P.Staff: The Prince of Homburg@YBCA
Meet in the Grand Lobby for a curator-led tour of The Prince of Homburg: A Solo Exhibition by P. Staff. Join curator Jeanne Gerrity for this unique opportunity to learn more about this exhibition exploring freedom, repression, desire, and the queer body. Get up close and personal with the artwork to uncover the subtle details that transform this dreamlike installation into an extraordinary art experience.
About the Exhibition
On view for the first time in the United States, The Prince of Homburg explores freedom, repression, desire, and the queer body through prints, sculpture, and a dream-like video installation.
Loosely inspired by Heinrich von Kleist’s 1810 play of the same name, the work explores exhaustion as a response to structural oppression. The centerpiece of the installation is a 23-minute video, which alternates between nighttime scenes of a sleepwalking protagonist in a dystopic landscape, and daytime clips of scholars, activists, and artists reflecting on contemporary queer and trans identity.
The video is projected within an intimate, cabaret-style gallery, with visitors seated at café tables. The immersive installation also includes photograms and a security fence sculpture with impaled objects, both featuring items related to the video.
Originally commissioned by Dundee Contemporary Arts in Scotland and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, YBCA is proud to present The Prince of Homburg at a moment when questions of identity, autonomy, and social control feel especially urgent.
Curated by Jeanne Gerrity
About the Artist
P. Staff (b. 1987, Bognor Regis; lives and works in Los Angeles and London) studied at Goldsmiths College, London (2009) and was part of the Associate Artist Programme at LUX, London (2011).
Selected solo exhibitions have been held at Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2025); David Zwirner, New York (2025); Ordet, Milan (2024); Kunsthalle Basel (2023); Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2022, 2018); LUMA, Arles (2021); Institute of Contemporary Art, Shanghai (2020); Serpentine Galleries, London (2019); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2019); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2015).
Selected group exhibitions have been held at Taipei Biennial (2025); Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto (2025); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2024); 59th Venice Biennale (2022); 13th Shanghai Biennale (2021); Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin (2021); 47 Canal, New York (2021); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018); New Museum, New York (2017); Gasworks, London (2016). Staff is a recipient of Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2019) and the Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Artists (2015). Staff has participated in residencies at FD13, Minneapolis (2018); LUX, London (2014); The Showroom, London (2014); Fogo Island Arts (2012); and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Alberta (2010).
Staff’s work is in the collections of Akeroyd Collection; Julia Stoschek Foundation; LUMA Arles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki; Tate, London; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.