Jeremy Millar is an artist based in London.

He is currently Head of Programme, Writing,
at the Royal College of Art, London.

From a recent presentation on his work:

‘In the mid-1970s, the anthropologist Elizabeth Fisher proposed her “Carrier Bag Theory of Human Evolution” in which she proposed that the first tool developed by our prehistoric ancestors was not a weapon — that with which to enforce — but rather some form of container, in which things could be gathered. (The idea was later adopted by Ursula Le Guin in her “Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”.)

‘This is how I’ve long thought of my practice, as a container for many diverse things, whether the pornographic obsessions of Georges Bataille or the lustre of Chinese glazes, the ludic translations of Anne Carson, or the theology of relics. It is one of the few benefits of age that every so often one can simply look into one’s bag and consider what one has gathered. There’s another way one might describe this: to attend means both “to give attention to” and “to wait for”, and this seems to be what is most important at the moment, in my relationship to my work: to attend.’

Contact
Selected Solo Exhibitions

2014
Museum Stzuki, Lodz
Whitstable Biennale

2013
Chandelier, London
‘The Oblate’, Southampton City Art Gallery

2012
‘A Scale of Time’, Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon

2011   
‘Mondegreen’, Project Arts Centre, Dublin
Collaborative two-person exhibition with Canadian artist, Geoffrey Farmer.

‘Resemblances, Sympathies, and Other Acts’, CCA, Glasgow

2010
‘Amongst Others’, Plymouth Arts Centre

The Seweryn Udziela Museum of Ethnography, Krakow
HICA, Loch Ruthven, Inverness-shire

2009–2010
‘Given’, National Maritime Museum, London

‘Projector’, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham

2007   
Sleeper, Edinburgh
‘Plum Tree Blossom’, Inverleith House, Edinburgh

2006
‘Zugzwang (almost complete)’, Metropole Gallery, Folkestone; also permanent public installation, coastal park, Folkestone/



Selected Group Exhibitions and Screenings

2024
‘For What It’s Worth: Value Systems in Art since 1960’, The Warehouse, Dallas, Texas. Curated by Thomas Feulmer and Lisa Le Feuvre.

2022
‘The Horror Show!’, Somerset House, London. Curated by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, with Claire Catterall.

2021
‘The Feuilleton: I Will Bear Witness’, Spoleto, Italy. Curated by Jo Melvin.

2018
‘Metaphoria III’, Centre 104, Paris. Curated by Silvia Guerra.
Machines à penser’, Fondazione Prada, Venice. Curated by Dieter Roelstraete.


2017
‘The Other Dark: Tacita Dean, Jeremy Millar and Nashashibi/Skaer’, Sirius Art Centre, Cobh. Curated by Kirstie North.
‘material / rearranged / to / be’, collaboration with Siobhan Davies Dance, Barbican Curve (touring to Tramway, Glasgow; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Bluecoat, Liverpool)

2016
‘Scholar, Courtier, Magician: the Lost Library of John Dee’, Royal College of Physicians, London

2015
Centre Pompidou, Paris
‘Jakarta Biennale’, Jakarta, Indonesia
‘Self’, Turner Contemporary, Margate
‘Made in China’, Willis Museum, Basingstoke

2013
‘Curiosity: Art and the Pleasure of Knowing’, Turner Contemporary; then touring to Norwich and Amsterdam. Curated by Brian Dillon.
‘The World is Almost Six Thousand Years Old’, The Collection, Lincoln. Curated by Tom Morton.
‘Mythographies’, Yaffo23, Jerusalem. Curated by Roy Brand

2012
‘The Future’s Not What It Used To Be’, Chapter, Cardiff
‘The Associates’, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
‘Membra Disjecta for John Cage’, MQ, Vienna, then touring to DOX, Prague, and GVUO, Ostrava

2011
‘Mystics rather than rationalists’, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh

2010
‘Never the Same River (Possible Futures, Probable Pasts)’, Camden Arts Centre, London
‘Occupied Island’, Brijuni, Croatia
‘Karen Russo’, Centre for Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv
‘Glasgow International Festivals Primer’, Glasgow
‘The Dark Monarch’, Towner, Eastbourne

2009   
‘Sculpture of Space Age’, David Roberts Art Foundation, London
‘The Dark Monarch’, Tate St Ives
‘Open Exhibition’, Turner Contemporary, Margate

2007       
‘Revisiting the Past and Presenting the Future’, Vigeland Museum, Oslo
‘Exhibitions’ Ruins / Emotional Landscapes’, SAFN, Reykjavik

2005       
Bloomberg Space, London
‘There Where You Are Not’, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton

2001   
‘Nothing’, NGCA, Sunderland; CCA, Vinius; Rooseum, Malmö; Mead Gallery, University of Warwick

2000   
‘Another Place’, Tramway, Glasgow
‘A Shot in the Head’, Lisson Gallery, London

1992
‘If the Climate is Hell then the Company is Heaven — Contemporary British Photography’, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool



Selected Exhibitions (curator)

