Big Art Talk 1: Keith Wilson Industrial Revolution

This is the first in a series of Big Art Talks by the five shortlisted artists in the lead up to the selection of the winning commission. The Big Art Talks are hosted by Birmingham Big Art Foundation in partnership with Birmingham City University and Eastside Projects.

Keith Wilson’s practice is concerned with the cultural status of sculpture, including the various functions sculpture can serve in public space. Wilson will discuss some of these ideas in relation to his proposal ‘Industrial Revolution’ for the Birmingham Big Art Project as well as covering previous projects in the public realm including his major commission for the Olympic Games, London 2012, and a soon to be launched landscape work for the Park Hill Estate, Sheffield.

Keith Wilson, born in 1965 in Birmingham, lives and works in New York. Wilson is best known for his playful sculptural interventions and assemblages imbued with a domestic or industrial resonance. Wilson has had major solo exhibitions at the Wellcome Collection, London (2010); Milton Keynes Gallery, (2004); Compton Verney, Warwickshire (2003); Milch Gallery, London (2001); Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston (1999); and Camden Arts Centre, London (1995). Over the past two decades he has contributed to numerous group shows and projects, including the Hayward Project Space, London; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, and received commissions internationally. His project Calendar is currently on exhibition at the MAC, Belfast until October 16th.