay by Timothy Don
2019
Interview/featured artist, Beyond the Studio Podcast
Critics Picks, 0rphan Drift at Telematic, Art Forum
2018
Catalogue, Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance, Nottingham Contemporary
2017
Catalogue, Sanctuary, For-site Foundation
ASU Art Museum’s ‘Soul Mining’ offers insight into historic forced migration, The State Press, Arizona State University
Video: Extracted: A Trilogy by Ranu Mukherjee, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Catalogue, Matter Fictions, ed. Margarita Mendes, Berardo Museum, Lisbon
2016
Feature, Women to Watch, KQED Arts
Faculty Spotlight: Ranu Mukherjee, Fine Arts, California College of the Arts
All that Glitters is Gold:Ranu Mukherjee’s Phantasmagoric, Julie Romain for LACMA Unframed
Re-Opening:San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, Art Practical
Asunder No More, SFAC Gallery Expands and Reopens in Civic Center,KQED Arts
Asian Art Museum Celebrates South Asia as Part of Golden Jubilee, India West
Extracted: Indian diaspora artist Ranu Mukherjee at the Asian Art Museum, Art Radar
2015
Ranu Mukherjee Unearths Buried Histories in ‘Extracted Trilogy’, KQED Arts
Seeing Time-Time Traveler, Art Practical
The Bewitching Geometry of the Moving Image Art Fair, Hyperallergic
Video: Collapsing Colonialism with Ranu Mukherjee, KQED Art School
2014
Catalogue: Digital Art and Feminism, A Surreal Relationship, Anne Swartz,
Momentum, Women Art and Technology, Dana Women Artist Series, Rutgers University, ed. Connie Tell, Institute for Women and Art
The Talismanic Tetrakaidecahedron #8: Ranu Mukherjee (Quintan Ana Wiskwo)’, Degenerate Art Stream
2013
Ranu Mukherjee, In the Make , Klea McKenna and Nikki Grattan
M for Metabolism, Open Wide- the great digestive system, Randy Lee Cutler
Preview Images from “GRAIN”, a four woman show at Gallery Espace’, BlouinArtInfo
Grain at Gallery Espace, First City, New Delhi
2012
Artist Investigates 21st Century Nomads, Spartan Daily, San Jose State
Artist’s videos evoke dreamy paintings, San Francisco Chronicle
Interview with Exhibiting Artist Ranu Mukherjee, SOMArts
2011
Catalogue; Picturing Parallax: Photography and Video from the South Asian Diaspora, Santhi Kavuri Bauer, San Francisco State University
September Art Reviews, SF Weekly
Bay Area Now 6, Leigh Markopoulos for Art Practical
Video: Ranu Mukherjee: Contemporary Nomads, YBCA Bay Area Now 6 0rphan drift:
2010
Catalogue: Tender Transmissions , Wonderland USA, Fung Collaboratives
2008
Renegade Academia, Simon Reynolds, ‘SOUND UNBOUND’ ed. Paul Miller, MIT Press
2001
Seeing the Beat: Retinal Intensities in Electronic Music Videos, Simon Reynolds, Catalogue Oberhausen International Short Film Festival
2000
The Underworld at Kunstnernes Hus, Christian Refsum, BilledKunst, nr.3
Syzygy at Beaconsfield Arts, Jim Flint, Mute Magazine Issue 13
1999
Interview, UBC Radio | Vancouver, BC
1998
Martin, Pauline Van Mourik Broekman, Mute Magazine (0rphan drift)
1997
Anteomega, Wave Magazine, Belgium (0rphan drift)
1995
Beat Regeneration, Jim McClellan, Observer Life Magazine (0rphan drift)
Sex, Drugs and Remote Control, Dave Beech,
The New German Critique number 25 (0rphan drift) Serotonin Overkill, Tony Marcus, ID Magazine (0rphan drift) Interview, Fringeware Review Magazine (0rphan drift)
1994
Interview with Michael Archer, Audio Arts Magazine (0rphan drift)
ARTISTS TALKS
2025
The Future of Reality; from Locarno to LA, UCLA and Swissnex
2024
CSU, Monterey Bay
Cinematic Voices, CalArts
Grey Area Festival, San Francisco
lunch and learn, Fidelity Investments
2023
In conversation with Chitra Ganesh, GWN NY
Northeastern University
Mills College Art Museum
Portland State University
Urban High School
2022
Anderson Ranch
2021
Parsons Fine Arts Visiting Artist Lecture Series Emily Carr University of Art and Design
2020
Ranu Mukherjee and Hong-An Truong, moderated by Kim Nguyen, NSU Singapore
Living Room Light Exchange: Carlos James Luna and Ranu Mukherjee
Re:Imagine, Global Conversations Series: Converging Crises and the Sanctuary of Art with Ranu Mukherjee and Dr. Azra Akšamija, Agha Khan Museum, Toronto In Conversation with Sugata Ray
Catastrophe And Storytelling: Climate ChangeAnd Sacred Groves, Townsend Center for the Humanities , UC Berkeley and Commonwealth Club of California
Podcast: This New Idea with Conrad Meyers
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Low Residency MFA
In person Workshop: Ensemble for Non-Linear Time, Computational Media Arts and Cultures, Duke University
2019
Artists panel, Art and Transcultural Negotiation, Asian Art Museum San Francisco
Artists talk, A Completely matter of fact acceptance of the agency of non-human beings of many kinds , Thompson Gallery Lecture Series, San Jose State University
2018
Water, Fire, Earth, Air- Mcevoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco
In Conversation with Judy Dater, Di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art
ICA Maine College of Art and Design, Portland ME
2017
Writing for the Moving Image with Pratibha Parmar, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
In Conversation with Saisha Grayson, Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco
Conversation: Surrealism and It's Legacy with Jodi Roberts and Jonathan Parker, Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco
Making and Unmaking, artists talk, Tarble Art Center, Southern Illinois University Art Department, Charleston, Illinois
2016
