Robin Deacon

Last updated

Robin Deacon (born 1973 Eastbourne, England) is an artist, writer and filmmaker. His interdisciplinary practice has spanned a variety of disciplines and themes, including explorations of performer presence and absence, the role of the artist as biographer, the possibility for journalistic approaches to arts practice, and the mapping and ethics of performance re-enactment. He graduated from Cardiff School of Art in 1996, and went on to present his performances and videos at conferences and festivals in the UK and internationally in Europe, USA and Asia. His work has been commissioned and programmed by venues such as The ICA, London (1996), The Young Vic, London (2000), CCCB, Barcelona (2006), Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna (2007) and the Centre d'art Scenique Contemporain Lausanne, Switzerland (2009), Tate Britain, London (2014) and the Barbican Centre, London (2015). He has also been artist in residence at MacDowell (artists' residency and workshop), New Hampshire, USA (2017) Sophiensaele, Berlin (2005), Camden Arts Centre London (2006) and Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, New York, USA (2009). He has received a variety of awards and fellowships from organizations such as the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Delfina Foundation, British Arts Council, Live Art Development Agency and Franklin Furnace Inc. Between 2003 and 2012, he was an Associate Artist of contemporary artists producing organization Artsadmin. From 2004, he was Course Director of the Drama and Performance Studies program at London South Bank University before relocating to the USA in 2011. After ten years spent as Professor and Chair of Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Robin returned to the UK in 2021 to take up the role of Artistic Director and CEO of the Spill Festival of Performance.

Contents


Lectures and Performances

Deacon’s early 1990s output focused on the visual and the physical, with a series of performances exploring object manipulation and personification. Later work began questioning the spatial limitations and social conventions imposed on performance with a series of interventions in public and televisual spaces, including an impromptu interrogation of former UK Home Secretary Michael Howard on the Channel 5 show, The Wright Stuff. The late 1990s saw a series of performances that explored issues of racial politics, and notions and definitions of obscenity produced in collaboration with performance artist and film actor Laurence R. Harvey. From the early 2000s, he began producing a series of works that used spoken word and lecture based presentation, such as Harry and Me (2004). This performance lecture described Deacon’s search for television footage of himself as a member of his school choir on an edition of Harry Secombe’s religious program Highway. The performance interrogates media representations of multiculturalism, pursuing the narrative that he was planted in the choir to provide a more racially integrated image. Deacon also become known for his works in political biography, with a series of performances on the lives of former US Secretary of State Colin Powell (2004–08) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005). Both these performances were characterized by a humorous and often satirical approach to the subject matter. These works also had a strong multimedia element and were often rewritten in response to prevailing news events regarding their subjects. Deacon's later performance piece Prototypes (2006–09) stylistically referenced the output of documentary films produced by the British Transport Commission. Between 2011 and 2013, two new lecture based performances (The Argument Against the Body and White Balance: A History of Video) were presented in their early form. Following a development award from Franklin Furnace Inc. and a three day in progress presentation of the work at the Emily Harvey Gallery, NYC, a final version of White Balance was presented as part of the Conversations at the Edge series at the Gene Siskel Theater in Chicago (2015), and at the Spill Festival at the Barbican Centre, London (2015).

Film and Video

Although the use of video and film has often been incorporated as an element of Deacon’s live work, several of his projects explored these mediums in their own right. His early video pieces were short, single channel video works such as What is a Performance Artist? (2005), a compilation of uses of the word ‘performance art’ or ‘performance artist’ in popular cultural contexts such as cinema and television. In 2005, he received a Live Art Development Agency commission for the film They Used to Call it a White Elephant which was screened as part of the Variety season at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, UK. In 2009, he began initial work on what would become his first feature-length documentary film on the life of the late US American performance artist and filmmaker Stuart Sherman. The completed film, Spectacle: A Portrait of Stuart Sherman saw its first screening in 2013 in a curatorial collaboration between Performa and the 'Rituals of Rented Island' Exhibition at the Whitney Museum, New York. There were subsequent screenings at the BBC Art Screen Festival at the Glasgow Film Theatre (2014), Tate Britain in London (2014), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2015). Parallel to this film Robin Deacon performed and directed a series of live solo and group re-enactments of Sherman's performances, including Sherman's ensemble version of Hamlet (A portrait), which was shown as part of the Sacred: US Radical season at London's Chelsea Theatre in 2009.

Writing and education

Robin Deacon has published several chapters based on his research and practice, including contributions to monographs on British Artist Joshua Sofaer (published by Intellect Live), Norwegian Performance group Baktruppen (published by Kontur) and on artist filmmaker Stuart Sherman (published by NYU Press). He has been invited to present at the Performance Studies International Conference at the University of Mainz, Germany (2001), University of Zagreb, Croatia (2009) and Stanford University, USA (2013). As well as his full time teaching positions at London South Bank University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Robin Deacon has been a visiting artist and speaker at varied education institutions such as the Ruskin School of Art (Oxford, UK), St. Cloud State University (Minnesota, USA), Grand Valley State University (Michigan, USA), Roosevelt University (Chicago, USA), Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design (Michigan, USA), Royal Holloway University (London, UK), Central St Martins (London, UK), Brunel University (London, UK), University of Roehampton (London, UK), Nottingham Trent University (UK), and Turku Art Academy (Finland).


