Mike Nelson Lionheart, 1998 (detail)
Mike Nelson Lionheart, 1998 (installation view)
Mike Nelson Lionheart, 1998 (detail)
Press Information
1999 will be the Twentieth Anniversary year of the opening of Matt’s Gallery,
which provides a fitting opportunity for the gallery to examine the wealth of
documentation it has amassed over the 77 exhibitions of new work it has commissioned
from 44 different artists over its history. Diverging from a more standard archive
exhibition, BACKSPACE will simultaneously look back into the gallery’s
past but also at its present and its future.
Simultaneously using all the gallery’s spaces BACKSPACE provides a unique opportunity for visitors to investigate the gallery's history, philosophy and artists in depth. The exhibition will present archival documentation of exhibitions by David Troostwyk, Joel Fisher, Jaroslaw Kozlowski, Robin Klassnik & Tom Clark, Susan Hiller, Jeff Instone, Michael Porter, John Blake, Tony Bevan, Tomasz Osinski, Robert Janz, Amikam Toren, Gerald Newman, Avis Newman, Nat Goodden, Sue Arrowsmith, lan McKeever, Nan Hoover, Gerard Hemsworth, Anthony Wilson, Imants Tillers, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Richard Wilson, lan Breakwell, Hanna Luczak, Hannah Collins, Brian Catling, Kate Smith, Jimmie Durham, Edgar Heap of Birds, Melanie Counsell, Willie Doherty, Thomas Holley, Melanie Jackson, Matthew Tickle, Mike Nelson, John Frankland, Xenia K. Dieroff, Lucy Gunning, Sean Dower, Juan Cruz and Graham Fagen, together with information on the gallery’s influences such Galerie Akumulatory 2, Poznan.
Going beyond more standard documentary methods, the presentation of film and video of exhibitions and their making, slide projections, audio and text, photographs and models, will also be integrated with actual works by many of these artists. The exhibition spaces will have a formal structure but, as it is virtually impossible to condense twenty years of activity into any fixed summary, all elements will be open to change, from the films being shown, the slides for projection, and the objects and work on display. In addition to the integration of works from the past and present with the archival material, one gallery will house a weekly changing programme of new works by artists represented by or associated with the gallery, providing the most tangible way to sample the artists’ current practice. This multi-layered, continually changing structure will hopefully create a fluid, dynamic process of sampling the gallery’s history and relationships that is intended to stimulate the viewer to return again and again.
The impetus for BACKSPACE arose from the need to begin to collate the wealth of information the gallery has accumulated so that it can be formally presented in a fully accessible public archive in the gallery’s presently undeveloped back space. This process requires significant funding, both for the staff to organise the material and for the retrival systems and the archive’s physical construction. As a signal of the gallery’s intention to establish this facility the archive process will be active during the exhibition, with new material being added to the displays as it is uncovered. This physical process, and the critical debates generated by the exhibition, will also form the backbone of the production of material for an intended publication investigating twenty years of Matt’s Gallery that the gallery hopes to publish at the end of 1999.
The gallery is actively seeking funds for these projects from the public and private sectors. Interested parties should contact the gallery for details.
