PETER FEND

Peter Fend (1950 Columbus, Ohio, USA) is an artist who has been active in New York since the late 1970s. His work brings together ecology, geopolitics, and territorial planning, viewing art as a practical tool for addressing environmental, economic, and political issues in concrete ways. In 1980, Fend co-founded the Ocean Earth Development Corporation, an organization that uses satellite imagery to analyze ecological crises, conflicts, and the impacts of industrial activity, anticipating investigative practices that are now widely adopted. His projects propose alternatives to extractive systems through water resource management, renewable energy, and ecosystem restoration, as exemplified by the Africa–Arctic Flyway project. Exhibited internationally at venues such as the Venice Biennale, dOCUMENTA, MUMOK, and the Palais de Tokyo, Fend works at the intersection of art, science, and activism, redefining the role of the artist as an agent of change on a planetary and ecological scale.

Peter Fend (1950 Columbus, Ohio, USA), lives and works in New York.

 

 

EDUCATION

1973, BA, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA

 

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

Lavoro per Natura Vivente, non solo Capitali, Fondazione Morra Greco, Neaples, Italy

 

2024

Azioni sulla Terra, Pinksummer, Genoa, Italy

 

2021

Peter Fend, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna, Austria

 

2020

BIRDS REIGN, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany

 

2019

AFRICA-ARCTIC FLYWAY, Museo Nivola, Orani, Sardinia, Italy

Filling the absence – Peter Fend and Yona Friedman, Pinksummer, Genoa, Italy

 

2018

HACE SENTIDO / MAKES SENSE, Embajada, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Costa Verso Costa, Pinksummer, Palermo, Italy

 

2017

Forse, Pinksummer, Genoa, Italy

Shadow Cabinet: A Loyal Opposition Response, Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space, New York, USA

 

2015

TO BE BUILT, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany

AFRIKA EUROPA BRÜCKE, Oracle, Berlin, Germany

 

2014

REBELS ARE REASONABLE, ESSEX STREET, New York, USA

Lomonosov Furthered, with Shane Munro, LISTZ, Berlin, Germany

 

2012

Über die Grenze: May Not Be Seen Or Read Or Done, ESSEX STREET, New York, USA

WHAT TO DO NEXT, Peanut Underground Art Projects, New York, USA

 

2011

“Arab Springs”/ Atlantic Wealth: Trading Room, White Box / MA.P.S, New York, USA

Ricchezza D’Italia, Galleria Cesare Manzo, Pescara, Italy

 

2010

Situation Room, 391 Victoria Street, Hamilton, New Zealand

 

2009

Situation Room: Technology Change Climate Stability, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK

 

2007

Elbegas, Galerie für Landschaftskunst, Hamburg, Germany

BET AND WIN: Way Out Too, Unit 2 Gallery, London, UK

 

2005

Parallel Projects: Proposals for Condoleezza Rice / Parallelprojekte: Vorschläge für Condoleezza Rice, Christian Nagel, Berlin, Germany

 

2004

Reverse Global Warming, Spacex, Exeter, UK

One to Another (foreign policy proposal), American Fine Arts, New York, USA

Correspondence, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

 

2003

Independence from Big Oil, Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council, Dublin, Ireland

Proposals for Arabia, Galeria Marta Cervera, Madrid, Spain

 

2002

Global Gas / Super Gas, Ocean Earth vis-à-vis Superflex, Kunstruimte Wagemans, Netherlands

 

2001

Naval Action, Mars Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Big Deal: Revival of the Americas, Nikolai Fine Art, New York, USA

Sea Change, Spacex Gallery, Exeter, UK

Ocean Earth: Policy Models, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, Illinois, USA

Economic Potential, Roger Smith Gallery, New York, USA

 

2000

RAPID: Post-Petroleum Gas Stations, Launching a Brand, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

