‘Memorial for Sylvia Pankhurst’

Public artwork, ‘You Belong Here’, Southbank Centre, London, Sat 29 Jun – Sun 8 Sep 2024

‘Memorial for Sylvia Pankhurst’

Public artwork, ‘You Belong Here’, Southbank Centre, London, Sat 29 Jun – Sun 8 Sep 2024

I have just finished installing a summer project at Southbank Centre, London, comprising a temporary monument celebrating the work of British artist, suffragette and anti-fascist Sylvia Pankhurst. Despite her leading role in winning votes for women in the UK she not been memorialised in a public statue in Britain. Pankhurst’s later campaigns against fascism and imperialism are relatively unknown, much of which focussed on the cause of Ethiopian independence, and the influence of her socialist feminist ideas on the formation of a welfare state in Britain.

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‘Chronos: health, access and intimacy’

Curatorial project at Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, 14 March – 1 September 2024

‘Chronos: health, access and intimacy’

Curatorial project at Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, 14 March – 1 September 2024

I have curated an exhibition themed around the topic of health, in collaboration with Cecilia Widenheim, borrowing approaches from feminism, disability justice movements and ‘crip’ perspectives. Many of the artworks explore how ‘crip’ experiences such as vulnerability and dependence allow us to question the high value that our society places on qualities such as self-sufficiency and productivity. How can we change our approach to time, and develop creative new models for mutual care and community?

Exhibiting artists: Jessie Bullivant, Cecilia Germain, Melanie Gilligan, Goldin+Senneby, Jakob Jakobsen, Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative, Park McArthur, Olivia Plender, Ihra Lill Scharning, Vård och värde, Constantina Zavitsanos

(read more)

‘Lokal flora’, Södertälje konsthall, Sweden

1 June – 29 June 2024

‘Lokal flora’, Södertälje konsthall, Sweden

1 June – 29 June 2024

In this group exhibition I am showing my series of watercolour paintings titled Bringing Down the Flowers, representing plants that were historically used by women to induce abortion.

(read more)

‘Hag Nag Harpy Hen’

Solo exhibition at Kalmar konstmuseum, Sweden, 28 October 2023 – 11 February 2024

‘Hag Nag Harpy Hen’

Solo exhibition at Kalmar konstmuseum, Sweden, 28 October 2023 – 11 February 2024

Hag Nag Harpy Hen brings together artworks from several of my most recent projects, related to feminist history and health activism. The exhibition includes a new sound installation, as well as drawings and paintings.

(read more)

‘Primary Forms’

A series of exhibitions in primary schools conceived by the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, 1 October 2023 – 30 June 2024

‘Primary Forms’

A series of exhibitions in primary schools conceived by the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, 1 October 2023 – 30 June 2024

A box – housing artists’ contributions such as editions, scores, instructions, objects, and tools – is distributed simultaneously in ten selected schools across Poland. Decisions about how to bring each artwork into being are made by the pupils together with their teachers. The interpretation and arrangement of the works is guided by the needs and feelings of the exhibition’s users – the children.

Participating artists: Adriano Costa, Jaroslaw Flicinski, Veronika Hapchenko, Edith Karlson, Krzysztof Maniak, Ahmet Öğüt, Olivia Plender, Laure Prouvost.

(read more)

Artwork on permanent display at Tate Britain

New rehang of collection launches 23 May 2023

Artwork on permanent display at Tate Britain

New rehang of collection launches 23 May 2023

My artwork Set Sail for the Levant: A Board Game About Debt (or a Social Satire) (2007) is now on permanent display at Tate Britain, London. Through dialogue between historical and contemporary artworks, the new rehang of the collection inserts 'history from below' into the story of Britain as a nation.

For the summer issue of Tate etc. magazine, I have also written an article about the two historical paintings by George Stubbs – titled Haymakers and Reapers (1785) – which sit next to my artwork in the eighteenth-century room at Tate Britain.

(read more)

‘The Living House’, Van Gogh House, London


14 September – 17 December 2023

‘The Living House’, Van Gogh House, London


14 September – 17 December 2023

I am participating in the group exhibition ‘The Living House’, at Van Gogh House, London. Celebrating 150 years since Van Gogh lived in London the show departs from the idea that his old boarding house is still alive and inhabited, with artworks situated among the objects and rooms within Van Gogh House's collection, from newspapers and children’s toys to the bathroom, garden, and beds.

