John Sims

In Residence

John Sims, a Detroit native, conceptual artist, writer, activist, and former Coordinator of Mathematics at Ringling College of Art and Design, creates both art and curatorial projects spanning the areas of installation, performance, text, music, film, and large- scale activism, informed by mathematics, design, the politics of white supremacy, sacred symbols/anniversaries, and poetic/political text.

He has worked with a wide range of artists including Sol LeWitt, Karen Finley, Dread Scott and Rev. Billy and The Stop Shopping Choir. Sims has lectured and exhibited widely including in Hungary, Spain, Israel, Argentina, and most recently Slovenia. In 2017, he made the National Coalition of Against Censorship’s list of Top Free Speech Offenders and Defenders, as a defender.

His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC News, USA Today, NPR, The Guardian, ThinkProgress, Al Jazeera, Art in America, Sculpture, Science News, Nature, and Scientific American. He has written for CNN, Al Jazeera, The Huffington Post, The Tampa Bay Times, Detroit Free Press, Guernica Magazine, The Rumpus and TheGrio.