David Tristan Birkin
Encyclopedia
David Birkin is a British artist working in photography, performance and sculpture. In 2009, he married the performance artist, Eloise Fornieles, in a disused slate mine in North Wales. They live and work in London.
, UCL
1996-99 BA Human Sciences (Anthropology), University of Oxford
, his grandmother, Judy Campbell
, his cousin, Charlotte Gainsbourg
and his brother, the late poet and musician, Anno Birkin. He grew up between London
and New York City
, eventually returning to the UK to study Human Sciences and Anthropology
at Oxford University (1996–1999). He worked as an actor in film and theatre, including productions for the National Theatre
, Peter Hall Company and Brooklyn Academy of Music
, and narrated the English translation of Chris Marker
and Alan Resnais' 1953 film Les statues meurent aussi at the French Institute in London. He has since written and photographed editorial commissions on subjects ranging from the deforestation of orangutan
habitat in Borneo
to the Afghan Film Institute in Kabul
, and has performed in films by the artist Nathaniel Mellors for the 2009 Tate Triennial, the 2010 British Art Show at the Hayward Gallery and Ourhouse at the ICA, London.
Birkin had his first solo art exhibition in 2007 in London. The show included three works: a triptych of high-speed videos, a performance-installation and a series of large format photographs titled Confessions for which subjects were invited to confess a secret in front of a camera, while the exposure was determined by the length of time each person chose to speak. The works were bought by the photography collector, Zelda Cheatle, and he subsequently showed in exhibitions at the Courtauld Institute, Paradise Row, Michael Hoppen Gallery, James Hyman Gallery, Other Criteria, Trolley, Hot Shoe, Photomonth, Kraków and Baibakov Art Projects, Moscow. In 2008, he helped set up the Speakers' Society: a non-profit educational organisation sponsored by Outset and dedicated to debate in contemporary art, culture and politics. Past speakers' have included the philosophers John Gray and Simon Critchley, artists Jake Chapman and Cornelia Parker in conversation with Marina Warner, Tate photography curator Simon Baker and the director of the Iraq Body Count, John Sloboda.
In 2009, Birkin began a postgraduate degree at the Slade School of Fine Art (University College London) with a scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He received a bursary from the National Media Museum and was awarded the Sovereign Art Prize for his Diptych exhibited at the Barbican in 2010. Birkin graduated from the Slade in 2011 with an MA in Fine Art. He subsequently exhibited as part of the Saatchi Gallery's 2011 New Sensations and curated an exhibition at the Tallinn Kunstihoone Art Hall in Estonia titled Moments of Reprieve: Representing Loss in Contemporary Photography, featuring works by Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Ori Gersht, Idris Khan, Eleonora Rossi, Indre Serpytyte and Taryn Simon.
Education
2009-11 MA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine ArtSlade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
, UCL
1996-99 BA Human Sciences (Anthropology), University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
Life and Works
Birkin comes from a family of artists that includes his father, the writer and film director Andrew Birkin, his aunt, the singer and actress Jane BirkinJane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...
, his grandmother, Judy Campbell
Judy Campbell
Judy Campbell was an English light comedy actress and occasional playwright, Noël Coward's muse. Her daughter is the actor and singer Jane Birkin, her son the screenwriter and director Andrew Birkin, and among her grandchildren are the actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, the poet Anno...
, his cousin, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
and his brother, the late poet and musician, Anno Birkin. He grew up between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, eventually returning to the UK to study Human Sciences and Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
at Oxford University (1996–1999). He worked as an actor in film and theatre, including productions for the National Theatre
National Theatre
National Theatre may refer to: -in Africa:*Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi, Kenya*National Theatre in Accra, Ghana-in Asia:*National Theater and Concert Hall, Republic of China in Taipei, Taiwan*National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo, Japan...
, Peter Hall Company and Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
, and narrated the English translation of Chris Marker
Chris Marker
Chris Marker is a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and film essayist. His best known films are La jetée , A Grin Without a Cat , Sans Soleil and AK , an essay film on the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa...
and Alan Resnais' 1953 film Les statues meurent aussi at the French Institute in London. He has since written and photographed editorial commissions on subjects ranging from the deforestation of orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
habitat in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
to the Afghan Film Institute in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, and has performed in films by the artist Nathaniel Mellors for the 2009 Tate Triennial, the 2010 British Art Show at the Hayward Gallery and Ourhouse at the ICA, London.
Birkin had his first solo art exhibition in 2007 in London. The show included three works: a triptych of high-speed videos, a performance-installation and a series of large format photographs titled Confessions for which subjects were invited to confess a secret in front of a camera, while the exposure was determined by the length of time each person chose to speak. The works were bought by the photography collector, Zelda Cheatle, and he subsequently showed in exhibitions at the Courtauld Institute, Paradise Row, Michael Hoppen Gallery, James Hyman Gallery, Other Criteria, Trolley, Hot Shoe, Photomonth, Kraków and Baibakov Art Projects, Moscow. In 2008, he helped set up the Speakers' Society: a non-profit educational organisation sponsored by Outset and dedicated to debate in contemporary art, culture and politics. Past speakers' have included the philosophers John Gray and Simon Critchley, artists Jake Chapman and Cornelia Parker in conversation with Marina Warner, Tate photography curator Simon Baker and the director of the Iraq Body Count, John Sloboda.
In 2009, Birkin began a postgraduate degree at the Slade School of Fine Art (University College London) with a scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He received a bursary from the National Media Museum and was awarded the Sovereign Art Prize for his Diptych exhibited at the Barbican in 2010. Birkin graduated from the Slade in 2011 with an MA in Fine Art. He subsequently exhibited as part of the Saatchi Gallery's 2011 New Sensations and curated an exhibition at the Tallinn Kunstihoone Art Hall in Estonia titled Moments of Reprieve: Representing Loss in Contemporary Photography, featuring works by Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Ori Gersht, Idris Khan, Eleonora Rossi, Indre Serpytyte and Taryn Simon.