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Catalogue text for ‘Monica Sjöö: The Great Cosmic Mother’

Published by Moderna Museet and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König

Catalogue text for ‘Monica Sjöö: The Great Cosmic Mother’

Published by Moderna Museet and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König

I have contributed a text for the exhibition catalogue of ‘Monica Sjöö: The Great Cosmic Mother’. Born in Sweden, Monica Sjöö lived most of her adult life in Bristol, UK and was a key figure in both the Women’s Liberation and Goddess movements. The book includes texts by Amy Budd, Jennie Klein, Olivia Plender, Jill Smith, Lucy Stein, Monica Sjöö, Amy Tobin, Jo Widoff, Annika Öhrner.

On 19 September 2023 I will be doing a public talk at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, about the exhibition.

(read more)

The Voice of the Artist: Unruly Alphabet

W – Witch

The Voice of the Artist: Unruly Alphabet

W – Witch

I have made a short video for The Voice of the Artist, a web-based project consisting of an unruly alphabet of commissioned artist videos about topics that interest all of us. I took the letter ‘W’, which led me to make a video about the word ‘Witch’, its connection to feminism, and my experiences in a coven in the 1990s.

(watch)

‘Spring Never Comes Again - Art and Education in the 20th and 21st centuries’, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw

30 March – 18 June 2023

‘Spring Never Comes Again - Art and Education in the 20th and 21st centuries’, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw

30 March – 18 June 2023

I am pleased to announce that I will exhibit in Poland, for the first time, in the group exhibition ‘Spring Never Comes Again - Art and Education in the 20th and 21st centuries’ at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw. The exhibition focuses on childhood and education, addressing the fascination of avant-garde artists with the art of the child. It includes historical artworks, along with works by contemporary artists.

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Olivia Plender and Ciprian Mureşan in conversation at Drawing Room, London

6:30pm – 7:30pm, 15 November 2022

Olivia Plender and Ciprian Mureşan in conversation at Drawing Room, London

6:30pm – 7:30pm, 15 November 2022

In celebration of Drawing Room’s twentieth birthday, I will be looking back to the group exhibition ‘TINA’ that I curated in 2008, with participating artist Ciprian Mureşan. The show explored the effects of the financial system on cultural production and aimed to challenge Margaret Thatcher’s notorious neo-liberal statement ‘there is no alternative’ (TINA for short). Presciently, the exhibition's opening coincided with the start of the Global Financial Crisis in October 2008.

(read more)

‘59th October Salon’ – Belgrade Biennale

20 October – 4 December 2022

‘59th October Salon’ – Belgrade Biennale

20 October – 4 December 2022

I am participating in the ‘59th October Salon’ – Belgrade Biennale, held at venues throughout the city, with my video installation Hold Hold Fire (2019).

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‘Hold Hold Fire’, screening and discussion at ICA, London

2.00pm, 15 October 2022

‘Hold Hold Fire’, screening and discussion at ICA, London

2.00pm, 15 October 2022

Commissioned by the ICA, Hold Hold Fire (2019) is inspired by my ongoing research into the East London Federation of the Suffragettes, and was produced after an extensive series of workshops with women’s groups across London exploring the women’s suffrage movement from contemporary feminist perspectives. The screening is accompanied by a discussion with Janna Graham and Kirsten Lloyd.

(book tickets)

‘Our Bodies are Not the Problem’

Solo exhibition at Maureen Paley, London, 16 September – 30 October 2022

‘Our Bodies are Not the Problem’

Solo exhibition at Maureen Paley, London, 16 September – 30 October 2022

This autumn I will have a solo show at Maureen Paley gallery in London. The exhibition brings together artworks from two of my most recent projects related to feminist history, addressing women’s health inequality and the legacy of the book Our Bodies Ourselves, which was first published in the 1970s; as well as the East London Federation of the Suffragettes.

(read more)

‘Dissolution to Evolution’, Glastonbury Abbey and Somerset Art Works Festival

23 September – 14 October 2022

‘Dissolution to Evolution’, Glastonbury Abbey and Somerset Art Works Festival

23 September – 14 October 2022

An exhibition taking place in the ruins of a medieval abbey in the town of Glastonbury ­– the capital of England’s New Age movement – exploring support systems, social experiments and religious beliefs. I will be showing a series of artworks which trace the origins of New Age ideas – alongside objects from the historic Abbey’s collections, a film by Rory Pilgrim, and performances by Sally O'Reilly.

(read more)

Ord & Bild magazine, issue 2-3 2022

Ord & Bild magazine, issue 2-3 2022

A Swedish translation of part of my comic The History of Animal Kingdom is featured in Ord & Bild – one of Sweden's oldest culture magazines. This special issue is on the exhibition ‘The TV Trampoline: from Children's Television to Contemporary Art and Literature’, which is currently touring Sweden.