Biography
Born Loughborough 1967, Lives and works in London Studied
1992/3 Chelsea College of Art & Design (MA Sculpture); 1986/90 Reading University
(BA (Hons) Fine Art - first class) Solo Exhibitions
2007 Creative Time, New York [Forthcoming]; ACCA, Melbourne, Australia
[forthcoming] 2006 AMNESIAC SHRINE or Double
coop displacement, Matt’s Gallery, London [Forthcoming] After
Kerouac, Centre d'Art Santa Monica, Barcelona; 2005
Spanning Fort Road and Mansion Street-Between a formula and a code,
Turner Contemporary, Margate, [Publication]; Agent Dixon at the Red Str
Hotel, British School at Rome, Rome; Studio apparatus for MAMCO,
MAMCO, Geneva [publication] 2004 Triple
Bluff Canyon, Modern Art Oxford [publication] 2001
Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted, Institute of Contemporary
Art, London [publication]; The Deliverance and The Patience, Peer Commission
for the 2001 Venice Biennale, off-site project at The Old Brewery, Giudecca
2000 The Coral Reef, Matt’s
Gallery, London [publication] 1999 TOURIST
HOTEL, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin [publication]; To The Memory of
H.P. Lovecraft, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh 1998
On-site Project, Camden Art Centre, London 1997
Master of Reality, Berwick Gymnasium Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed; Lionheart,
Galerie im KunstlerHaus, Bremen; The Amnesiacs, Campbells Occasionally,
Copenhagen 1996 TRADING STATION ALPHA CMa,
Matt’s Gallery, London; No can Teach A Dog Old Tricks New, Academia
De Arta, Bucharest 1995 Agent Dickson at
the Red Star Hotel, Hales Gallery, London 1994
Charity Shop, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow Group
Exhibitions 2006 Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin [Forthcoming]; Hatton Gallery,
Newcastle upon Tyne [Forthcoming]; Wandering Rocks, Gimpel Fils Gallery,
London 2005 No Manifesto, GAMEC Museum,
Bergamo, Italy; Galeria Franco Noero, Rome, Italy 2004
XXVI Bienal de Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo, Brazil; Strange Weather,
Modern Art, London; Into My World, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum,
Connecticut 2003 Poetic Justice, 8th
International Istanbul Biennal [publication]; Micro/ Macro, Mucsarnok,
Kunsthalle, Budapest, British Council exhibition [publication]; Capp Street
Project: 20th Anniversary exhibition, CCAC Wattis Institute of Contemporary
Arts, San Francisco [publication] 2002 Biennale
of Sydney, curated by Richard Grayson (New Commission: 42a Orwell St.)
[publication] 2001 The Cosmic Legend of the Uroboros Serpent,
Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London; Intentional Communities, Rooseum
- Center for Contemporary Art, Malmo, curated by Charles Esche; New Settlements,
Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen (New Commission: The Genie),
curated by Jacob Fabricius; 2000 British
Art Show 5, National Touring Exhibitions for Hayward Gallery, London. Sited
at multiple venues in Edinburgh, Southampton, Cardiff, Birmingham [publication];
Another Place, Tramway, Glasgow (New Commission: The Resurrection
of Captain Mission) 1999 Holding Court,
Entwistle, London; Word enough to save a life, Word enough to take a life,
Clare College Mission Church, London, curated by Simon Morrissey (New Commission:
Melnais Kakis); It’s Immaterial, Chiltern Sculpture
Trail; The Office of Misplaced Events (Temporary Annexe), Lotta Hammer,
London, curated by Simon Morrissey 1998 Grey
Area - Andrew Bannister/Philip Lai/Mike Nelson, Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham;
Camouflague 2000, Gallerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, curated by Robert
