John-Robin Bold is an artist and composer who works with electronic music, internet and installation art. His multifaceted practice explores the aesthetic situation of a world defined by online platforms and digital consumption. By rethinking musical and cultural paradigms from Renaissance to late romanticism, and avant-garde modernism to subcultural pop industries, Bold’s work offers an unconventional perspective on contemporary culture.

 

He regularly performs throughout Europe at venues like Golden Pudel, ZKM, The White Hotel, FUSE Art Space and Volksbühne to name but a few. After the release of his untitled debut album on the legendary Mille Plateaux label in 2020, followed his sophomore album ‘Demonstrations‘ on Quanta Records. More recently, the collaborative works ‘Symposium Musicum‘ and ‘we may be on the way‘ (Bold/Cowling) came out on Slovakian imprint mappa and Glenn Dancer Records. Among those radio stations airing his music are BBC Radio 3, NTS, Deutschlandfunk, Radio 1 Czech, LYL Radio and Cashmere Radio. 

 

Understanding today’s culture within a platform-embedded context, has led to a number of works for which Bold coined the term ‘website-specific‘. Here, online platforms’ functions, visual and textual aspects become an inherent part of the artwork itself. This approach was first presented at his 2022 solo show entitled ‘SoundCloud Gazing: website-specific music‘ at /rosa, Berlin (Zentrum für Netzkunst, Panke Gallery). His current website-specific project ‘Audio Library of a Viewable World‘, a series of interactive YouTube videos, was recently exhibited at Millennium Film Workshop in New York City. Other digital and installation works, often in collaboration with Andy Cowling and Daniel Vier, were shown in international group exhibitions at The New Art Fest Lisbon, SYNNIKA Frankfurt, Galerie Obrist Essen, Ars Electronica Linz, The Wrong Biennale, Spazju Kreattiv Malta and Foundry Dubai. In 2024, his video works toured internationally as part of the ‘Open Secret’ group screenings.

 

Born and raised near Hamburg (Germany), John-Robin Bold now lives in Manchester (UK).