Kalmar Konstmuseum, 9 April – 18 September 2022; Bildmuseet Umeå, 21 October 2022 – 29 January 2023; and Norrtälje konsthall, 3 June – 9 September 2023; 3 October 2023 – 7 January 2024, Konstmuseet i Norr, Kiruna.

(read more)

‘Neither Strivers Nor Skivers, They Will Not Define Us’

Solo exhibition at Amant Foundation, New York, 30 April – 26 June 2022

‘Neither Strivers Nor Skivers, They Will Not Define Us’

Solo exhibition at Amant Foundation, New York, 30 April – 26 June 2022

I am pleased to announce my solo show and screening at Amant Foundation in New York. The exhibition brings together, for the first time, a series of artworks which each depart from a play written by activist Sylvia Pankhurst, circa 1913. This includes the video installation Hold Hold Fire, which was shown at the 34th Bienal de São Paulo, along with a sound piece, posters, and a new wall painting.

(read more)

Solo show at Moscow Museum of Modern Art cancelled in protest at Russian invasion of Ukraine

Solo show at Moscow Museum of Modern Art cancelled in protest at Russian invasion of Ukraine

In protest against the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have closed my solo show which was scheduled to open at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art education centre on the 25 February 2022.

‘The School of Creators: The Art of Learning from the 1960s to the present’, Centre Pompidou-Metz

5 February – 29 August 2022

‘The School of Creators: The Art of Learning from the 1960s to the present’, Centre Pompidou-Metz

5 February – 29 August 2022

I am participating in an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou-Metz in France, with a series of artworks about the Kibbo Kift Kindred, an early twentieth-century British youth movement. ‘The School of Creators’ addresses experimental models of pedagogy in relation to art and art education: from Fluxus happenings to feminist consciousness-raising groups, from Lettrist hypergraphies to hyperlink navigation, from school broadcasting to the video university dreamed of by Nam June Paik, from mutual teaching to the self-constructions of Italian anti-design, from kindergartens to permaculture workshops.

(read more)

‘The TV Trampoline: From Children’s Television to Contemporary Art and Literature’, Fabrika, Moscow

8 December 2021 – 27 February 2022

‘The TV Trampoline: From Children’s Television to Contemporary Art and Literature’, Fabrika, Moscow

8 December 2021 – 27 February 2022

I am pleased to announce that my comic The History of Animal Kingdom will be shown in Moscow as part of an exhibition exploring the cultural history of children’s television, curated by Andjeas Ejiksson and Maria Lind. A new Russian translation of the comic will also be featured in the online journal for culture colta.ru, as a ‘Christmas present’ to their readers.

The exhibition tours to:

9 April – 18 September 2022, Kalmar konstmuseum, Sweden

21 October 2022 – 29 January 2023, Bildmuseet Umeå, Sweden

3 June – 9 September 2023, Norrtälje konsthall, Sweden

3 October 2023 – 7 January 2024, Konstmuseet i Norr, Kiruna, Sweden

(read the comic)

‘Moving Women’, Smena, Kazan

18 February – 15 May 2022

‘Moving Women’, Smena, Kazan

18 February – 15 May 2022

An exhibition of films, videos and other art works by women based in Sweden, Russia and beyond, which includes several of my artworks based on the history of the Fogelstad Women's Citizenship School. The works in the show address and perform various aspects of the lives and experiences of women, such as family relations, self-organisation, emancipation, and the struggle for equality. ‘Moving Women’ is curated by Maria Lind.

(read more)

‘Though it’s dark, still I sing’: 34th Bienal de São Paulo

4 September – 5 December 2021

‘Though it’s dark, still I sing’: 34th Bienal de São Paulo

4 September – 5 December 2021

This autumn I am participating in the 34th Bienal de São Paulo – in Oscar Niemeyer’s iconic Pavilhão da Bienal in Parque Ibirapuera – with a video installation Hold Hold Fire (2019) and a specially commissioned series of new drawings, titled Arrest! (2021).

(read more)

‘Neither Strivers Nor Skivers, They Will Not Define Us’

Solo exhibition at The Bower, London, 21 October – 21 November 2021

‘Neither Strivers Nor Skivers, They Will Not Define Us’

Solo exhibition at The Bower, London, 21 October – 21 November 2021

Filling the space of the gallery, we hear a montage of female voices describing their daily lives and experience of unpaid care work, a punitive benefits system, precarious housing conditions, racism and detention, in a newly commissioned sound piece made for this solo exhibition at The Bower. A publication accompanies the exhibition.

(read more)

‘100 Years of Female Suffrage’, conference at Moderna Museet, Stockholm

10 November 2021

‘100 Years of Female Suffrage’, conference at Moderna Museet, Stockholm

10 November 2021

Marking the centenary of female suffrage in Sweden, Moderna Museet has invited me to speak at a conference exploring how women in the early 20th century managed to change society and their own conditions as citizens and cultural creators.

