Zander Porter

Zander Porter (b. 1994) is a US-American, Germany-based artist working between liveness and onlineness, manifesting physical, virtual, theatrical, and curatorial performances from mediated experiences of togetherness, identification, and (dis)embodiment. In xyr practice, Zander negotiates attention, gender, affect, and image-temporality through an approach to popular/internet culture and commodity-detritus with a mixture of curiosity, reverence, and skepticism. Materials develop from contexts of alias role play, including online reality TV competition games, MMOGs (massive multiplayer online games), Berghain, the (Californian-Jewish) nuclear family, and anonymous-online intimacies.

Zander graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2017 with high honours in Art Studio from Wesleyan University, additional studies including Computer Science, Queer Theory, and Performance Studies. Zander’s interdisciplinary installation thesis I’m your pixelpleasure was awarded the Elizabeth Verveer Tishler Prize. In addition, Zander completed programmes in Game Development at the DIS (Copenhagen) and German Language at UCLA. In 2018, Zander was awarded a commission by Dirty Debüt to create ADHD Penetration, a coproduction by Sophiensæle and björn & björn. In 2020, Zander is an artist-in-residence at Cité internationale des arts (Paris) and Trauma Bar und Kino (Berlin). In 2021, Zander is an artist-in-residence at ACUD MACHT NEU and supported by DIS-TANZ-SOLO. In 2022, Zander will be an artist-in-residence at the National Institute for Space Research (Portuguese: INPE) in São José dos Campos. In 2021–2013, Zander pursues an MA at DAS Choreography – Amsterdam University of the Arts.

Zander is a core member of XenoEntities Network (XEN), a platform for discussion and experimentation focusing on intersections of queer, gender, and feminist studies with digital technologies. Zander has presented solo and collaborative projects at transmediale + Spektrum (Berlin), Vanderbilt University (Nashville), Fierce Festival (Birmingham), Human Resources (Los Angeles), Kampnagel (Hamburg), 289E (Ho Chi Minh City), TIFA (Pune), National Film & Sound Archive of Australia (Canberra), DFBRL8R (Chicago), Studio ALTA (Prague), Estación Terrena (Bogotá), Melbourne Fringe (Melbourne), Casino Notabile (Rabat), KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin), the Virtual Salon (Jerusalem), Dancehouse (Melbourne), Incarnata Social Club (New York City), SPACE10 (Copenhagen), and Institute for Art & Art Theory (Cologne), among others.