Publik Universal Frxnd (*1986, Chesterfield, Great Britain) is an Amsterdam-based artist whose work explores the entanglement of body, machine, and nature and considers industrialization to be the beginning of an apocalypse that we are currently living through. Taking a queer perspective on histories of labor, migration, and political instability, their recent installations, sculptures, and performances use music and sound to invoke feelings of belonging, joy, abjection, and hopelessness.

Formerly known as Richard John Jones, the change of name to Publik Universal Frxnd is an attempt to decenter their identity, questioning authenticity and subjectivity in an era of capitalized identities. The name is borrowed from Jemima Wilkinson, who became the Public Universal Friend in 1776. This change performs a personal and social unbecoming, influenced by the artist’s Quaker upbringing and family history. Just like it was for Wilkinson, this transformation is an instrument to move beyond the limited imagination of one’s own subjective position. The Publik Universal Frxnd can be considered a movement in time toward an undoing of the self. After all, like many people at the moment, they haven’t been feeling like themselves lately.

They have exhibited at ROZENSTRAAT, the Beetsterzwaag Triennale, IMMA Dublin, MAMM Medellín, and the Gwangju Biennale. Their work is supported by the Mondriaan Fonds, and their monograph Paraperformance was published in 2018.