Susan Philipsz
Over the past two decades, Susan Philipsz has explored the psychological and sculptural potential of sound. The artist's immersive environments of architecture and song heighten the visitor’s engagement with their surroundings while inspiring thoughtful introspection. The music Philipsz selects – which has ranged from sixteenth century ballads and Irish folk tunes to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust – responds specifically to the space in which the work is installed. While each piece is unique, the storylines and references are often recognizable, exploring familiar themes of loss, longing, hope, and return. These universal narratives trigger personal reactions while also temporarily bridging the gaps between the individual and the collective, as well as interior and exterior spaces.
Born in 1965 in Glasgow, Philipsz currently lives and works in Berlin. She received a BFA in Sculpture from Duncan of Jordanstone College in Dundee, Scotland in 1993, and an MFA from the University of Ulster in Belfast in 1994. In 2000, she completed a fellowship at MoMA PS1 in New York. She received the Turner Prize in 2010 and was awarded an OBE in 2014 for services to British art.
Since the mid-1990s, Philipsz’s sound installations have been exhibited at many prestigious institutions and public venues around the world. She has presented solo exhibitions at Kunstmuseum Bonn (2020), Castello di Rivoli in Italy (2019), Tate Modern (2018) and Tate Britain (2015) in London, Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm (2017), Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria (2016), Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin (2014), the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh (2013), K21 Standehaus Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf, Germany (2013), Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (2011), Aspen Art Museum in Colorado (2010-11), Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State in Columbus, OH (2009-10), Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany (2009), Institute of Contemporary Art in London (2008), among others. Installations by Philipsz were included in Skulptur Projekte Muenster in 2007, the 55th Carnegie International in 2008 and the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial in 2020.
The artist’s major commissions include Lowlands, her Turner Prize-winning work for Glasgow International in 2010, SURROUND ME: A Song Cycle for the City of London, a public project organized by Artangel in London (2010-11); Study for Strings for dOCUMENTA 13 (2012), subsequently shown at MoMA in New York (2013) and performed live by the St. Louis Symphony at the Pulitzer Art Foundation (2020); Day is Done, a permanent installation organized by the Trust for Governors Island in New York (2014); New Canaan, a project for the Grace Farms Foundation (2015); Prelude in the Form of a Passacaglia at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2020), and Rosa at KW in Berlin (2021).
Philipsz’s work can be found in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Beyeler Foundation in Basel, Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Castello di Rivoli in Italy, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, SFMOMA in San Francisco, The Tate in London, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
-
Susan Philipsz: Sleep Close and Fast
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles July 15 - September 19, 2020 -
Susan Philipsz: Prelude in the Form of a Passacaglia
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles February 7 - 16, 2020 -
Songs in the Dark
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York January 11 - February 20, 2020 -
RESONATING SPACES
FONDATION BEYELER, BASEL October 6, 2019 - January 26, 2020 -
Susan Philipsz: Seven Tears
Pulitzer Arts Foundation September 6, 2019 - February 2, 2020 -
Susan Philipsz: I See a Darkness
The Tanks, Tate Modern December 13, 2018 - February 3, 2019 -
Susan Philipsz: A Single Voice
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York October 25 - December 15, 2018 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: SEPARATED STRINGS
Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany February 17 - May 6, 2018 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ
BONNIERS KONSTHALL, STOCKHOLM February 22 - May 6, 2017 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: RETURNING
KUNSTVEREIN HANNOVER December 12, 2016 - February 26, 2017 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: NIGHT AND FOG
KUNSTHAUS BREGENZ, AUSTRIA January 30 - April 3, 2016Scottish born Susan Philipsz is one of today’s leading artists. Her work revolves around a melancholic existentialism and explorations of the human voice. The majority of her acoustic works are...Read more -
Susan Philipsz: War Damaged Musical Instruments
Tate Britain November 21, 2015 - April 3, 2016War Damaged Musical Instruments features fourteen recordings of British and German brass and wind instruments damaged in conflicts over the last 200 years. The notes recorded are based on the...Read more -
Susan Philipsz: Part File Score
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York January 8 - February 14, 2015 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: DAY IS DONE
GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, NEW YORK May 24, 2014 - January 1, 2040 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: PART FILE SCORE
HAMBURGER BAHNHOF MUSEUM FÜR GEGENWART, BERLIN February 1 - March 4, 2014 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: THE MISSING STRING
K21, KUNSTSAMMLUNG NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN, DÜSSELDORF November 9, 2013 - April 6, 2014 -
Susan Philipsz: The Distant Sound
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York September 6 - October 20, 2012 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: STUDY FOR STRINGS
DOCUMENTA 13, KASSEL, GERMANY June 9 - November 16, 2012 -
Multiple Pleasures: Functional Objects in Contemporary Art
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York June 25 - July 30, 2010 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: LOWLANDS
GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2010 April 16 - May 3, 2010 -
Susan Philipsz: I See a Darkness
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York March 26 - May 1, 2010 -
Susan Philipsz: Here Comes Everybody
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York March 22 - April 18, 2008 -
SUSAN PHILIPSZ: THE LOST REFLECTION
SKULPTUR PROJEKTE MÜNSTER, GERMANY June 17 - September 30, 2007
-
Susan Philipsz: The Distant Sound
Susan Philipsz, 2014 Paperback, 90 pages
Publisher: Art And Theory Publishing
ISBN: 9198157345 Read more -
Susan Philipsz: Stay with Me
2005 Hardcover, pages
Publisher: MALMÖ KONSTHALL Read more -
Susan Philipsz: There is Nothing Left Here
Text by Peio Aguirre, Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes, Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith, Manuel Olveira, Lisa Rosendahl, Manuel Segade, 2008 Softcover, 165 pages
Publisher: XUNTA DE GALICIA Read more -
Susan Philipsz: I See a Darkness
Dieter Roelstraete, Susan Philipsz, 2008 Hardcover, 77 pages
Publisher: JARLA PARTILAGER Read more -
Susan Philipsz: You Are Not Alone
Brigitte Franzen, James Lingwood, Sara Arrhenius, Katrina M. Brown, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Maeve Connolly, Steven Connor, Brigitte Franzen, Barbara London, Dieter Roelstraete, Anna Sophia Schultz & Ross Sinclair, 2014 Read more -
Susan Philipsz: Follow Me
Genova Ilaria Bonacossa, Luca Cerizza, Chus Martinez, Paola Nicolin , 2015 Hardcover, silk screen print, 144 pages pages
Publisher: Humbolt Books
Dimensions: 13.6 x 19.6 cm Read more -
Susan Philipsz: Night and Fog
Theodor Ringborg, Linda Schädler, Thomas D. Trummer, 2016 Hardcover, 194 pages pages
Publisher: Kunsthaus Bregenz
Dimensions: 21 x 26.5 cm Read more
-
Susan Philipsz
The Bass April 15, 2021On Sunday, April 11, audiences joined artist Susan Philipsz for Small Talk, an informal conversation facilitated by Executive Director and Chief Curator Silvia Karman Cubiñá....Read more -
Susan Philipsz
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark | Songs As Trigger of Memory November 3, 2020“All of a sudden you are engaged in your environment.” Meet award-winning artist Susan Philipsz who uses her voice and the sculptural elements of sound...Read more -
Susan Philipsz
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen | Artist Talk with Susan Philipsz October 26, 2020The latest edition of our Artist Talks at the Fondation Beyeler features the Scottish artist Susan Philipsz (*1965) in conversation with Thomas Trummer, Director of...Read more -
Susan Philipsz
Pulitzer Arts Foundation | Susan Philipsz on “Too Much I Once Lamented” (2019) February 3, 2020Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1965, Turner Prize-winning artist Susan Philipsz is best known for her works that explore the potential of sound—often including her...Read more -
Susan Philipsz
Art21 | "Art in the Twenty-First Century" August 29, 2018Susan Philipsz introduces the ideas behind her 'War Damaged Musical Instruments' sound-based project in this preview of the upcoming “Berlin” episode from Season 9 of...Read more -
Susan Philipsz
National Galleries Scotland | Sound in Space February 2, 2018Susan Philipsz doesn’t define herself as a sound artist, but for over two decades the Turner Prize winner has pursued the notion of sound as...Read more -
Susan Philipsz
Artist talk with Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith, and Dr. Anne C. Shreffler at t Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York January 10, 2015Susan Philipsz's conversation with art critic Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith, and Dr. Anne C. Shreffler, Hanns Eisler scholar and Professor of Music at Harvard University...Read more