Liam Gillick

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Liam Gillick (born 1964, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is a British artist who lives and works in New York and London.^[1]

As an artist, his work includes public projects, critical and theoretical writings, design objects and graphic materials, films, musical scores, and fine artworks.^[2] Central to this multidimensional practice is the artist's ongoing research of past and present evaluations of the aesthetics of social systems with a focus on modes of production rather than consumption.^[3] His work focuses on capitalism, current forms of social organization, and social volatility and the possibilities that instability offers.^[4] Through his own writings and the use of specific materials in his artworks, Gillick examines how the built world carries traces of social, political and economic systems.^[5]

"Artists such as Liam Gillick...no longer address abstraction as the principle for the creation of distinct minimalist objects, but rather try to create through design spaces for open social interaction, whose actual use is to be constantly redefined within the situation of the exhibition - without necessarily producing relational-aesthetic models of community."

^[6]

Life and work

Liam Gillick graduated from Goldsmiths College in 1987. In 1989 he mounted his first solo gallery exhibition, 84 Diagrams, at the former Karsten Shubert Ltd. Gallery in London.^[7] He has exhibited in galleries and institutions across Europe and the United States, and he consistently collaborates with other artists, architects, writers, and designers of all generations.^[8]

In 2003 he received a joint commission from London Underground Platform for Art programme and Frieze Art Fair to create a set of posters to be put in unused spaces at Great Portland Street tube station. These have strong single colours and text in simple typography, and were promoted by London Underground:

The work makes use of transcripts of non-specific television advertising – placing the structure of one communication medium into another. The structure of the message overwhelms the product and we are left to reflect on the potential of narrative and presentation.^[9]

oneunitofenergyoneunitofoutput, 2007, by Liam Gillick

A further project for London Underground, announced in January 2007, was the design of the cover for the Underground map, of which 15 million copies are distributed each year. His design, entitled The Day Before (You Know What They'll Call It? They'll Call it the Tube) shows the words of the date of the last day before the Underground opened, written in twelve sets of coloured letters symbolising the twelve rail lines.^[10]

Central to his practice has been the publication of a number of books that function in parallel to his built work. The artist has also produced a number of large works in an architectural context. Since 1997 he has been an Adjunct Faculty Member at the School of the Arts, Columbia University, and he has lectured at art schools, universities, and institutions across the USA and Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Gillick was nominated for the 2008 Vincent Award at the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam). In January 2008, a retrospective exhibition, Three perspectives and a Short Scenario, opened at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam) and the Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich, this exhibition toured to Kunstverein München (Germeny) and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.^[11] Gillick was the artist presented at the German Pavilion during the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. The curator/selector of the German Pavilion was Nicolaus Schafhausen (director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art).^[12]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions since 1989 include Literally (Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2003); Communes, bar and greenrooms (The Powerplant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, 2003); The Wood Way (Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2002) ^[13] and A short text on the possibility of creating an economy of equivalence (Palais de Tokyo, 2005).^{[citation needed]}

Public Projects

• 1999 BIC Technologiezentrum, Leipzig;
• 2001 Telenor, Oslo;
• 2002 Dekabank, Frankfurt;
• 2002 Alcobendas, Madrid;
• 2002 Kirchdorf School;
• 2002 Mercat, Alicante;
• 2002 Olnick Corporation, New Jersey;
• 2003 Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport;
• 2003 Regents Place - British Land, London;
• 2003 Headache, phone card, soda, donuts, stereo, London Underground/Frieze Art Fair, London;
• 2003-5 The Home Office, London;
• 2004 Museum in Progress, Rolling Boards, Vienna;
• 2004 Swiss Re, London;
• 2005 Dior Homme, Shanghai (with Sean Dack);
• 2005 BSI, Lugano, Switzerland;
• 2006 Maharam, Chicago;
• 2006 Farmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver, Canada;^[14]
• 2007 Anyang Public Art Project, Anyang, Korea;
• 2007 Lufthansa Aviation Center, Frankfurt, Germany

Books

Since 1995 Liam Gillick has published a number of books that function in parallel to his artwork including:

• Literally No Place (Book Works, London, 2002)
• Five or Six (Lukas & Sternberg, New York, 1999)
• Discussion Island/Big Conference Centre (Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, and Orchard Gallery, Derry, 1997)
• Erasmus is Late (Book Works, London, 1995)
• Proxemics: Selected Writings 1988–2006 (JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2007)
• Factories in the Snow, edited by Lilian Haberer and Liam Gillick (JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2007)

Critical writing

Liam Gillick has contributed to numerous publications including: Artforum, Frieze Art Fair, and Art Monthly.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• CaseyKaplan Gallery website
• London Gallery
• Berlin Gallery
• Paris Gallery
• Photos of Gillick's Turner Prize installation
• Gillick on the Tate Gallery website
• KultureFlash Interview (27/11/02)
• Article regarding the Documenta X Winter School written by Liam Gillick
• Article, by Liam Gillick, defining The Discursive in contemporary art practice and curation
• Gillick interview at Fillip