James Richards: Requests and Antisongs
For his upcoming ICA exhibition, James Richards will present new and recent works which continue his ongoing exploration of collage, installation and sound.
Taking his video Radio At Night (2015) as a starting point, Richards will present three new works which unfold and expand their compositional logic into three distinct, but linked pieces. These will sit across the ICA’s Lower and Upper Galleries separated physically, but joined conceptually across the spaces.
Speaking about the ICA exhibition, Richards explained: “My aim is to work on an exhibition that will have three parts, iterations or edits. I want to play with déjà vu, as well as a certain form of chiming, whereby works echo and reflect each other’’.
Having developed a language for composing images and sounds into highly affective video works, Richards’ recent pieces have been separating these elements out again. The works allow space for multi-channel sound installation and videos that compose material according to the silent internal logics of the footage they contain. In his recent installations, Richards has been “smearing and spreading material across multiple rooms” – allowing images and soundtracks to wash over each other, a quality that will form an integral part of his exhibition at the ICA.
James Richards (b. 1983) is a British artist presently residing in Berlin. Born in Cardiff, Richard’s studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art & Design, London.
Recent solo-shows include ‘Crumb Mahogany’ Bergen Kunsthall, 2016; ‘Radio At Night’ Museum of Contemporary Art Bordeaux, (2016); ‘James Richards’, Kunstverein München, Munich (2015); ‘Raking Light’, Cabinet, London (2014); ‘The Screens”, Rodeo, Istanbul (2013); and ‘James Richards’, Chisenhale, London (2011).
He recently exhibited as part of ‘Saltwater: A Theory of Thought Forms’, 14th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2015); ‘Speculations On Anonymous Materials’, Fridericianum, Kassel (2014); ‘Meanwhile… Suddenly, and Then’, 12th Lyon Biennial (2013); ‘The Encyclopedic Palace’, 55th Venice Biennale (2013); ‘Frozen Lakes’, Artists Space, New York; ‘Clunie Reid and James Richards, Art Now’, Tate Britain (2010); and ‘Nought to Sixty’, ICA, London (2008).
James Richards has been selected to represent Cymru yn Fenis Wales in Venice 2017 in a presentation to be curated by Chapter Arts Centre for the 57th International Art Exhibition, the Venice Biennale. The exhibition is commissioned by the Arts Council of Wales and curated by Hannah Firth, Director of Programme, Chapter.
In 2014, Richards was nominated for the Tate’s Turner Prize and was awarded the 2014 Ars Viva Prize for young artists. In 2013-14 he was in residency with the DAAD Berlin and in 2012 received the 2012 Jarman award for film and video.
Richards’ exhibition is co-commissioned by Bergen Kunsthall, ICA London and Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, where the exhibition will travel throughout 2016-2017. The exhibition will be reconfigured and adapted for the particular architectural environment of the galleries in each institution.
An extensive public programme curated by James Richards will take place alongside the exhibition to include talks, performances and film screenings. A catalogue will coincide with all three exhibitions, edited by Isla leaver Yap.