EURAFRICA/AMERICAS/MONDO, Galeria Marta Cervera, Madrid, Spain

NEWS ROOM NEW YORK (Chaikin, Fend, Lehman, Lombardi, RR), Roger Smith Gallery, New York, USA

 

1999

Global Warming: A Rapid Response Remark, at Chelsea Exxon station, Nikolai Fine Art, New York, USA

Chase Scene, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

 

1998

NEWS ROOM GRAZ, Kunst und Neue Medien, Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria

 

1997

Spiral Ramp, Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York, USA

 

1996

Chernobyl Solutions, Steffany Martz Gallery, New York, USA

Art Meets Science, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

1995

Landkraft/Swiss Split, Ars Futura, Zurich, Switzerland

Landkraft, Kunstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis, Bregenz, Austria

Architecture for the 21st Century, Artspace, Sydney, Australia

 

1994

Eurasian Scenario, Marc Jancou Gallery, London, UK

Startbahn Oesterreich, Galerie Metropol, Vienna, Austria

Global Spiral, installation at Global Forum, G-Mex Centre, Manchester, UK

Ocean Earth, Strauss & Adamopolous, Frankfurt, Germany

NEWS ROOM COPENHAGEN, with Globe, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

1993

Strategie Globale: Giant Algae System for France, FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angouleme, France

Habitus, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France

OCEAN EARTH: FOR A WORLD WHICH WORKS, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum, Graz, Austria

NEWS ROOM PARIS, Galerie des Archives, Paris, France

 

1992

Site Simulator, Tivat Bay, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

Beach Party Deutschland, Galerie Esther Schipper, Cologne, Germany

Beach Party Yugoslavia, Riverside Studios, London, UK

Documenta Flags, Galerie de Marseille, Marseille, France

Documenta Flags, Le Case D’Arte, Milan, Italy

Espace Circulant/Spinning Room, Galerie Roger Pailhas, Paris, France

Floriade, The Hague, Netherlands

Corse Divise, Assemblee Nationale, Paris, France

NICAF, Yokohama, Japan

Means to Wealth/Mittel und Wohlstand, Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne, Germany

 

1991

Europa, Kunstraum Daxer, Munich, Germany

Beach Party, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

NEWS ROOM STOCKHOLM, Galerie Nordenstad-Skarstedt, Stockholm, Sweden

Salle du Monde, long-term installation, L’Hôpital éphémère, Paris, France

 

1990

City of the Dead / Die Totenstadt, Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne, Germany

Cities as Bodies / Staedte als Koerper, Esther Schipper, Cologne, Germany

NEWS ROOM FRANKFURT, Institut fuer Neue Medien / Pavilion Varisella, Frankfurt, Germany

NEWS ROOM NEW YORK/NEWS ROOM AMSTERDAM, American Fine Arts, New York and Museum Fodor, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Progetto Adriatico, Le Case D’Arte, Milan, Italy

Einheiten, Galerie Ryszard Varisella, Frankfurt, Germany

Kleine Fragen, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne, Germany

 

1989

Completion of the War, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

Global Monitoring and Assessments: Towards the 21st Century, Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy

 

1988

BODY, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

Peter Fend, Scott Hanson Gallery, New York, USA

Art at the End of the Social, Rooseum, Malmo, Sweden

 

1985

Bacino Torbido, Museo Santa Barbara, Calabria, Italy

 

1983

Image/Process, The Kitchen, New York, USA

 

1982

Space Force in Action, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany

Art of the State, The Kitchen, New York, USA

Global System, Chase Manhattan Plaza, sponsored by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, USA

 

1979

IRON LUNG: A ROOM DEFINED NOT BY ITS WALLS BUT BY A PUMP, Peter Nadin Gallery, New York, USA

WEALTH OF BASINS, DEATH OF NATIONS, Peter Nadin Gallery, New York, USA

World Space: Political Economies After Oil, Peter Nadin Gallery, New York, USA

 

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

Confrontations, Pairings from the Collection, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany

Files, Kunsthalle Zurich, Switzerland

 

2024

1,5 Grad, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany

The Ocean, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway

 

2022

The State I Am In, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany

Visual Natures: The Politics and Culture of Environmentalism in the 20th and 21st Century, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal

Conditions and Frameworks: Infrastructure as Form and Medium, Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, Austria

 

2020

Politiche della Natura-Masters, MAAB Gallery, Milan, Italy

Critical Zones, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany

Potential Worlds 2: Eco-Fictions, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland

Excerpts: Works from the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Collections, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

 

2019

RESET, Kai Matsumiya, New York, USA

 

2018

Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C., USA

Unthought Environments, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois, USA

The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery & American Fine Arts, Co. (1983-2004), CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA

The Dutch Savannah, De Domijnen Museum, Sittard, Netherlands

We stared at the Moon from the centre of the Sun, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UK

The Second Yinchuan Biennale: Starting from the Desert, Ecologies on the Edge, Museum of Contemporary Art Yinchuan, China

 

2017

EUtopia | 28, Museumcultuur Strombeek/Gent, Strombeek, Belgium

Tomorrow Will Still Be Ours, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, USA

Aubades. Land Art for Aliens, Weiss Falk, Basel, Switzerland

Water Worlds #1, Centre international d’art et du paysage, Beaumont-du-Lac, France

 

2016

World Made By Hand, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA

Changing Circumstances: Looking at the Future of the Planet, FotoFest Biennial, Houston, Texas, USA

History Made By Artists, C L E A R I N G, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Tomorrow’s Man, Sheppard Contemporary, University Galleries, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA

You Cannot Do Nothing, Galerie Alte Schule, Berlin, Germany

Oceans After Nature, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California, USA

Politics of Nature, Fondazione Zimei, Pescara, Italy

Global Terror, Nagel Draxler Kabinett, Berlin, Germany

Mean Machine (Up Jumped the Devil), The Meeting, New York, USA

 

2015

Territories: Alighiero e Boetti and Peter Fend, Le Case D’Arte, Milan, Italy

Globale – Exo-Evolution, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany

The Fountainhead, Fondazione Zimei, Pescara, Italy

to expose, to show, to demonstrate, to inform, to offer: Artistic Practices around 1990, Mumok, Vienna, Austria

2050. A Brief History of the Future., Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium; Palazzo Reale Milan, Italy

Dojima River Biennale 2015: Take Me To The River – currents of the contemporary, Dojima River Forum, Osaka, Japan

Anthems for the Mother Earth Goddess, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA

Drawings | Fridges, Greene Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California, USA

DUMP! Multispecies Making and Unmaking, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

Decolonized Skies, organized by High&Low Bureau, ADN Platform, Barcelona, Spain

For Troedsson Villa, curated by Tam Ochiai and Anne Eastman, Troedsson Villa, Nikko, Japan

ECO-TAX, Cannonball and Dimensions Variable, Miami, Florida, USA

Looking Back / The 9th White Columns Annual, selected by Cleopatra’s, White Columns, New York, USA

Hollywood Hills House, curated by Pierre-Alexandre Mateos and Charles Teyssou, ltd los angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

 

2014

WORK IT OUT, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Decolonized Skies, organized by High&Low Bureau, Apexart, New York, USA

TEDxVaduz redux, T293, Rome, Italy

The Real Estate Show Was Then: 1980, James Fuentes, New York, USA

 

2013

Looking Back / The 7th White Columns Annual, selected by Richard Birkett, White Columns, New York, USA

Scott Burton, curated by Oscar Tuazon, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy

Yes Naturally: How Art Saves The World, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands

 

2012

OilScapes, Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, UK

 

2010

Islands and Ghettos, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberger, Germany

 

2008

This is the Gallery…, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK

Come Out & Play, apexart, New York, USA

 