(read more)

‘Life Support’, 14 August – 16 October 2021

New commission for Glasgow Women’s Library

‘Life Support’, 14 August – 16 October 2021

New commission for Glasgow Women’s Library

I have been commissioned to make a new installation for Glasgow Women’s Library, as part of ‘Life Support’, a group exhibition curated by Caroline Gausden, Kirsten Lloyd, Nat Raha and Catherine Spencer. The artwork, titled Our Bodies Are Not the Problem, the Problem is Power, focuses on activism around women’s health inequality and will permanently transform the library’s Community Room.

(read more)

Tate Gallery acquires two artworks for the collection

Tate Gallery acquires two artworks for the collection

I am pleased to announce that Tate Gallery have purchased two of my artworks: the sound installation Learning to Speak Sense (2015), and the board game Set Sail for the Levant (2007) which will be on display at Tate Britain, London, from 2023.

(view here)

Malmö Konstmuseum acquires series of prints

Malmö Konstmuseum acquires series of prints

Malmö Konstmuseum has bought Urania (2015) for their collection. This series of nine off-set litho posters will be on display in the exhibition ‘(in) visible: Abstractions and fragments of queerness’ from 12 June 2021 – 9 January 2022.

(read more)

The History of Animal Kingdom – Plague Year

A new comic

The History of Animal Kingdom – Plague Year

A new comic

A political satire, which I started drawing in March 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to entertain my friends whom I could no longer meet in person. A new episode published every Saturday on Instagram.

(Instagram)

Major new public art project

Commissioned by Public Art Agency Sweden (Statens Konstråd) and Falkenbergs kommun

Major new public art project

Commissioned by Public Art Agency Sweden (Statens Konstråd) and Falkenbergs kommun

I have been awarded my largest public art project to date, for the city of Falkenberg in the west of Sweden. During 2019-2020 I will be working with community groups at the library and school that form part of the new Argus Culture and Knowledge Centre. The final art works will be installed in the building in 2023, with plans to realise another series of ambitious art works in the near future for a new public park on the site.

Swedish Embassy Moscow commissions new series of drawings

Swedish Embassy Moscow commissions new series of drawings

To celebration the centenary of women gaining the vote in Sweden, several of my artworks will be on display at the Swedish Embassy in Moscow for the duration of 2021. These include the installation Kom Te Måtta, about the Fogelstad Women's Citizenship School, along with a newly commissioned series of drawings representing the first five women to enter the Swedish parliament, in 1921.

Podcast

Radio Web MACBA

Podcast

Radio Web MACBA

In this podcast I speak about productivity and care, about suffragettes and museums, and about adolescence and schools. I look at groups without charismatic leaders, embodied education, and the possibility of transforming errors in honest discussions. I also talk about women gaining authority through voice training – the material aspect of speech – and about how, sometimes unconsciously, we adopt a voice for which we feel socially rewarded.

(listen)

New Generation Thinkers: The Crankiness of CW Daniel

BBC Radio 3

New Generation Thinkers: The Crankiness of CW Daniel

BBC Radio 3

I am delighted to have contributed to this brilliant programme by my friend Dr. Elsa Richardson, in which she explores the lasting impact of the ideas of radical early twentieth-century publisher CW Daniel and their legacy at a time of fundamental change today.

(listen)

‘Not Without My Ghosts’

Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition

‘Not Without My Ghosts’

Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition

Several of my artworks will be featured in this touring group exhibition on the topic of Spiritualism, curated by Lars Bang Larsen, Simon Grant and Marco Pasi. The catalogue includes my work alongside some great artists from the nineteenth century until the present day, so if you are unable to make it to the show get your hands on one of those instead.

10 September – 1 November 2020, Drawing Room, London

Touring to:

15 Oct – 11 Dec 2021, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool

8 Jan – 13 Mar 2022, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea

31 Mar – 26 Jun 2022, Millenium Gallery, Sheffield

(read more)

Solo presentation at Artissima XYZ: ‘Disegni’

3 November – 9 December 2020

Solo presentation at Artissima XYZ: ‘Disegni’

3 November – 9 December 2020

As part of Maureen Paley’s participation in Artissima, I will make a solo presentation, including a selection of new works on paper. I am featured in Artissima’s ‘Disegni’ section, which explores the works of ten female artists looking to probe the ‘drawing cosmos’. The artworks will be shown alongside a series of podcasts and interviews. Artissima XYZ: ‘Disegni’ has been curated by Bettina Steinbrügge and Letizia Ragaglia.