Heather Phillipson is a British artist working in a variety of media including

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

, sculpture, music, large-scale installations, online works, text and drawing. She is also an acclaimed poet whose writing has appeared widely online, in print and broadcast. Her work has been presented at major venues internationally and she has received multiple awards for her artwork, videos and poetry. She is nominated for the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

2022.

Exhibitions

Phillipson has held solo exhibitions at major galleries and locations internationally, including the annual Duveen Galleries commission at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

in 2021 and the

Fourth Plinth The Fourth plinth is the northwest plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London. It was originally intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained bare due to insufficient funds. For over 150 years the fate of the plinth was d ...

, Trafalgar Square, in 2020. Other notable solo exhibitions include: a major commission for the 80-metre-long unused platform at

Gloucester Road Underground Station Gloucester Road is a London Underground station in Kensington, west London. The station entrance is located close to the junction of Gloucester Road and Cromwell Road. Close by are the Cromwell Hospital and Baden-Powell House. The station is ...

for

Art on the Underground Art on the Underground, previously called ''Platform for Art'', is Transport for London's (TfL) contemporary public art programme. It commissions permanent and temporary artworks for London Underground, as well as commissioning artists to creat ...

(2018), Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art Gateshead (in 2018 and 2013), Screens Series,

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sch ...

, New York (2016),

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

London (2016), Schirn Frankfurt (2015–16), Performa New York (2015) and

Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen cinema, a print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar. The director of DCA is Beth Bate ...

(2014). In 2014 she designed the stage for the Serpentine Gallery's Extinction Marathon. She has also presented works at many major biennials and festivals including a commission for Frieze Projects at

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...

, New York (2016), São Paulo Art Biennial (2016), the

Athens Biennale The Athens Biennale (abbr. AB) is an international cultural event held every two years at various locations in Athens, consisting of a large-scale exhibition and a diverse programme of side events, such as performances, workshops, lectures etc. It ...

(2018), and the

Sharjah Biennial The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Cul ...

(2019). Her live events, which involve music, video, objects and speech, have been presented at venues including

, the Serpentine Gallery,

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

and the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

in London. Phillipson's videos have been screened on BBC Two and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

television and her poems and audio collages have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Her works are held in a number of public collections including

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, the

Arts Council Collection The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

and

Castello di Rivoli The Castle of Rivoli is a former Residence of the Royal House of Savoy in Rivoli ( Metropolitan City of Turin, Italy). It is currently home to the Castello di Rivoli – Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, the museum of contemporary art of Turin. In 19 ...

, Turin. In October 2021, Phillipson contributed to WWF's campaign, Art For Your World.

Early life and education

Heather Phillipson was born in 1978 in the borough of

Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of ...

in North London and brought up in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, South East London. The youngest of three children, her mother was a social worker and feminist activist and her father a teacher, artist, jazz musician and writer. Phillipson and her siblings were raised with an interest in the arts and music and Phillipson, while still a child, was awarded Grade 7 from the

ABRSM The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...

on both violin and piano. At the age of nine, Phillipson won a London-wide poetry competition for the borough of

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...

. As a teenager, Phillipson and her family moved to West Wales, where Phillipson attended Ysgol Dyffryn Taf comprehensive school. She later went on to study Art & Design at

Pembrokeshire College Pembrokeshire College is a further education college with a campus in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the ...

in the town of

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

where she also worked part-time in a record shop, building up her collection and knowledge of UK dance and

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

, which later informed her practice as a DJ, playing house,

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

and drum and bass. Phillipson went on to become active in the late-90s UK rave and free party scene. As Phillipson has acknowledged, this has had a significant impact on the sampling, rhythmic and tonal structures of her work.

Personal life

Phillipson lives in Hackney, East London, where her studio is also based. Since 2016, she has volunteered as a mentor with

Arts Emergency Arts Emergency is a UK-based charity that seeks opportunities in the Arts and Humanities sector for underrepresented young people aged 16-26. History Founded by campaigner Neil Griffiths (current CEO) and comedian Josie Long in 2011, Arts Emergen ...