Garnet; How to build a universe that doesn’t fall apart two days later,
Fly, Glasgow; Show me the Money III, Duke’s Mews, London; It,
Sali Gia, London, curated by David Burrows; Kling Klang, HMS Plymouth,
East Boat Dock, Liverpool; BACKSPACE, Matt’s Gallery, London
[leaflet] 1997 Wish You Were Here Too,
Glasgow; Oktober 1917 - 1997, Norwich Gallery, Norwich 1996
Transit Zone - Mike Nelson/Ania Rachmat/Erlend Williamson, W139, Amsterdam
1995 Maikafer Flieg, Hochbunker, Cologne
1994 Turning Up, The View, Liverpool;
Miniatures, The Agency, London; Wish You Were Here, Leeds
1993 Economist Summer Show, collaboration
with Public Art Development Trust 1992/3 BT
New Contemporaries, Cornerhouse, Manchester; Orchard Gallery, Derry; Mappin
Art Gallery, Sheffield; City Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, Centre
for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow Collections The
New Art Gallery, Walsall, Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme
purchase; Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London. Private Collections
in Britain, Germany and Switzerland. Awards/Residencies
2001 Shortlisted for the Turner Prize, Tate Britain; Paul Hamlyn Award;
1998-2001 Sculpture Research Fellow, Edinburgh
College of Art, Edinburgh 1996 Berwick Gymnasium
Fellowship, Berwick-upon-Tweed (6 month residency, Oct ‘96 - Apr ‘97);
Shortlist Award, Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award to Individual Artists: Sculpture
& Installation; Pepinieres europeennes pour jeunes artistes (3 month residency,
May - July), Bucharest 1995 London Arts Board
Grant to Individual Artists 1993 First prize
winner - Economist Summer Show, London; Boise Travel Scholarship: Egypt, Turkey,
Syria, North America, Mexico Selection Panels 2002/3
Prix de Roma, Rijksakademie 2001 Bloomberg
New Contemporaries 2001, London; New Works Scotland, Collective
Gallery Program, Edinburgh
Bibliography
Selected Publications 2005 Mike Nelson: Between
a formula and a code, Turner Contemporary, Margate; Studio apparatus
for Mamco - an intermediate structure for a museum: introduction; building transplant
in three sections; towards a revisiting of futurobjects (as Voodoo shrine);
mysterious island*. *see introduction or humpty dumpty, MAMCO, Geneva 2004
Mike Nelson: Triple Bluff Canyon, Modern Art Oxford; Magazine,
produced by Bookworks, co-published by Matt’s Gallery, London; Capp
Street Project: 20th Anniversary exhibition, CCAC Wattis Institute of Contemporary
Arts, San Francisco; Micro/ Macro, Mucsarnok, Kunsthalle, Budapest,
British Council 2001 Turner Prize 2001,
Tate Britain; A Forgotten Kingdom, produced to accompany solo exhibition
at ICA, London; The Genie, an artist’s project for Documents,
Editor Vincent Pécoil; British Art Show 5, National Touring
Exhibitions for Hayward Gallery, London 2000
Extinction Beckons, with texts by Jaki Irvine, Matt’s Gallery,
London 1999 TOURIST HOTEL, Douglas
Hyde Gallery, Dublin 1998 Projects 1997,
Galerie im KunstlerHaus, Bremen; Pepineres 1995 - 1997, Pepineres
1996 Untitled bookwork, produced to
accompany Transit Zone , W139, Amsterdam; Life/Live, Les Musees de
la Ville De Paris 1995 Maikafer Flieg ,
Hochbunker, Cologne 1994 BT New Contemporaries
1993/4 Selected Articles 2006 Looking Back:
Significant solo shows 2005, Peter Eleey, Frieze, Issue 96, January-February
2005 Mike Nelson, Maria Rosa Sossai,
Flash Art, vol XXXVIII, no. 23, July September; Emporium and the senses,
Maeve Connolly, Third Text, Vol 19 issue 4, July; 8th Istanbul Biennial,
Joe Hill, Contemporary, No. 59; 8th Istanbul Biennial, Peter Eleey,
Frieze, Issue 80, [February] 2004 The 26th