2007

Green Dreams, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany

Aussen vor/On The Outside, ACC Galerie, Weimar, Germany

Still Life. Art, Ecology & The Politics of Change, 8th Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah Emirate, United Arab Emirates

Arrêt sur Images, FRAC Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, Marseille, France

 

2006

The Drop, Exit Art, New York, USA

 

2005

Gotik und Moderne, Fraenkische Galerie, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Kronach, Germany

Temporary Spaces, Ausstellungsraum Glue, Berlin, Germany

Mirage, curated by Martin Beck and Julie Ault, Alexander and Bonin, New York, USA

Dry Wells that Upwell Groundwater to Revive Margins of Salt Lakes, Harper Dry Lake, California, USA

Waterways, Venice Biennale, Italy

 

2004

Election, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

Hortus, Independent Section, Liverpool Biennale, UK

Wonderful, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK

Le Dessus des Cartes, ISELP, Brussels, Belgium

Adaptations, Apexart, New York, USA

 

2003

Attack: Art and War, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

Banquete/Bankett, Barcelona Cultural Center, Barcelona, Spain; Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM), Karlsruhe, Germany; Medialab, Madrid, Spain

GNS, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France

Hardcore, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France

Utopia Station, Venice Biennale, Italy

Collaborations, Centre d’art Contemporain, Meymac, France

 

2002

Ars Electronica 2002, Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria

Oekonomien der Zeit, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany; and Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland

Ecovention, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Ways Out, Stroom, The Hague, Netherlands

Empire/State: Artists Engaging Globalization, Whitney Independent Study Program, New York, USA

 

2001

The South Bronx Story, James Fuentes / The Point, The Bronx, New York, USA

Cartographie des artistes, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France

São Paulo Biennale, Azerbaijan/Armenia/Georgia Pavilion, São Paulo, Brazil

 

2000

Ecologies, The Smart Museum, The University of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Undo, Theater for the New City, New York, USA

Dystopia, Tribes Gallery, New York, USA

World Trade, Roebling Hall, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Carnival in the Eye of the Storm, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon, USA

 

1999

Post-War Architecture, Venice Biennale, Italy

Crash, ICA, London, UK

 

1998

Your Utopia, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Hey, You Never Know, Kenny Schachter / ROVE, New York, USA

Cartographers, Center for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Varsaw, Poland

Cartographers, Umnetnosta Galerie, Maribor, Slovenia, Entrance display

Desert Flood, ROVE, New York, USA

 

1997

The Experimenters, curated by Kenny Schachter, Lombard-Fried Fine Arts, New York, USA

French Pavilion TV Studio, with Fabrice Hybert, Venice Biennale, Italy

Cartographers, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia

Géographiques: territoires vécus, territoires voulus, territories figures, FRAC Corse, Corsica, France

 

1996

Atopic Site, curated by Yukiko Shikata, Tokyo International Exhibition Center, Tokyo, Japan

Art Meets Science, in conjunction with “Copenhagen, European City of Culture,” Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

1995

Faith, Hope, Love, Death, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

Mapping: A Response to MoMA, curated by Peter Fend, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

On Board, Aperto, Venice Biennale, Italy

Photography After Photography, Siemens Kulturprogramm, Munich; Kunsthalle, Krems, Austria; Städtische Galerie Erlangen, Brandenburgische Kunstsammlungen, Cottbus, Germany; Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark; Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Svizzera; ICA London, UK; ICA Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Infrasound, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, Hamburg, Germany

 

1994

Cloaca Maxima, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Stadtentwasserung, Zurich, Switzerland

Bifurcations, Centre d’art Contemporain, Meymac, Francia; Musée des Beaux-arts de Dole, France; Cimaise et portique, espace d’art contemporain, centre culturel de l’Albigeois Albi, France

Mission Impossible, Gashouder, Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