Trilogy Complete, Asian Art Museum San Francisco, CA
Artists Talk, Food For Thought Series with Lindsey White, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Artists presentation, Asian Artists Network stARTup pilot, ACT Strand Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Recent work, Faculty of Color Research Alliance, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Extracted Unearthed, Asian Art Museum San Francisco, CA
2015
Art, Technology and Feminism panel discussion, Dana Library, Douglass College, Rutgers Gallery
Conversation, with Desiree Holman and Freddy Chandra,
Seeing Time, Time Travelers, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2014
Artists presentation, An Artist Who Cannot Speak English is No Artist, Asian Contemporary Art Week, Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA
Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Sonoma State College, Sonoma, CA
Radio Interview, Women’s History Month, Artspeak
Bay Area Youth programming on Mutiny Radio, San Francisco, CA
2012
Visiting Artist Talk, Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art with Atreyee Gupta, Department of Art History, U.C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Visiting Artist Talk, Topophilia with Lynn Kirby, Graduate Fine Art, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2011
Epic Everyday, Artists Talk, Graduate Lecture Series, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Baat Cheet, Asian Art Museum San Francisco, CA
Visiting Artist Talk, Painting to Video with Kim Anno, Graduate Fine Art, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Featured Artist, Discover@Dosa, San Francisco, CA
Exhibition walkthrough, Art Table , Frey Norris Contemporary and Modern, Visiting Artist Talk, Public Speech with Sanjit Sethi, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2010
Kala Fellowship Talk, Kala Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2008
Panelist, Ilovetheory,don’tyou, Graduate Painting, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2005
Presentation, Mimesis and Fiction, Society for Photographic Education West Annual Conference, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
2001
Kombinayzon, An Introduction to Haitian Art and screening of ‘Lineaments of the Lwa’ (Gordon, Mukherjee, Roberts) Caribbean History Month, Goldsmiths College, London and October Gallery, London
2000
‘PAZ’ (aerenko, Mukherjee and Roberts) screening, International Semiotics Conference, University of Urbino
1996
Performance Lecture (0rphan drift), Thinking Alien, Leeds University
1995
Performance Lecture (0rphan drift), Technophobia, Institute of Contemporary Art, London
Performance Lecture (0rphan drift), Virtual Futures 2, University of Warwick
Performance Lecture (0rphan drift), Embodied Knowledges, Goldsmith College, London
Performance Lecture (0rphan drift),Out of Control lecture series, Royal College of Art, London
1993-1995
Visiting Artist, BFA, Middlesex University, London. England
1994-1995
Visiting Lecturer, Art History, Winchester College of Art, Winchester
1993-1994
Visiting Artist, B.F.A., Canterbury College of Art, Canterbury, England
1994
Visiting Lecturer, Media/Cultural Studies, Southampton Institute, Southampton. England
PUBLICATIONS
2019
A Completely Matter-of-Fact Acceptance of the agency of non-human beings of many kinds, artists project, Art Journal, Fall 2019
Monkey Fist, Object Lessons Feature, Art Journal, Fall 2019
2018
Introduction, Procession for the Extracted, For-site Foundation
2017
Connective Tissue, Issue 9.1, Public Sense, Art Practical
Joan Jonas on Our Mind, Wattis Institute
2012
A Set of Reflections on the Culture of Public School Touring in San Francisco, written in Limbo, Social Practice, an annual report, California College of the Arts
2011
A Nomadic Archive, New Guide to the Universe, Practice&Practice
2010
Top ten reasons why we are living in the future, Imprint 93; The Lists curated by Liz Glass
A collection of reminders, After Words, text on voice, Practice & Practice
2007
Liquid Lattice,Frozen Tears 3, orphan drift and Cybernetic Culture Research
Unit, ed. John Russell, Artice Press
Black Hole, Satellite Magazine, issue 2, Independent School of Art
1999
Zone Codes , 0rphand drift, i/o/d, Underground Publications On-line, Fringeware Review and Art Throb
1995
FormZ, Mute Magazine, issue 1
1994
YouVgen, Mute Magazine, Pilot issue
COMMUNITY WORK
Current
Board of Directors, Southern Exposure
2023-2025
Board of Directors, San Jose Museum of Art
2022-2024
Board of Directors, Bridge Live Arts
2019-2023
Acquisitions Committee, San Jose Museum of Art
2023
Imagining forests workshop, Big Island, Hawaii
Landscape Arch. MFA , Surface Design and UC Berkeley
2019
Trinh T. Minh-ha Study Group, Wattis Institute
2018
Juror, Landscape Arch. MFA, Surface Design and UC Berkeley
2017
Thesis Advisor to Gilda Posada, Visual and Critical Studies, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
Juror, Impact Awards, Center for Art and Public Life, California College for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2016
Organizer and writer with Jackie Francis and Olivia Mole, Yogaflogogo, an epilogue by Olivia Mole, for Joan Jonas On Our Mind, Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA
2015
Science Fiction Salon, Bureau for Linguistical Reality, San Francisco, CA
2013
Juror, Fellowship Program, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2012
Juror, Residency Program-Film and Video Category