Live works

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert & George</span> British artist duo

Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch, and George Passmore are artists who work together as the collaborative art duo Gilbert & George. They are known for their formal appearance and manner in performance art, and for their brightly coloured graphic-style photo-based artworks. In 2017 the pair celebrated their 50th anniversary as collaborators. In April 2023 Gilbert & George opened the Gilbert & George Centre in Heneage Street, London E1, to showcase their work in regular exhibitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherman Brothers</span> American songwriting duo

The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman. Together they received various accolades including two Academy Awards and three Grammy Awards. They received nominations for a Laurence Olivier Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. In 1976 they received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2008 the National Medal of the Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard M. Sherman</span> Musical artist

Richard Morton Sherman is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brothers were responsible for more motion picture musical song scores than any other songwriting team in film history."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Hall (video artist)</span> English artist

David Hall was an English artist, whose pioneering work contributed much to establishing video as an art form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Julien</span> British artist and film director (born 1960)

Sir Isaac Julien is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Martha Rosler is an American artist. She is a conceptual artist who works in photography and photo text, video, installation, sculpture, and performance, as well as writing about art and culture. Rosler's work is centered on everyday life and the public sphere, often with an eye to women's experience. Recurrent concerns are the media and war, as well as architecture and the built environment, from housing and homelessness to places of passage and systems of transport.

onedotzero is a contemporary digital arts organisation based in London that aims to promote new work in moving image and motion arts. The organisation conducts public events, artist and content development, publishing projects, education, production, creative direction, and related visual art consultancy services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Bean</span> London-based performance artist (born 1950)

Anne Bean is a London-based artist who works in installation, large-scale sculpture, sound art, and performance art. She was born in Livingstone in Northern Rhodesia. She lives in Limehouse in the East End of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun Gladwell</span> Australian contemporary artist (born 1972)

Shaun Gladwell is an Australian contemporary artist whose work spans moving image, painting, photography, sculpture, installation, performance and virtual reality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Rhode</span> South African artist based in Berlin (born 1976)

Robin Rhode is a South African artist based in Berlin. He has made wall drawings, photographs and sculptures.


Stuart A. Sherman was an American performance artist, playwright, filmmaker, videographer, poet, essayist, sculptor and collagist.

SPILL Festival of Performance is an artist-led biennale of experimental theatre and live art in the UK which began in 2007 and takes place in a variety of venues in London and Ipswich, England. The festival is produced by Pacitti Company and the Artistic Director is Robert Pacitti.

Baktruppen was an artist collective (1986–2011), founded in Bergen, Norway. The group has had a substantial impact on European live art.

Trade is an artist run initiative based in Nottingham, UK that has been running since 2008. is curated by the artist Bruce Asbestos, and currently exhibits a program of painting shows, previously showing video work, sculpture and ceramics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Live Art Development Agency</span>

Live Art Development Agency, known by its acronym LADA, is an arts organisation and registered charity founded in London in 1999 by Lois Keidan and Catherine Ugwu. LADA provides professional advice for artists as well as producing events and publications intended to enhance the understanding of and access to Live Art. They are an Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. In 2021 Lois Keidan stood down as director, and Barak adé Soleil and Chinasa Vivian Ezugha were appointed as joint co-directors.

Destiny Deacon HonFRPS is an Indigenous Australian photographer and media artist. She has exhibited photographs and films across Australia and also internationally, focusing on politics and exposing the disparagement around Indigenous Australian cultures. She is credited with introducing the term "Blak" to refer to Indigenous Australians' contemporary art, culture and history.

Tom Sherman is an American-Canadian artist working in video, audio, radio, performance, sculpture and text/image. He is also a writer of nonfiction and fiction. He is a recipient of Canada's Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. He is a professor of video art at Syracuse University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Lomas</span> British artist

Andy Lomas is a British artist with a mathematical background, formerly a television and film CG supervisor and more recently a contemporary digital artist, with a special interest in morphogenesis using mathematical morphology.

Stacy Makishi is a Hawaiian-born performance artist, physical theatre and live art specialist. Her work often involves combining autobiographical experience and comedy with inspiration from fictional sources, such as Hollywood movies or novels. She has been identified by The Guardian as part of a new generation of artists making 'innovative shows [. . .] with and by young people'.

Ming Wong is a Singaporean contemporary artist who lives and works in Berlin, known for his re-interpretations of iconic films and performances from world cinema in his video installations, often featuring "miscastings" of himself in roles of varied identities.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.