>Stephen Willats
Artist
Stephen Willats, born in 1943, is a British artist who lives and works in London, and initially studied on the influential 'Ground Course' at Ealing School of Art from 1962 to 1963. Since the 1960s, Willats' projects have centred on the relationships between individuals in society, often focusing on aspects of cognitive behaviour, the ways people encounter one another, how they reach agreement, and how they respond to their environment. Willats combines his rich theoretical knowledge of cybernetics, learning theory, and interactive, self-organising systems with a desire to operate in the fabric of everyday reality. Taking place anywhere from institutional galleries to tennis clubs and inner-city housing estates, his projects challenge the notion of art as a passive activity, transforming it into an agent of social change. Willats is editor and publisher of Control Magazine. From 1972 - 1973 he was Director of the Centre of Behavioural Art, Gallery House, London, and from1979-1980 he was the D.A.A.D. Fellowship artist in West Berlin. He was convenor of the symposium, 'Art Creating Society' at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford in 1990. 'Stephen Willats Printed Archive' was established at Victoria and Albert Museum in 1991. Most recently, Willats presented a solo show at the Victoria Miro Gallery, London in September 2006.
Related SHOWstudio Projects
MULTIPLE CLOTHING
( 8 March 2005)'Multiple Clothing' presents a selection of clothing-based works by British artist Stephen Willats' that spanned 40 years of practice. Willats...
Selected Exhibitions
'Medium Fotografie, Stampa, Basil, Switzerland, 2006
'Multichannel Life', Galerie Christian Nagel, Koln, Cologne, Germany, 2005
'Ordering the Ordinary, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, England, 2005
'Kust Licht Kunst', Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Holland, 1966
'Visual Automatics & Visual Transmitters'. Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1966
'Kinetic Art', Hayward Gallery, London, 1970
'Electric Theatre', ICA Gallery, London, 1971
'Art as Thought Process', Serpentine Gallery, London, 1974
'Kunst und Politik', Basischer Kunstverein, Karlsuhe, Germany, 1981
'Meta Filter and Related Works', Tate Gallery, London, 1982
'Angst in den Strasse', Rudiger Schottle Galerie, Munich
'Inside The Night', Lisson Gallery, London, 1983
'Under Cover', Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, 1983
'Doppelganger', Lisson Gallery, London, 1985
'The British Art Show', National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, 1985
'Multiple Clothing', Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, 1994
'Imprint 93', City Racing, London, 1995
'Street Talk', Gallery Victoria Miro, London, 1997
'Random Encounter', Southampton City Art Gallery, 1998
'Live In Your Head', Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2000
'Protest And Survive', Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2000
'Cognition Control. From The Archives of Stephen Willats', Institute of Visual Culture. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2002
'Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered', Migros Museum, Zurich, 2003
Selected Collections
Victoria & Albert Museum, Clothing and Dress Department, London