Sean Raspet

Inspired by technology and consumer society, Sean Raspet’s work extends beyond the sphere of art to intervene in the fields of science, food production, and finance. A number of his projects focus on how systems mutate and change material form, resulting in an approach to abstraction that involves working with intangible elements such as chemical compounds, currency valuation and financialization, legal administration, and data processing. Raspet became a self-taught chemist in order to produce compounds such as artificial flavors and fragrance formulations, cleaning products, new food prototypes, and a synthetic DNA tracking gel among others. His works do not merely circulate within the context of the exhibition space, but instead are “metabolized” both inside and outside of the art context—and sometimes quite literally within the human body. ...

Société is a Berlin-based gallery with an international profile—its core operations lay in Europe, the United States, and Asia. The gallery’s exhibitions, publications, and boundary-pushing initiatives have established a vital dialogue among artists working internationally. Société focuses on establishing long-term, symbiotic relationships with its gallery artists, many of whom had their first solo exhibition with the gallery. The structure of the gallery’s program and the format of its projects is an artist-led approach that responds to the ever-evolving conditions of artistic research and production—at times even pushing beyond traditional exhibition formats. Although differing in media and approach, Société’s artists address the relationship between cultural production and consumption, the circulation of information, identity, and cultural history in an era highly mediated by technology. The gallery's publishing initiative Edition Société, has worked with accomplished graphic designers on a number of acclaimed artist's books. The gallery has additionally produced 12" records with several contemporary musicians. Société has exhibited at Art Basel / Art Basel Miami Beach / Art Basel Hong Kong / Frieze London / Frieze New York / Frieze LA / ARCO Madrid / Independent New York / Independent Brussels / Art Cologne / Art Brussels / Enter Art Fair / Gallery Weekend Berlin / and Art Berlin among other locations. ...