2016
‘John Cage— Lecture on the Weather’, Frith Street Gallery, London
‘Overlay’, White Rainbow, London
‘Notes on Gesture (I, II, III)’, Siobhan Davies Dance, London


2010–11   
‘Every Day is a Good Day — The Visual Art of John Cage’, Hayward Touring (travelling to Gateshead, Cambridge, Huddersfield, Glasgow, Bexhill-on-Sea, London)

2007   
‘Waterlog’ (Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, and The Collection, Lincoln)

2003   
‘Make Life Beautiful! The Dandy in Photography from 1850 until the Present Day’, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
‘Peter Fraser and Rachel Harrison’, University of Brighton Gallery
‘Boris Mikhailov’, Gardner Arts Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton

2002   
‘Peter Fraser’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London

2000   
‘escape’, Media City Seoul 2000, Seoul, South Korea

‘New Contemporaries 2000’, (selected with Gavin Turk and Sarah Kent) Milton Keynes Gallery, Cornerhouse, Manchester, and touring
‘Boris Mikhailov’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London

1999
‘Blue Suburban Skies’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London
‘MayDay’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London
‘Alexander and Susan Maris’, RAM Galleri, Oslo

1998   
‘Speed’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, and MacDonald Stewart Art Gallery, Guelph, Ontario

1997       
‘Airport’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London
‘Roman Signer / David Shrigley’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London

1996   
‘Philip-Lorca diCorcia’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London
‘Larry Clark — Kids’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London
'The Speed of Light, The Speed of Sound', Netherlands Design Institute, Amsterdam
‘I am Curious, Green’, Hales Gallery, London

1994
‘The Institute of Cultural Anxiety — Works from the Collection’, ICA, London



Bibliography

2022
Robert Barry, ‘Afraid of the Dark House: Horror at Somerset House’, The Quietus, 10 December 2022, https://thequietus.com/articles/32456-the-horror-show-somerset-house-london-review

Juliet Jacques, ‘The Horror Story of Modern Britain’, Art Review, 2 November 2022, https://artreview.com/the-horror-story-of-modern-britain-somerset-house/

Emily Dinsdale, ‘The Horror Show! reveals the darkest corners of Britain’s cultural psyche’, Dazed, 27 October 2022, https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/57303/1/the-horror-show-twisted-tale-modern-britain-somerset-house-exhibition-review

Jonathan Jones, ‘The Horror Show! review – the bands, TV shows and artists who revealed Britain’s sinister psyche’, The Guardian, 26 October 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/26/the-horror-show-review-somerset-house-london-a-twisted-tale-of-modern-britain


2019
Jonathan P Watts, ‘How Jeremy Millar Anticipated the Uncertainty of the Digital Age’, Frieze, Issue 207, Nov–Dec 2019
https://frieze.com/article/how-jeremy-millar-anticipated-uncertainty-digital-age

2017
Erin Whitcroft, ‘Siobhan Davies Dance, Barbican Curve Gallery, London, review: It attempts to step beyond the cliché of body language to reveal something deeper’, The Independent, 26 January 2017
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/siobhan-davies-dance-barbican-curve-gallery-a7546916.html

Judith Mackrell, ‘Think on your feet: how Siobhan Davies’ dance show connects mind and body’, The Guardina, 23 January 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/jan/23/siobhan-davies-dance-show-barbican-curve-gallery

Lyndsey Winship, ‘Siobhan Davies Dance, material / rearranged / to / be review: A world of small details asking big questions’, Evening Standard, 23 January 2017, https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/siobhan-davies-dance-materialrearrangedtobe-review-a-world-of-small-details-asking-big-questions-a3446961.html

‘Front Row’, BBC Radio 4, Friday 20 January 2017

2016
Jamie Sutcliffe, ‘London Round-Up’, Art Monthly, Issue 400, October 2015

2015
Hans David Tampubolon, ‘Jeremy Millar: Observing and Researching Art’, The Jakarta Post, 23 December 2015, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/23/jeremy-millar-observing-researching-art.html

Carolina A. Miranda, ‘Culture: High and Low’, Los Angeles Times, 2 February 2015
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-roundup-frank-gehry-bag-building-frank-lloyd-gallery-closes-20150202-column.html#page=1

Priscilla Frank, ‘In A New Take On The Selfie, This Artist Casts His Own Dead Body’, The Huffington Post, 3 February 2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/no-this-isnt-a-dead-body-_n_6599150.html

Lorena Muñoz-Alonso, ‘Artist Displays Dead Body as Part of “Selfie” Exhibition’, artnet.com, 28 January 2015
http://news.artnet.com/art-world/artist-displays-dead-body-as-part-of-selfie-exhibition-234692

Adrian Searle, ‘Me Me Meme: artists’ selfies paint the full spectrum of self-obsession’, The Guardian, 23 January 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/23/self-turner-contemporary-margate-review-artists-selfies-painting

2014
Louisa Buck, ‘Whitstable Biennale’, Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/35532/whitstable-biennale-art-beside-the-seaside.html

Mark Sheerin, ‘Whitstable Biennale 2014’, Culture24, 3 June 2014, http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/live-and-public-art/art483898-visual-art-film-and-performance-at-the-seaside-Whitstable-Biennale-2014

