Deville Cohen

Visiting Assistant Arts Professor

Translucent headshot of Deville Cohen with full body outline transposed over the image, in reds and greens

Deville Cohen is a non-disciplinary artist based in New York City. He studied sculpture at the KHB Berlin from 2002-2007 and received his MFA in film/video from Bard College NY in 2010. 

His work has been shown internationally in museums and galleries such as MoMA PS1;  SFMoMA; The CCA Tel-Aviv; PS122 Gallery; International Objects, NYC; and The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik. He began creating for the stage during a residency at the Wooster Group Performance Garage in the summer of 2014. His creation underline in collaboration with the composer Hugo Morales, was commissioned and co-produced by the Deutsche Oper Berlin and The Munich Biennale for New Music Theater in 2016. In 2018, he co-created MENAGERIE with choreographer Shamel Pitts for Gibney Dance Company in NYC. In 2019, his creation McGuffin was commissioned and produced by The Center of The Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was an artist in residence at Recess Art; EMPAC Troy, NY; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) workspace, NYC; Fountainhead in Miami; LMCC Process-Space NYC, Kinosaito Art Center; and Bates Dance Festival. 

In 2020, Deville Founded Hand To Mouth, a collaborative performance project. Their first project DE-SUICIDE was presented as a video installation at PS122 Gallery and as a live performance at Kinosaito in 2022. Hand to Mouth received a MAP Fund grant for a new performance in 2025. Deville is also a founding member of Artists Commit, an NYC-based artist-run initiative invested in advocating for a climate-conscious, equitable, and resilient future. As a platform, the group has provided tools and resources to support artists catalyzing climate action, in particular through the impact of the work we make and how it travels through the art world.