, a UK-based charity working to increase access to the arts for 16-19-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Awards & Nominations

*2008: Eric Gregory Award for Poetry *2009: Faber New Poets Award *2013: Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize (shortlist) *2013: Michael Murphy Memorial Prize (shortlis

*2014: Next Generation poets (2014), Next Generation Poet *2016: Friends Prize for Literature,

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

magazine, Chicago *2016:

Film London Film London is London's film and media agency – sustaining, promoting and developing London as a major international film-making and film cultural capital. This includes all the screen industries based in London – film, television, video, ...

Jarman Award for film and video art *2017: Selected for the

, Trafalgar Square *2018: Ammodo Tiger Short Film Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam, European Short Film Award nomination from the

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soc ...

*2022: Nominated for the

Publications

Phillipson has published five volumes of poetry: * ''Faber New Poets 3'' ( Faber and Faber, 2009) * ''NOT AN ESSAY'' ( Penned in the Margins, 2012) * ''Instant-flex 718'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 2013) * ''more flinching'' (Periplum Press, 2018) *''Whip-hot & Grippy ('' Bloodaxe Books, 2019)

References

Adrian Searle: ''Eggs on the Underground are a cracking joke'', The Guardian, 7 June 2018: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jun/07/heather-phillipson-review-eggs-sculpture-underground-gloucester-road-tube-london Martin Herbert: ''CARDIAC UNREST'', the work of Heather Phillipson, Artforum, February 2017: https://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=66063 Adrian Searle, ''Plinth perfect: the five contenders for the fourth Trafalgar hotspot'', The Guardian, 19 January 2017: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jan/19/plinth-perfect-the-five-contenders-for-the-fourth-trafalgar-spot Adrian Searle, ''Jarman Winner Heather Phillipson…'', The Guardian, 26 November 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/nov/28/heather-phillipson-jarman-award-video-art-poetry Nadja Sayej, ''At Frieze Projects, a Corporeal Rumination on the Art Fair’s Nervous System'', Artslant.com, 6 May 2016: http://www.artslant.com/ny/articles/show/45779 Ben Eastham, ''The Woman Bridging the Divide between Art and Poetry,'' Heather Phillipson profile, New York Times, 13 February 2016: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/t-magazine/art/heather-phillipson-british-artist.html Olivia Parkes, ''The Artist Creating a Walkway through the Digital World'', Broadly, Vice, February 2016: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/the-artist-creating-a-walkway-through-the-digital-world James Bridle, ''Between Worlds: Labyrinthine associations and elastic meaning in the work of Heather Phillipson'', feature, Frieze, January–February 2016: https://www.frieze.com/article/between-worlds Elina Suoyrjo, ''The Mess of Getting Into It'', interview with Heather Phillipson, n.paradoxa, issue 36, July 2015: http://www.ktpress.co.uk/nparadoxa-volume-details.asp?volumeid=36 Nathan Budzinski, ''Heather Phillipson'', The Wire, January 2015, issue 372: http://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/372 Linsday Howard, ''Artist Profile'', interview with Heather Phillipson, Rhizome, July 2014: http://rhizome.org/editorial/2014/jul/29/artist-profile-heather-phillipson/?ref=fp_post_title Sam Buchan-Watts, ''Borders Become Flexi-Permeable,'' interview with Heather Phillipson, The Quietus, 3 November 2013: http://thequietus.com/articles/13755-heather-phillipson-interview-not-an-essay Adrian Searle, ''Weird journeys with Heather Phillipson on the Tyne’s wild side'', The Guardian, 27 June 2013: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/jun/27/heather-phillipson-baltic-adrian-searle Carol Rumens, ''Poem of the Week: Heather Phillipson'', The Guardian, May 2013: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/07/poem-week-relational-epistemology-heather-phillipson Jonathan Gibbs, ''Book Design blog: Instant-flex 718'', The Independent, April 2013: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/19/friday-book-design-blog-instant-flex-718-by-heather-phillipson/ Helen Sumpter, ''Future Greats,'' Art Review, March 2013: https://artreview.com/features/66_future_greats_heather_phillipson/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillipson, Heather 1978 births Living people 21st-century English women artists Alumni of Central Saint Martins Alumni of Middlesex University Artists from London English contemporary artists English women poets People from the London Borough of Haringey

Exhibitions

Early life and education

Personal life

Awards & Nominations

Publications

References

Further reading