Bienal de Sao Paulo: Free territory or No-man’s Land?, Rodrigo Moura, Flash
Art, Nov/ Dec 2004; Mending the Breach, Eleanor Hartney, Art in America,
Istanbul Biennial, December; Unsafe as Houses, Waldemar Januszak, The
Sunday Times, 6 June 2004; Cracking Nelson’s enigma, Catherine Croft,
Building design, 21 May; Edinburgh Preview: On the Move, Charlotte
Higgins, The Guardian, Saturday August 7; Mike Nelson: Triple Bluff Canyon,
Nick Hackworth, The Evening Standard; Riddle of the sands, Adrian Searle,
The Guardian, 11 May; Mike Nelson: Triple Bluff Canyon, Caroline Boucher,
Observer Review, 16 May; Can you tell what it is yet? No? Good, The
Independent on Sunday, 9 May; Mike Nelson: Triple Bluff Canyon, The
Guardian Guide, 8 May; If these walls could speak, Tom Lubbock, The
Independent Review, 11 May; All aboard the Pumpkin Palace for a journey
through the state of the world, Alistair Jamieson, The Scotsman, Thursday
19 August 2004; Director’s Choice, Susanna Beaumont, The List, 19-26
August; Mike Nelson: The Pumpkin Palace, Moira Jeffrey, The Herald,
Friday 13 August; Driven, Ruth Hedges, The List, 5-12 August; The
Pumpkin Palace, Nick Barley, The List, 19-26 August; Don’t miss The
Pumpkin Palace, Catriona Black, The Sunday Herald, 22 August; Triple
Bluff, Mike Nelson interviewed by Patricia Bickers, Art Monthly, No. 278,
July-August 2003 Mike Nelson: Lionheart,
Charles Darwent, The Independent on Sunday, 27 July; Mike Nelson: Walsall,
Jessica Lack, The Guardian Guide, 26 July; Mike Nelson, John Rogers,
Fused Magazine, Issue 16; 10 Artists to Watch, Simon Grant, ArtNews,
March; A Thousand Words, Rachel Withers, Artforum, February 2001
The Turner Prize 2001, Rachel Meredith, Tate, Winter; Artful Dodgers,
Derren Gilhooley, Harpers & Queen, December; Alien World, Vogue,
November; Foursight, Martin Coomer, Time Out, November; Almost
Infamous, Laura Cumming, The Observer, 14 October; A Theatre of Desolate
Space, William Packer, Financial Times (Weekend), 13 October; Loafers
Guide, Life, The Observer magazine, 13 October; A Maze Thing,
Martin Coomer, Time Out, 10-17 October; Master of the Universe, Niru
Ratnam, The Face, October; It’ll Win, But is it art, Anna Pursglove,
Evening Standard Magazine, 12 October; Much Ado About Nothing, Tom
Lubbock, The Independent, 9 October; Confusion is Nelson’s Victory,
Richard Cork, The Times, 3 October; Storytellers in the Studio, Richard
Dorment, Daily Telegraph, 3 0ctober; Master of the Universe, Niru
Ratnam, The Face, October; Artist’s pages, Modern Painters,
October; Charles Darwent, Modern Painters, October; Richard Corks Choice,
Richard Cork, The Times (Play), Sept 29; This artist is building a maze,
Mark Irving, The Independent on Sunday, 23 September; The Alternative History
Man, Martin Gayford, Daily Telegraph, (Arts & Books) Sept 8; Welcome
to My Worlds, Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 4 September The Shy
Man of the Turner, Claire Bishop, The Evening Standard, 31 August; Contemporary
Art, Stephen Beasley, Untitled, No. 26, Autumn/winter; The Zones of Venice,
Andrew Wilson, Art Monthly, July/Aug; Mike Nelson, Sophie Howarth,
Tate Magazine; Go on, get lost, Charles Darwent, The Independent on
Sunday, 7 October; Jonathan Jones, The Guardian; Claire Bishop, The Evening
Standard; Venice Biennale, Mark Godfrey, Untitled No. 25, Summer; Postcards
from the cutting edge, Richard Dorment, The Daily Telegraph, 13 June; Too
many tours spoil the broth, Richard Cork, The Times 2, 13 June; Marcus
Field, The Independent on Sunday, 10 June; Appalling fascination of a career-enhancing
competition, Adrian Searle, The Guardian, 31 May; Bookies see film-maker
