Saul Appelbaum is an artist, director, writer, independent curator, producer, and digital strategist in the arts and culture sector. His practice combines storytelling, design, architectonic thought, and media to amplify cultural narratives and experiment with new infrastructures for cultural exchange. He is committed to the ability of participatory media and art to reshape how audiences experience culture across disciplines, fostering engagement that is both intellectual and emotional.
Appelbaum is the Founding Director of The Pioneers, a media production company that champions Agile Cinema®, an agile, hybrid mode of media creation spanning fiction, non-fiction, scripted, and unscripted formats. Through The Pioneers, he has developed projects with The Broad Museum, Serpentine Galleries, Marian Goodman Gallery, and Petzel Gallery, reflecting an ongoing commitment to experimentation and multichannel cultural storytelling.
His projects have intersected with institutions, publications, organizations, and brands including Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Vogue, InStyle, L’Officiel, Grazia, Numéro, Critical Inquiry, Hirmer Verlag, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of the African Diaspora, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Kunstmuseum Bern, The Columbus Museum of Art, Singapore Art Museum, Atlanta Art Fair, TRANSFER Gallery, New Museum, The Jewish Federation, Perry Ellis, ASICS, Kids of Immigrants, The Visionaries Agency, TCAmgmt, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, FGP Atelier, Rocco Castoro’s SCNR, and Nato Thompson’s The Alternative Art School.
His work has also brought him into dialogue with artists and cultural figures including Tony Cragg, Ann Hamilton, Pope.L, Mick Jenkins, Snoop Dogg, Adam McKay’s Yellow Dot Studios, Heidi Klum, Diego Boneta, Natalia Reyes, and Zión Moreno.
Appelbaum's solo and two-person exhibitions include Slow Grief I: Foundations and Agile Cinema® at Rusha & Co. in Los Angeles, and an exhibition at Brownstone Gallery in Bangkok. His group exhibitions include We Breathe the Same Air at Rusha & Co., the Los Angeles Zine and Art Book Bazaar at MaRS Gallery, Gold & White at Paragon and the Mui Lee Boutique in Siam Center with James Dean Company in Bangkok, Morphologies at the Logan Center Gallery at the University of Chicago, and Working Frameworks at Cornell University's Sibley Gallery. His films and performances have been presented at Et al. Books in collaboration with Kristin Bauer, TRANSFER Gallery in association with NYU's Integrated Design & Media program, and the Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center at Sage Chapel, McGraw Tower utilizing the Cornell Chimes, and Lincoln Hall.
His curatorial projects include We Breathe the Same Air, Slow Grief I: Foundations, and Natalia Pereira: Engine Company 33 at Rusha & Co., as well as Working Frameworks, a multi-venue initiative spanning Cornell University, Ohio State University, and Columbia College Chicago. His artworks are held in collections including the ASU FIDM Museum, Natalia Reyes, and the Honorary Consul General of Austria in Chicago. His research contributions include The Religious Imagination in Modern and Contemporary Architecture, published by Routledge, and Symphonic Poem: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, associated with the Columbus Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum.
Appelbaum holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Master of Architecture from Cornell University, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Chicago. He is based in Los Angeles and maintains an international presence.
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