Jim Whiting (born 1951) is a British artist and inventor. He was born in Paris and spent his early childhood in Salisbury (now

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

), Zimbabwe before returning to the UK with his family in 1959. He studied Electronic Engineering & Systems Control at

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

and then sculpture at

Saint Martins School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's became part of t ...

after a foundation at High Wycombe Art College. Whiting's first major installation was in 1979 at

The Hayward The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the R ...

gallery in London, His ''Business Machine'' was chosen by artist

Helen Chadwick Helen Chadwick (18 May 1953 – 15 March 1996) was a British sculptor, photographer and installation artist. In 1987, she became one of the first women artists to be nominated for the Turner Prize. Chadwick was known for "challenging stereotypic ...

as part of the summer show. Other shows of his animated figurative works followed, including ''Purgatory'' at British museums, galleries and festivals, and ''Heavenly Bodies'' on the roof of the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

in 1981. He received international recognition in 1984 after his robot-like sculptures were featured dancing in

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

's music video for " Rockit" directed by duo

Godley & Creme Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music vi ...

, winning the first

MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction is a craft award given to both the artist as well as the art director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the award's full name was Best Art Direction in a Video, and after a brief removal in 200 ...

. Whiting's ''Mechanical Theatre'' was commissioned in 1987 by Andre Heller for his ''Luna Luna'' art/amusement park in Hamburg. From 1988 to 1992 he took his ''Unnatural Bodies'' show on tour, exhibiting in Cologne, Zürich, Berlin, Basel, with Galerie Littmann, and later in Glasgow, Linz (

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the ...

) and also as the ''Tower'' in London's Broadgate and Aurillac Festival. In 1994 he created a waggon installation for Klaus Littmann's ''KunstZug'', which was exhibited at stations in Switzerland, France and Germany. His work has now been incorporated into his variété venue ''Bimbotown'' based in the

Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei The Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei (''Leipzig Cotton Mill'') is an industrial site in Leipzig, Germany. Parts of this 10-hectare site in the district of Lindenau are used today by art galleries, studios and restaurants. Founded in 1884, the busine ...

a former factory in Leipzig that has become home to dozens of international artists and galleries. Originally launched in 1993 in Basel, ''Bimbotown'' moved to Leipzig in 1996 where Whiting continues to host parties, which ''The Guardian'' newspaper recently described in a round up of the best of Germany as "a mix of music, theatre and lots of crazy stuff by artists from all over Europe"."Wunderbar! The best of Germany"
''The Guardian'', Saturday 19, March 2011 In 2007 a new version of his ''Mechanical Theatre'' was commissioned for the Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds)

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

in Austria, which was conceived by

André Heller Franz André Heller (; born 22 March 1947 as Francis Charles Georges Jean André Heller-Hueart) is an Austrian artist, author, poet, singer, songwriter and actor. Biography Heller was born in Vienna into a wealthy Jewish family of sweets manufac ...

and features work by famous modern artists. He continues to exhibit his installations in Europe.

References

* ''Heavenly Bodies'', Sam Scoggins (Director), RCA Department of Film & Television (1982), BFI Databas
22961
* ''Alter Image'' (featuring Jim Whiting), After Image

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

(1983) BFI Databas
654993
* ''South of Watford: Jim Whiting'', Nigel Miller (Director), JWT (1986) BFI Databas
483642
* ''Jim Whiting: Unnatural Bodies'' (Exhibition Guide), Galerie Klaus Littmann Basel (1988) * ''Unnatural Bodies'', Stuart Clarke (Director) Wild Dream Films (1992) BFI Databas
492436
* ''Eclipse of Art: Tackling the Crisis in Art Today'', Julian Spalding, Prestel (2003) p. 37 * ''The Best Art You've Never Seen:101 Hidden Treasures From Around the World'', Julian Spalding,

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

(2010), p. 196-7

Footnotes

External links

*
Bimbotown
* *
Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds): Jim Whiting

black flamingo agency
represents Jim Whiting for commissioned work {{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, Jim Living people 1951 births British contemporary artists Modern sculptors Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art