as surprise favourite, Maev Kennedy, The Guardian, 31 May 2000
Magical Bleakness Engages, Elisabeth Mahoney, The Guardian, Friday
9 June; Art - Review of 2000, Adrian Searle, The Guardian, G2, 29
December; Master of Reality, Claire Bishop, Untitled, No. 22, Summer;
Species of Spaces, Jonathan Jones, frieze, July – August; Mike
Nelson, The Coral Reef, Hugh Stoddart, Contemporary Visual Arts, Issue
29; Another Place, John Calcutt, Scotland on Sunday, 11 June;
Another Place, Elisabeth Mahoney, The Scotsman, 9 June; Another Place,
Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, Friday 2 June; Another Place, Susanna
Beaumont, The List, 8-22 June; Another Place, Duncan McLaren, Pick
of the Galleries, The Independent on Sunday, 11 June; Welcome and Witty
Return, Graeme Virtue, Sunday Herald, 4 June; British Art Show 5,
Ian Hunt, Art Monthly, No.236, May; British Art Show 5, Contemporary
Visual Arts, Issue 28; Mike Nelson, Mark Currah, londonart.co.uk
(http://www.londonart.co.uk), April; Mike Nelson, Rachel Withers, Artforum,
April; Mike Nelson, Izi Glover, Time Out, March 14-22, No. 1543; Rooms
with a dingy view, Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 22 March; Mike Nelson,
Dave Burrows, Everything Magazine, Issue 3.2, March; Mike Nelson: The Coral
Reef, Jonathan Jones, The Guide Tuesday, The Guardian, 21 March; Coral
Reef, Samantha Ellis, Going Out, The Evening Standard, 21 March; Coral
Reef, Duncan McLaren, Pick of the Galleries, The Independent on Sunday,
19 March; Shifting Spaces, Jon Thomson, www.eyestorm.com, 3 March;
Mike Nelson, Kate Mikhail, Thursday Review, The Independent, 2 March;
Mike Nelson, Dave Beech, Art Monthly, No 234, March; spaced out,
Stuart Shave, iD the drenched issue, No. 195, March; 1999
Entwistle, What’s On, Jan/Feb 27-31 January; Myth as Material,
Simon Morrissey, Contemporary Visual Arts, Issue 26, November; Mike Nelson
TOURIST HOTEL, Simon Morrissey, Contemporary Visual Arts, Issue 23, March;
Mike Nelson at the Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Dan Wilkinson, londonart.co.uk
magazine, September (http://www.londonart.co.uk/editorial/reviews/nelson.htm);
In Memory of HP Lovecraft, Elisabeth Mahoney, The Guardian, 23 August
1998 HMS Art, Dave Beech, Art Monthly,
No 221, November; It & Show Me the Money 3, Michael Wilson, Untitled,
No 17, Autumn; 1997 Mikes mystiske liv,
Lars Bang Larsen, Politik, 24 October; Mike Nelson, Master of Reality,
David Barrett, Frieze, Issue 36; Telling Tales: Art & Corporate Identity,
Steve Rushton, Mute, September; Ein Tier namens Mensch, Christoph Koster,
Taz Bremen, 12 June; Szenen aus der Jagdgesellschaft, Stephan Carter,
Weser-Kurier, 25 June; Begegnung mit dem Mull, Detlev Zenglein, Prinz
Bremen, June; Mike Nelson im Kunstlerhaus Bremen, Horst Griese, ‘Punkt’
Kunst im Nordwestern, June; Mike Nelson: Lionheart, Ikken Steen, Journal
am Abend, Radio Bremen II, 18 June; 1996 Art
& The City: A Dream of Urbanity, Art & Design No. 50, Academy Group
Limited; Mike Nelson, Matt’s Gallery, Peter Davies, Flash Art,
Vol. XXIX No.189 Summer; Mike Nelson, Matt’s Gallery, Simon Grennan,
Untitled, No.10 Spring; Mike Nelson, Matt’s Gallery, David Burrows,
Art Monthly, No.194 March; Met film kan ik een regenboog in eek kamer maken,
Anna Tilroe, NRC Handelsblad, Netherlands, 22 March; Mike Nelson, Matt’s
Gallery, Mark Currah, Time Out, 21-28 February; At lide for kunsten
i London, Lars Movin, Information, 25 February; Around the Galleries,
Sacha Craddock, The Times, 27 February; 1995 Mike Nelson, Hales Gallery,
Jaki Irvine, Frieze, Issue 23 Summer; 1994 Turning Up, The View, Liverpool,
Heidi Reitmaier, Art Monthly, No.181 November