Incense Sweaters & Ice is an immersive installation centering around a Graham-funded feature-length film, by the same title, inspired by the idea that anything one does while being watched is a performance. This will be the first exhibition of this work, after its debut at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2017. Syms is creating a unique installation and program, site-specific to the Graham Foundation. The Graham will co-present programming with The Art Institute of Chicago during a concurrent exhibition of Syms’ work.

Martine Syms works in video, performance, and publishing. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Camden Arts Centre, London; Sadie Coles HQ, London; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Berlin Biennale; Manifesta, Zurich; the ICA London; Bridget Donahue, New York; the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago; White Flag Projects, St. Louis; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Her work was featured in Surround Audience, the New Museum’s 2015 Triennial. From 2007 to 2011, Syms was codirector of Golden Age, a project space in Chicago focused on printed matter; she is also the founder of Dominica, an independent publishing company dedicated to exploring blackness as a topic, reference, marker, and audience in visual culture. Syms is represented by Bridget Donahue, New York; and Sadie Coles HQ, London.