Karen Mirza and Brad Butler

Works * CV * PDF portfolio * Texts and press

Education

Karen Mirza
2010-present
PhD, Goldsmiths College
1995-1997
MA, Royal College of Art
1992-1995
BFA, Camberwell College of Arts
Brad Butler
2006-2011
PhD, University of the Arts London
1995-1997
MA, Royal College of Art
1992-1995
BSC, University College London Born lives and works in London.

Solo exhibitions

2015
Artists’ Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
The Unreliable Narrator, Campagne Première, Berlin, DE

2014
Deep State, Galeri NON, Istanbul, TR
The Unreliable Narrator, waterside contemporary, London, UK

2013
The New Deal, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US

2012
House of the Unexpected, curated by Haema Sivanesan, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, CA
Deep State, waterside contemporary, London, UK

2011
The Daily Battle, VIVID, London, UK

2009
The Museum of Non Participation, Artangel, London, UK

Group exhibitions


2015
Cobra 1.7, curated by Theo Price, 71a Gallery, London, UK
Alternative 23: Breakdown to Borderlands, Gallery North, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
LOOP Discovery Award, Antiga Fàbrica Damm, Barcelona, ES

2014
Science Fiction: New Death, curated by Omar Kholeif and Mike Stubbs, FACT, Liverpool, UK
Artes Mundi, Cardiff, UK
Per/Form, curated by Chantal Pontbriand, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, ES
Meeting Point: beyond my body, with Hicham Benohoud, Jesse Weaver Shipley, Marta Popivoda & Ana Vujanovic, Gwenola Wagon & Stephane Degoutin, Penny Siopis, Hiwa K., curated by Oliver Marboeuf, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, DE
Gesture, curated by Hans D. Christ, Iris Dressler, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, DE
A House of Passive Noise, curated by Katja Schoeder, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal, DE
The Flaherty Seminar, curated by Gabriela Monroy, Caspar Stracke, Colgate University, Hamilton, US
Mirrorcity, curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, Hayward Gallery, London, UK

2013
Refractive Distance, The Art Exchange, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
Unrest of Form / Imagining the Political Subject, curated by Hedwig Saxenhuber, et al, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, AT
quand dire, c'est faire, with Steven Cohen, Chelsea Knight, curated by Julie Tremble, Articule, Montréal, CA
Meeting Point: beyond my body, with Mathieu Abonnenc, Hicham Benohoud, Latifa Laâbissi, Marta Popivoda, Gwenola Wagon and Stéphane Degoutin, curated by Oliver Marboeuf, Khiasma, Paris, FR
54 October Salon, Belgrade, RS
The Museum of Gesture, with Erick Beltrán, Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, Mark Leckey, Jaume 'Mal' Ferrete Vazquez and R. Marcos Mota, Ultra-red, curated by Sabel Gavaldon, La Capella, Barcelona, ES

2012
Surplus Authors, curated by Defne Ayas, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL
Realness Respect, curated by Sandro Droschl, Kunstverein Medienturm, Graz, AT
Auditorium, with Pavilion, Dilston Grove, London, UK
Small Acts of Disobedience, Manifesta 9 parallel programme, Genk, BE
Right to Refusal, with Martin Beck, Carola Dertnig, Christian Falsnaes, Claire Fontaine, Ilja Karilampi, Santiago Sierra, Jason Simon, Franz Erhard Walther, Magazin4, Bregenz, AT
On The Edgware Road, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Exhibition India: Visions from the Outside, curated by Shanay Jhavieri, Hallen and De Bond, CC Brugge, Brugge, BE

2011
The Global Contemporary: Artworlds after 1989, ZKM Museum for Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, DE
Museum Show, Part Two, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
They don’t know why, but they keep doing it, waterside contemporary, London, UK
Rethink, Idea, Output, Exchange, Portland Green Cultural Projects at Rivington Place, London, UK

2010
The Space Between, UnosUnove Gallery, Rome, IT
The Voyage of Non Such, with Ruth Beale, Whitstable Biennale, Whitstable, UK
All that Remains..., waterside contemporary, London, UK

2009
Monuments with a Horizon Line II, with Sean Dawson, Zaha Hadid, Markus Miessen & Bettina Pousttchi, Sergio Prego, Joel Sternfeld, Jorinde Voigt, Lawrence Weiner, Clare Woods, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, DE

2007
Filmische Wahrheiten, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, DE
They Do Things Differently There, St Pancras Parish Church, London, UK
The Glass Stare, Leeds City Museum, Leeds, UK

2006
The Expanded Eye Stalking the Unseen, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, CH
Moving Frame, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Magazine, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshops, Edinburgh, UK
Angles of Projection, Triangle Gallery, London, UK
New Work UK – The Chemical Effect, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK

2005
Light Reading, Nova Cinema, Brussels, BE
Media and Architecture Biennale, Graz, AT
Chronic Epoch, Beaconsfield Gallery, London, UK
Representation, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, UK
Vertical and Horizontal, Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London, UK
Actual Space II, Kingsgate Gallery, London, UK
Light Reading, Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK
Light Reading, Lumens, Leeds, UK

2004
Mementoes and Curiosities, London Architecture Biennale, London, UK
Open(ed) Spaces, Hudson Valley College, New York, US

2003
Where a Straight Line Meets a Curve, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Two Places and One Material, Monasterio de la Cartuja, Sevilla, ES
Where a Straight Line meets a Curve Sound piece, Days Like These, Tate Triennial, London, UK
Exhibition of Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain, London, UK

2002
New York. Site/Non Site, Goliath Visual Space, New York City, US

Commissions


2012
Hold Your Ground, Art on the Underground, Transport for London, London, UK

2011
Deep State, with China Miéville, Film and Video Umbrella, UK

Screenings and festivals


2015
Collaboration Beyond Consensus – Rehearsing Collectivity, curated by Borbála Soós, Off Bienale, Budapest, HU
Exhibition of a Film, curated by Mathieu Copeland, MALBA, Buenos Aires, AR

2014
Assembly: A survey of recent artists’ film and video in Britain 2008–2013, Tate Britain, London, UK
Random Acts, Channel 4, UK
Shorts After the Flaherty, UnionDocs, New York, US
Material Evidence, A Major/Minor History, curated by Ben Cook, BFI London Film Festival, London, UK
Spectres: A Ciné-Politics of Haunting, curated by TJ Demos, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, ES

2013
Avoiding Utopias, Werkleitz Festival, Halle/Saale, DE

2012
Deep State, Hackney Picturehouse, Ritzy Brixton, London, UK
Becoming Voice, curated by Maxa Zoller and Florian Wüst, South London Gallery, London, UK

2011
The Exception and the Rule, Hors Pistes Tokyo/Centre Pompidou, Tokyo, JP
Non Places, LightCone, Paris, FR
The Exception and the Rule, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR

2010
Que Faire?, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
The Exception and the Rule, Video_Dumbo-Choosing Sides, New York, US
The Space Between, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
15 Images I wish I had filmed but couldn’t, General Public, Berlin, DE
The Space Between, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, UK
The Exception and the Rule, The Festival Les Inattendus, Lyon, FR

2009
The Exception and the Rule, The Cinema Project Portland, Portland, US
The Exception and the Rule, DIM cinema, Vancouver, US
The Exception and the Rule, The Courtisane Festival, Ghent, BE
The Exception and the Rule, International Documentary Festival, Amsterdam, NL
The Exception and the Rule, New York Film Festival, New York, US
The Exception and the Rule, The London Film Festival, London, UK

2008
The Space Between, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, NL

2007
The Space Between, ICA, London, UK

2005
Where a Straight Line Meets a Curve, Biennale On Media And Architecture, Graz, AT
The Space Between, The London Film Festival, London, UK
The Space Between, New York Film Festival, New York, US

2004
Where a Straight Line Meets a Curve, Channai, IN
Where a Straight Line Meets a Curve, Experimenta Mumbai, Mumbai, IN

2003
Where a Straight Line Meets a Curve, Institut Francais d’Architectur, Paris, FR

Performances


2014
The Game of Power, curated by Chantal Pontbriand, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, ES
Lecture Performance: Framing-out: Dirt, Dissonance and Displacement (engl.), with Claudia Firth, curated by Interflugs, Galerie im Turm, Berlin, DE
The Exception and the Rule, Chapter, Artes Mundi 6, Cardiff, UK

2013
The Exception and the Rule, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US
The Guest of Citation, Performa 13 / Museum of Art and Design New York, New York, US
Reconstitution, with Slavs and Tatars, Joana Hajithomas and Khalil Joreige, Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson, waterside contemporary, London, UK

2012
The Museum of Non Participation, VIVO, Vancouver, CA
What will the next revolution look like?, waterside contemporary, London, UK

2011
The Museum of Non Participation, NON Stage, Istanbul, TR

2010
Where a Straight Line Meets a Curve, Biennale On Media And Architecture, Graz, AT
The Museum of Non Participation, Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES
Image Event, Le Centre de la Photographie, Genève, CH

2009
The Museum of Non Participation, TENT, Rotterdam, NL
What will the next revolution look like?, Werkleitz Festival, Halle/Salle, DE

Grants and awards


2014
Artes Mundi 6 (shortlist), Cardiff, UK

2012
Creative Capital, US
Jarman Award (shortlist), UK

2010
Festival Award winner, The 22nd Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, US
FLAMIN Productions (shortlist), London, UK