1993

Aperto, Venice Biennale, Italy

Kunst in Weltmasstab, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany

Fontanelle, Potsdam, Germany

Kontext Kunst, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria

First Europeans, Schloss Charlottenberg, Berlin, Germany

Antwerp Cultural Center, European City of Culture, Antwerp, Belgium

The Edge of Chaos: New Ways of Seeing, Louisiana Museum for Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark

Viennese Story, Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria

Tutto Tondo, Monika Sprüth Galerie, Cologne, Germany

 

1992

Documenta IX, Kassel, Germany

Documatter, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, USA

Il Faut Construire Hacienda, curated by Nicholas Bourriaud, CCC, Tours, France

Multiplici Culturali, selected by Angela Vettesse, Rome, Italy

Floriade, The Hague, Netherlands

Corse Divise, Assemblée Nationale, Paris, France

Nippon International Contemporary Art Fair, Yokohama, Japan

Reconnaissance, Simon Watson Gallery, New York, USA

 

1991

Teorici Americani, Ottagano, Milan, Italy

Wiener Festwochen, subway station installations, Vienna, Austria

FRAC Corse, Corsica, France

Iberian Current, FRAC Pays de la Loire, France

 

1990

Around the World, PS 1, Long Island City, New York, USA

The Köln Show, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany

California Project, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA

Reconnaissance, Simon Watson Gallery, New York, USA

 

1989

Art at the End of the Social, Rooseum, Malmo, Sweden

Video Works, Galerie Nordenstadt, Stockholm, Sweden

Competition Diomede, The Clocktower, New York, USA & USSR

On-Site: Response to Conditions, Anne Plumb Gallery, New York, USA

Jet Lag, Turon Travel, New York, USA

Project DMZ, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, USA

Completion of the War, American Fine Arts, New York, USA

Global Monitoring and Assessments: Towards the 21st Century, two-part presentation on occasion of the conference UN Food & Agriculture Organization and UN Environment Program, Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy

 

1988

The New Poverty II, Meyers-Bloom Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA

International Landscape, XPO Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

International Landscape, Galerie Christoph Duerr, Munich, Germany

Computer Images of Architecture, NY Chapter, American Institute of Architects, New York, USA

Competition Diomede, The Clocktower, New York, USA

Kunstrai, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Public Discourse, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut, USA

The Drawing Show, Cable Gallery, New York, USA

 

1987

Documenta VIII, Kassel, Germany

The New Poverty, John Gibson Gallery, New York, USA

Corporate Crime, alternative spaces, San Francisco and San Diego, California, USA

 

1986

Surveillance, LACE Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA

 

1985

Deutsche Kunst, 1945-1985, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany

 

1984

Kunst und Medien, Kunsthalle Berlin, Germany

Via Satellite, Amerika Haus, Cologne, Germany

The International Show, curated by Michael Smith, Baskerville & Watson, New York, USA

 

1983- 1984

Show, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts/Village Voice, New York, USA

Image/Process, The Kitchen, New York, USA

Documenta VII, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Germany

 

1982

Natural History, curated by Scott Cook, Grace de Borgenicht Gallery, New York, USA

 

1981

New York, New Wave, curated by Diego Cortez, PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, USA

Forrest Avenue Maze, on-site project, Forest Avenue School, The Bronx, New York, USA

Jamaica Fish/Bird Port, Urban Animals II, ABC No Rio / Collaborative Projects

 

1980

The Real Estate Show, New York, USA

Ruhrgebiet Projects, Duisburg, Germany

The Times Square Show, New York, USA

Public Policy: Architecture Propositions, organized by Peter Fend, 626 Broadway, New York, USA

 

1979

World Space: Political Economies After Oil, Peter Nadin Gallery, New York, USA

Manifesto Show, New York, USA and Milan, Italy

Participation in Urban Animals shows, South Bronx and ABC No Rio, New York, USA

Participation in Collaborative Projects shows (1978-83, mainly 1979)

 

1978

Poetry of Systems, Baxter Art Museum, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA