Act 1/Scene 3

Martin Clark
A Roundtable Discussion on Art and Celebrity with Phil Collins, Chris Evans, Steve McQueen, Richard Wilson, Dave Allen, Nick Cave. Chaired by Kate Bush.

Groucho Club, London
18 July 2000, 7pm
Free with Membership

Speaker biographies:
Phil Collins (b. 1970, Runcorn, UK) works predominantly in video, often filming teenagers in countries of conflict, including Iraq and Palestine. More recently he has focussed on television formats, including reality shows and soap operas. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2006. He is represented by Kerlin Gallery in Dublin and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York.

Chris Evans’ (b.1967, Eastrington, UK) work often evolves through conversations with people from diverse walks of life, selected in relation to their public life or symbolic role: the directors of a leading champagne house, a former member of the British Constructivists, the CEO of a Texas pharmaceutical company, a selection of elderly Italian politicians etc. Sculptures, letters, drawings, film scripts and unwieldy social situations created as a result of this, are indexes of a larger structure through which Evans deliberately confuses the roles of artist and patron, genius and muse.

Steve McQueen (b. 1969, London, UK) is a British artist and filmaker. As an artist he is best known for his immersive video installations and in 1999 he won the Turner Prize. In 2006 he was made official war artist and travelled to Iraq, producing the work ‘Queen and Country’. In 2009 he reopresented Britain at the Venice Biennale. More recently he has concentrated on feature films including Hunger (2008) and Shame (2011).
Richard Wilson (b. May 24, 1953) is a sculptor, installation artist and musician. He is best known for his ambitious architectural interventions and sculptural installations including “20:50”, a room of specific proportions, half filled with highly reflective used sump oil, creating an illusion of the room turned upside down. It was first exhibited at Matt’s Gallery, London in 1987 and became one of the signature pieces of the Saatchi Gallery. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1988 and 1989. He is currently visiting tutor at University of East London.

Dave Allen (b. 1963, Glasgow, Scotland) lives and works in Stockholm. Allen uses a range of media, including drawing, sound, video, performance and installation. His practice examines the ways in which music is disseminated and mythologized; in other words, how a piece of music might acquire a set of readable cultural associations that extend beyond its formal composition, lyrics and orchestration.
Nick Cave (born 1959, Missouri, USA) is an American fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. He is best known for his Soundsuits: wearable fabric sculptures that are bright, whimsical, and other-worldly. He also trained as a dancer with Alvin Ailey. He resides in Chicago and is director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Kate Bush is a curator and writer. She is currently Head of Art Galleries at the Barbican Centre, London.

Martin Clark has been Artistic Director at Tate St Ives since 2007. He was previously Curator at Arnolfini, Bristol (2004-7). A graduate of the Curating and Commissioning Contemporary Art MA at the Royal College of Art, London, Martin has curated over 30 exhibitions and projects, including solo shows by Simon Starling, Albert Oehlen, Lily van der Stokker, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Dexter Dalwood, Carol Bove, Deimantas Narkevicius, and Lucy McKenzie, as well as group exhibitions that include The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art, Tate St Ives (touring to Towner Gallery, Eastbourne), 2009, Pale Carnage, Arnolfini (touring to Dundee Contemporary Arts), 2007, and The Hollows of Glamour, Herbert Read Gallery, 2004. He has published numerous essays and articles on contemporary art and his writing has appeared in Frieze, Flash Art, Mousse Magazine and Untitled.

*Image: courtesy thisisbigbrother.com

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