Paul Harrison
Fire Station Residency
2001-2005
Paul Harrison and John Wood are British artists. The pair have been working collaboratively since 1993 on single-channel videos, multi-screen video installations, prints, drawings and sculptures that elegantly fuse advanced aesthetic research with existential comedy. The artists’ spare, to-the-point works feature the actions of their own bodies, a wide variety of static and moving props, or combinations of both to illustrate the triumphs and tribulations of making art and having a life. The videos maintain a strict internal logic, with the action directly related to the duration of the work. Inside this ‘logical world’ action is allowed to happen for no apparent reason, tensions build between the environment and its inhabitant, play is encouraged and the influences on the work are intentionally mixed.
Recent solo exhibitions include: As logical as possible, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany (2017); I didn’t know I didn’t know it, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (2016); Things That Happen, Carroll/Fletcher Gallery, London (2012); Answers to Questions, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, H&R Blockspace, Kansas City Art Institute, and University of California Santa Barbara (2010-12). Recent group exhibitions include: On Struggling to remain present when you want to disappear, OCAT Museum, Shanghai,China (2018); [Re]construct, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield (2017).
Fire Station Residency 2001-2005
Acme's residency at the Fire Station is one of the most directly supportive schemes for artists in the United Kingdom, providing combined studio and living space at low rents, as well as a half rent residency for a deaf or disabled artist. This five year fixed-term residency scheme is intended to allow artists more time to concentrate on the development of their work and professional careers, and less time working to survive. 2001-2005 residents were selected by Angela Kingston (curator), David Panton (Co founder of Acme), Damien Robinson (artist and administrator), and Lindsay Seers (artist).