JONATHAN HOROWITZ

ArtCinema welcomes Jonathan Horowitz as our June residency artist, curated by Eric Shiner in collaboration with New York’s Powerhouse Arts. Horowitz will also return for ArtCinema Hydra’s October festival weekend of art and film, taking place in early October 2026, where he will present new works as part of the programme.

Since the early 1990s, Jonathan Horowitz (b. 1966) has made work that combines the imagery and ambivalence of Pop art with the engaged criticality of conceptualism. Often drawing on both popular commercial and art historical sources, his practice across video, painting, sculpture, and photography examines the deep links between consumerism and political consciousness, as well as the political silences of postwar art. Recent painting projects have explored the psychology of mark-making, at times prominently employing the hands of others.

ARTISTIC RESEARCH & BOY ON A DOLPHIN

American contemporary artist Jonathan Horowitz will do research for a new video project dealing with the history of water-themed films, from Boy on a Dolphin (1957), the first Hollywood production filmed in Greece, to Jaws (1976).

Horowitz comments:

“In the genre of underwater adventure films, the ocean can be seen as a metaphor for the unconscious - a place of both allurement and fear.”

Known internationally for his multi-disciplinary practice, Horowitz’s work explores the relationship between cinema, politics, celebrity, and collective memory. Drawing on both film and art history, his work questions historical narratives and social structures through works that are both conceptually rigorous and accessible.

His latest video, Father land: Wilhelm Reich, Jacques Morali, et al. (2025), examines hyper-masculinity and its links to both 1970s gay culture and contemporary authoritarian political ideologies. The work weaves together found footage from documentary and fictional sources to explore how desire, identity, and power are constructed and mobilized in popular media and politics.

In October, Jonathan will premier a new video installation at the film festival and he is doing research during the residency to help inform that new work, which will incorporate scenes from films with underwater photography such as Boy on a Dolphin, which was filmed on Hydra many decades ago.

Meet Jonathan Horowitz in Hydra

Jonathan is meeting artists and members of the local community, and once on the island we will share times and locations where he will be available.
Jonathan will also take part in ArtCinema events throughout the month, including Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market.
You can view the Flea Market invitation by clicking HERE