2013
Dany Louise, ‘Beautiful ArtSOUTH’, a-n,
https://dev.a-n.co.uk/news/beautiful-artsouth-new-commissions-and-unusual-collaborations/

2012
Colin Perry, ‘The Associates’, in Art Monthly, November 2012

2011
‘Best of 2011’, The List, 14 December 2011, http://www.list.co.uk/article/39350-best-of-2011-visual-art/

Isobel Harbison, ‘Jeremy Millar and Geoffrey Farmer’, in Frieze, November–December 2011

Moira Jeffrey, ‘Waving and Drowning’, in Scotland on Sunday, 3 April 2011

‘Shock effect of life in the raw’, in The Herald, 1 April 2011

‘Gallery staff issue warning to kids over shock art work’, in Glasgow Evening Times, 31 March 2011

2010
David Briers, ‘Sounds of Silence’, in Art Monthly, November 2010

Sam Thorne, ‘John Cage’, in Frieze, October 2010

Coline Milliard, ‘The Falmouth Convention’, in Art Monthly, July–August 2010

Michelle Cotton, ‘The Dark Monarch’, in Frieze, January–February 2010

2009
Andrew Hunt, ‘Jeremy Millar’, in Art Monthly, November 2009–December 2010

Skye Sherwin, 'Exhibitionist: The best art shows to see this week', The Guardian (30 October)

Brian Dillon, 'The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art', The Guardian (24 October)

Brian Dillon, 'Future Greats', ArtReview (March 2009)

2008
Brian Dillon, ‘Searching for Sebald: Photography After W.G. Sebald’, Aperture (Summer)

Megan Ratner, ‘Searching for Sebald’, Art on Paper (May / June)

‘Fischli and Weiss: The Way Things Go’, Canadian Art (Spring / March)

Adrian Searle, ‘Take me to your curator’, The Guardian (6 March 2008)

Tacita Dean, ‘Translating Apples’, The Art Book (Volume 15, Issue 1)

Jacqueline Mantle, ‘Fischli and Weiss: ‘The Way Things Go’, Interface (19 January)

2007
Brian Dillon, ‘Grain’, The Wire (November)

Brian Dillon, ‘Making the ruins speak’, Sight and Sound (October)

Rachel Hazelwood, ‘Waterlog: The Rings of Saturn’, Aesthetica (May–July)

2006
Brian Dillon, ‘Le Goût des Autres’, Frieze (Issue 102, October)


2005
Adrian Searle, ‘Secrets of the Forest’, The Guardian (20 December 2005)

Brian Dillon, ‘Street Life’, Frieze (Issue 93, September)

Paul Bonaventura, ‘Art Works — Place’, The Art Book (Vol. 12 Issue 3)

Craig Burnett, ‘Place’, Art Monthly (Issue 292)

Roger Tatley, ‘Place: Tacita Dean and Jeremy Millar’, Modern Painters (June)

2004
Sarah Kent, ‘Irrelevant Cautious Antique’, New Statesman (20 September)

Emily King, ‘The Charming Man’, Frieze (Issue 81, March)

2003
Rupert Christiansen, ‘Viewfinder’, The Daily Telegraph, (25 October 2003)

Philip Hoare, ‘Dandies of Britain, your country needs you!’, The Independent on Sunday (13 April)

2001
Mireille Ribière and Jan Baetens, Time, Narrative & the Fixed Image (Rodopi, 2001)

Adrian Searle, ‘Empty Promise’, The Guardian (24 April)

2000
Louisa Buck, Moving Targets 2: A User’s Guide to British Art Now (London: Tate Publishing)

Barry Schwabsky, ‘Media_City Seoul 2000’, Artforum (November)

1999
Dale McFarland, ‘Speed’, Frieze (Issue 44, January–February)

1998
Phil Baker, 'Does, or doesn't, the time fly?', Times Literary Supplement (2 October)

Rachel Withers, ‘Speed’, Artforum (December)

Martin Gayford, ‘That dizzy feeling’, The Spectator (3 October)

Gilda Williams, ‘Speed’, Art Monthly (Issue 220)

1997
Oliver Sumner, ‘Roman Signer’, Variant (Vol. 2 No. 2 Spring)

1996
Michael Gibbs, ‘The Speed of Light, The Speed of Sound’, Art Monthly (Issue 202, Dec 1996–January 1997)

Mark Sladen, ‘I am Curious’, Art Monthly (Issue 202, Dec 1996–Jan 1997)

1995
Stuart Morgan, ‘The Future’s Not What It Used To Be’, Frieze (March)

Simon Grant, ‘Institute of Cultural Anxiety’, Art Monthly (February)

Adrian Searle, ‘Turner Again’, Artforum (February)

Liam Gillick, ‘The Institute of Cultural Anxiety’, Blueprint (No. 114, February)

Richard Dorment, ‘Science Friction’, The Daily Telegraph (11 January)

William Feaver, ‘A Strange Ghetto of Allusions’, The Observer (8 January)

Adrian Searle, ‘Tense? Nervous? It might be art’, The Independent (3 January)