Ed Atkins (born 1982) is a British contemporary artist best known for his
video art
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. V ...
and
poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
. He is currently based in Cophenhagen. Atkins lectures at University of Fine Arts Hamburg, in past at Goldsmiths College in London
[ and has been referred to as "one of the great artists of our time" by the Swiss curator ]Hans-Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...
.
Early life and education
Atkins was raised in Stonesfield, a small village outside Oxford. His mother was an art teacher at a public school and his father was a graphic artist.[ He earned his bachelor's degree from Central Saint Martins and later graduated from The Slade School of ]University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
with a master's degree in Fine Art.[
]
Work
Through a practice that involves layering apostrophic text[Luna, Joe. "Against Immortality as Such", '']JRP-Ringier
JRP, Ringier, formerly JRP Editions, is a Swiss publisher of high-quality books on contemporary art.
Founded by Lionel Bovier in Zurich, Switzerland, the company has more than 400 titles in active distribution worldwide, including artists’ b ...
'', Zurich, 2014, p. 9-10. with high definition video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines ( ...
, Ed Atkins makes work in which "The suck and the bloom of death and decay are channeled through technological tools at the height of contemporary image management".[Biesenbach, Klaus]
"An Intimately, Duplicitously Reflexive Experience"
, ''Flash Art
''Flash Art'' is a contemporary art magazine, and an Italian and international publishing house. Originally published bilingually, both in Italian and in English, since 1978 is published in two separate editions, Flash Art Italia (Italian) and ...
'', November–December 2013. Retrieved on 29 April 2015. and CGI avatars that are animated using motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
and dramatic, commercial sound. Many of these videos feature a computer generated avatar as an isolated protagonist, whose poetic soliloquies intimately address the viewer. This protagonist, often surrounded by generic stock images and cinematic special effects
Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...
, has been noted as capable of procuring the uncanny valley
The effect is a hypothesized psychological and aesthetic relation between an object's degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object. The uncanny valley hypothesis predicts that an entity appearing almost huma ...
effect. In ''Us Dead Talk Love'' (2012), a 37-minute two-channel video work, the avatar speaks on finding an eyelash under their foreskin, a confession that sparks "a meditation on authenticity, self-representation, and the possibility for love".
Atkins consciously produces the majority of his work on a computer.structural film
Structural film was an avant-garde experimental film movement prominent in the United States in the 1960s. A related movement developed in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
Overview
The term was coined by P. Adams Sitney who noted that film artist ...
artists such as Hollis Frampton as an influence, it is apparent that Atkins is interested in the technological possibilities of new media.[Bianconi, Giampaolo]
"Artist Profile: Ed Atkins"
''Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...
'', 21 January 2013. Retrieved on 29 April 2015. A prolific writer, Atkins' video works are often derived from writing.
Atkins has had solo exhibitions at the 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 En ...
, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. , the Chisenhale Gallery
Chisenhale Gallery is a non-profit contemporary art gallery based in London's East End. The gallery occupies the ground level of a former veneer factory on Chisenhale Road, situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, near Victoria Park, To ...
, MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...
, the Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...
, 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 Kunsthalle Zürich
The Kunsthalle Zürich is a kunsthalle (a contemporary art exhibition centre) in Zürich, Switzerland. Founded in 1985, it is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year.
Directors
* ...
. At the Serpentine Memory Marathon in 2012 he premiere
''DEPRESSION''
a performance work that uses projection, digitally altered voice, and chroma key mask to simulate the cinematic techniques of his videos. In conjunction with the Serpentine Extinction Marathon of 2014, Atkins produced ''www.80072745'', a domain that invites users to sign up for a one-sided decade long email correspondence.The Space - Serpentine Extinction Marathon
Retrieved on 30 April 2015. In 2019, Atkins participated in Performa 19 creating his performance ''A Catch Upon the Mirror''.
Further reading
*Kathy Noble, 'Ed Atkins', ''ArtReview'', London, no. 46, March 2011, p. 97.
*Roger Atwood
'Guys on the Edge: Ed Atkins's Not-Quite-Human, Computer-Generated Men'
"ARTnews", New York, vol. 114, no. 9, October 2015, p. 54-61
*Isobel Harbison,
Ed Atkins
', ''Frieze'', London, no.139, May 2011. Last accessed on 30 April 2015.
*Richard Whitby,
Ed Atkins
', ''MAP Magazine'', Glasgow, no. 25, 10 July 2011. Last accessed on 30 April 2015.
*Patrick Ward, 'Cross Platform', ''The Wire'', London, October, 2011, p.v16.
*Dan Kidner, 'More Than a Feeling', ''Frieze'', London, no. 142, October 2011, p. 210-215.
*Ed Atkins and Caterina Riva, 'Come Dine With Us', ''Nero'', Rome, no. 25, Winter 2011, p. 35-39.
*Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ed Atkins,
', ''Kaleidoscope'', Milan, no.13, Winter 2011/2012, p. 138-147. Last accessed on 30 April 2015.
*Martin Herbert, 'Ed Atkins', ''Artforum'', New York, vol. 56, no. 6, February 2012, p. 212-215.
, Ed Atkins: In Conversation With
, ''Aesthetica'', New York, 1 August 2012. Last accessed on 30 April 2015.
*Isobel Harbison, 'Ed Atkins at the Chisenhale Gallery, London', ''Kaleidoscope'', Milan, no. 16, Fall 2012, p. 130.
*Katy Guggenheim,
Ed Atkins, ''Us Dead Talk Love'' at Chisenhale Gallery, London
, ''Mouse'', Milan, 24 October 2012. Last accessed on 30 April 2015.
*Oliver Basciano,
Ed Atkins and James Richards, ''in conversation''
, ''ArtReview'', London, no. 64, December 2012, p. 95-101.
*Jennifer Krasinski, 'The Sites of Death', ''Spike'', Vienna, no. 35, Spring 2013, p. 56-65.
*Kirsty Bell,
Ed Atkins' ''Warm, Warm Warm *Spring Mouths''
, ''Art Agenda'', New York, 1 April 2013. Last accessed on 30 April 2015.
*Kevin McGarry '12th Lyon Biennale', ''Frieze'', London, no. 159, November–December 2013, p. 150-151.
*Klaus Biesenbach
Klaus Biesenbach (born 1966)Erica Orden (December 26, 2009)Herr Zeitgeist''New York Magazine''. is a German-American curator and museum director. He is the Director of the Neue Nationalgalerie, with Berggruen Museum and Scharf-Gerstenberg Colle ...
, 'An intimately, duplicitously reflexive experience', ''Flash Art'', Milan, vol. 46, no. 293, November–December 2013, p. 18-53.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Ed
Living people
1982 births
English contemporary artists
British experimental filmmakers
English experimental filmmakers
Alumni of Central Saint Martins