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Phil Collins
Phil Collins is an artist and Turner prize nominee best known for his films, installations and live events which explore the intersections of art, politics and popular culture. Collins has been Professor of Video Art and Performance at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne since 2011.
Since the late 1990s, Collins’ diverse practice has addressed the act of image-making, examining how we participate in and understand culture through the camera’s lens. Characteristic of the artist’s approach is a close engagement with place and communities, which over the years have included disco-dancing Palestinians, fans of The Smiths across three continents, Kosovan-Albanian refugees, the youth of Baghdad, anti-fascist skinheads in Malaysia, and teachers of Marxism-Leninism from the former German Democratic Republic. Rather than static portraits, the installations, videos and photographs resulting from these encounters articulate the nuances of relations embedded in the aesthetic regimes and economies that define everyday existence, from news and politics to entertainment and shopping. Throughout, Collins’ work upholds his commitment to myriad forms of experience across the social spectrum, and an interest in the contradictory impulses of intimacy and desire within the public sphere.
Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented around the world, including Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH (2017); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (both 2016); Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2015); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2013); and British Film Institute, London (2011).
Phil Collins
Biography
Phil Collins is an artist and Turner prize nominee best known for his films, installations and live events which explore the intersections of art, politics and popular culture. Collins has been Professor of Video Art and Performance at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne since 2011.
Since the late 1990s, Collins’ diverse practice has addressed the act of image-making, examining how we participate in and understand culture through the camera’s lens. Characteristic of the artist’s approach is a close engagement with place and communities, which over the years have included disco-dancing Palestinians, fans of The Smiths across three continents, Kosovan-Albanian refugees, the youth of Baghdad, anti-fascist skinheads in Malaysia, and teachers of Marxism-Leninism from the former German Democratic Republic. Rather than static portraits, the installations, videos and photographs resulting from these encounters articulate the nuances of relations embedded in the aesthetic regimes and economies that define everyday existence, from news and politics to entertainment and shopping. Throughout, Collins’ work upholds his commitment to myriad forms of experience across the social spectrum, and an interest in the contradictory impulses of intimacy and desire within the public sphere.
Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented around the world, including Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH (2017); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (both 2016); Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2015); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2013); and British Film Institute, London (2011).