2009
Transmediale Award (shortlist), Berlin, DE

2008
Filmische Wahrheiten, Production Grant, The Museum of Contemporary Cinema Foundation, Madrid, ES
Film London Grant, London, UK

2007
London Artists’ Film and Video Awards (LAFVA), London, UK

Talks and presentations


2014
Deep State with author Stephen Graham, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastke, UK
Mirrorcity, Hayward Gallery, London, UK

2013
The Spirit of Utopia, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Ibraaz Talks: On Social Imagination, with Omar Kholeif, SALT, Istanbul, TR

2012
Talk with China Miéville about Deep State, London Review of Books Bookshop, London, UK
The Artist as Ethnographer Symposium, Musée du Quai Branly and Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
Institutions by Artists, PAARC, Fillip, ARCA, Vancouver, CA

2011
Direct Speech Acts, Centre for the Study of Contemporary Art, University College, London, UK

2010
The lure of the lens in art practice and research methods, Tate Britain, London, UK
Talk with Kodwo Eshun and Anjalika Sagar of The Otolith Group, The Showroom, London, UK

2009
International Documentary Festival, Amsterdam, NL
Efeito Cinema Maio, São Paulo, BR
Artists Talk : The General and the Specific, Gasworks, London, UK
The Museum of Non Participation, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK

2008
Morris’ Mirrors, TENT, Sprüth Magers, London, UK
Imagined Futures, Camden Art Centre, London, UK

2006
VIVID, Vivid, London, UK

2004
Sweatshop, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Crossing Boundaries, Tate Modern, London, UK

2001
Real and Imaginary Spaces, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK

Publications


2014
House of the Unexpected, by Haema Sivanesan, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, CA
Per/Form, by Chantal Pontbriand, Sternberg Press/ Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, ES
India: Visions from the Outside, by Shanay Jhaveri, Cultuurcentrum Brugge, Brugge, BE

2013
Anthropology and Art Practice, by Arnd Schneider, Christopher Wright, Bloomsbury, London, UK
Acts of Definition and Redefinition, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US

2012
They don't know why, but they keep doing it, by Pierre d'Alancaisez, waterside contemporary, London, UK

Residencies


SAVAC and the Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, US

2011
ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, DE
Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, EG

2009
Serpentine Gallery’s Centre for Possible Studies (CfPS), London, UK
EMARE residency, Werkleitz Center for Media Art, Halle (Saale), DE

2008
VASL Residency in collaboration with Gasworks, Karachi, PK

Reviews


2015
Body, Speech, and Resistance: A Reading of Recent Works by Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, by Yesomi Umolu, afterimage, 42.4
The Unreliable Narrator, by Galit Mana, Aesthetica Short Film Festival
The Unreliable Narrator, by Nicole Rodríguez, ArtSlant, April 2015

2014
Science Fiction: New Death, by Rob Dickinson, Art Monthly, May 2014
Hold Your Ground, by Susanna Davies-Crook, Dazed Digital
Flaherty Will Get You Everywhere, by Leo Goldsmith, artforum.com
We Need Stories, by Vieble Bryld, dox, Fall 2014, #103
The Unreliable Narrator, by Stephanie Bailey, ArtForum, November 2014
Flaherty Will Get You Everywhere, by Leo Goldsmith, ArtForum online
Artes Mundi, by Victoria Sadler, Huffinton Post

2013
The Museum of Non Participation at Walker Art Center, by Julia Bryan-Wilson, Art Forum, September 2013
Reconstitution, by Karen Goldberg, ArtReview

2012
On the Edgware Road, by Nick Warner / Andrew J Stooke, Art Monthly, May 2012
Museum Show at the Arnolfini, Bristol, by Stephen Lee, Art Monthly, February 2012
Hold Your Ground, by Helen Sumpter, TimeOut London, 14 May
Deep State, by Oliver Basciano, Art Review, November 2012
Museum Show, by Sam Thorne, Frieze, April 2012

2011
Image-mouvement: Image Event, by Robert Barry, Frieze

2010
Exception, Rule and Architecture out-of-field, by Marko Jobst, rhizomes.21
Artists at Work: Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, by Gemma Sharpe, Afterall online
One reading in an open system, by Chris Perry,
Feature and front cover, by Maxa Zoller, Art Monthly
Feature and artist project, Kaleidoscope Magazine
The Future NOW Greats, by Laura McLean-Ferris, Art Review Magazine

2009
The Museum of Non Participation, by Josephine Breese, thisistomorrow.info
Monuments with a Horizon Line II, by Daniel Miller, Frieze, March 2009

2007
Artists talking, by Sonia Dyer, a-n, November 2007

Collections


Württembergisher Kunstverein Stuttgart, Expanded Cinema Study Collection, Stuttgart, DE
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US