Biography
Katie Paterson (born 1981, Scotland) is widely regarded as one of the leading artists of her generation. Collaborating with scientists and researchers across the world, Paterson’s projects consider our place on Earth in the context of geological time and change. Her artworks make use of sophisticated technologies and specialist expertise to stage intimate, poetic and philosophical engagements between people and their natural environment. Combining a Romantic sensibility with a research-based approach, conceptual rigour and coolly minimalist presentation, her work collapses the distance between the viewer and the most distant edges of time and the cosmos.
Katie Paterson has broadcast the sounds of a melting glacier live, mapped all the dead stars, compiled a slide archive of darkness from the depths of the Universe, created a light bulb to simulate the experience of moonlight, and sent a recast meteorite back into space. Eliciting feelings of humility, wonder and melancholy akin to the experience of the Romantic sublime, Paterson's work is at once understated in gesture and yet monumental in scope.
Katie Paterson has exhibited internationally, from London to New York, Berlin to Seoul, and her works have been included in major exhibitions including Turner Contemporary, Hayward Gallery, Tate Britain, Kunsthalle Wien, MCA Sydney, Guggenheim Museum, and The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. She was winner of the Visual Arts category of the South Bank Awards, and is an Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh University.
Solo Exhibitions
Future Library
100 Year Commission
Oslo, Norway, 2014-2114
The Earth Has Many Keys
NYLO The Living Art Museum
Reykjavík, Iceland, 2021
NOW: Katie Paterson
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Edinburgh, UK, 2019-21
First There is a Mountain
Touring commission
25 venues, UK, 2019
A place that exists only in moonlight: Katie Paterson & JMW Turner
Turner Contemporary
Margate, UK, 2019
SALT
Utah Museum of Modern Art
USA, 2017
From Earth into a Black Hole
James Cohan
New York, USA, 2016
Katie Paterson
Centre PasquArt
Biel, Switzerland, 2016
Hollow
Permanent commission with Zeller&Moye
University of Bristol, UK, 2016
Totality
Somerset House
London, UK, 2016
Syzygy
The Lowry
Salford, UK, 2016
Le Champ du Ciel, Field of the Sky
FRAC Frache Comté
Besançon, France, 2015
Ideas
Ingleby Gallery
Edinburgh, UK, 2014
Earth-Moon-Earth
Jupiter Artland
Edinburgh, UK, 2014
Cine Dreams
Planetarium of the City of Milan, Trussardi Foundation
Italy, 2014
Eveningness
Kunstverein & Stiftung Springhornhof
Neuenkirchen, Germany, 2014
Second Moon
Locus+, commission
2014
Campo del Cielo, Field of the Sky
Collaboration with the European Space Agency
2014
In Another Time
Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre
UK, 2013
Katie Paterson
Kettle’s Yard
Cambridge, UK, 2013
Katie Paterson
Selfridges
London, UK, 2013
Inside this Desert
BAWAG Contemporary
Vienna, Austria, 2012
100 Billion Suns
Haunch of Venison
London, UK, 2012
Campo del Cielo, Field of the Sky
Exhibition Road Show, Olympics, commission
London, UK, 2012
FOCUS: Katie Paterson
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Texas, USA, 2012
Katie Paterson
PKM
Seoul, South Korea, 2011
Continuum
James Cohan
New York, USA, 2011
Transmission
Haunch of Venison
London, UK, 2010
Every Night About This Time
Whitstable Biennale, commission
Whitstable, UK, 2010
Streetlight Storm
Turner Contemporary, and Whitstable Biennale, commission
Deal pier, UK, 2009
Katie Paterson
Albion
London, UK, 2008
Encounters, Katie Paterson
Modern Art Oxford
Oxford, UK, 2008
Group Exhibitions
Light and Language
Lismore Castle Arts
Lismore, Ireland, 2021
Hotel Beethoven
BOZAR
Brussels, Belgium, 2020-21
Under the Stars
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia, 2020
Back to Earth
Serpentine Galleries
London, UK, 2020
Ander Mikalson and Katie Paterson: Artworks to Sonify and Colorize the Universe
Simons Center Gallery, Simons Center for Geometry and Physics
Stony Brook University, NY, 2020
To Bough and To Bend
Bridge Projects
Santa Monica, Los Angeles, 2020
Resistance of the Sleepers
UCCA Dune
Beijing, China, 2020
One Way Ticket to Mars
Kunsthal KAde
Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2020
Art Experiment: You're on Air
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Moscow, Russia, 2020
Stupor and tremolo. Sound Stories.
Halles aux Arts, Frac Franche-Comté
France, 2020
An Infinite and Omniverous Sky
University Galleries of Illinois State University
Illinois, USA, 2020
The Time is Now
Millennium Gallery, Museums Sheffield
UK, 2019-20
Fly Me To The Moon
Museum de Moderne Salzburg; Kunsthaus Zürich
2019-2020
24/7
Somerset House
London, UK, 2019
Moving to Mars
The Design Museum
London, UK, 2019
Resounding Change: Sonic Art and the Environment
Western Carolina University Museum
USA, 2019
L’Odysée des livres sauvés
Musée de l’imprimerie et de la communication graphique
Lyon, France, 2019
MAAN/MOON
Foto Museum Antwerp
Belgium, 2019
The Other Place
køs
Denmark, 2019
The Moon
National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich
London, UK, 2019
Night at Day
Centro Cultural Matucana 100
Santiago, Chile, 2019
The Moon: From Inner Worlds To Outer Space
Henie Onstad Kunstsenter
Oslo, Norway, 2019
The Moon: From Inner Worlds to Outer Space
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Denmark, 2018
In Pursuit of Elusive Horizons
Parafin
London, UK, 2018
Jacob’s Ladder
Ingleby Gallery
Edinburgh, UK, 2018
Astronomy Victorious: Understanding our Universe
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, UK, 2018
Earth-Moon-Earth
St Cecilia’s Hall
Edinburgh, UK, 2018
Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World
Spencer Museum of Art
University of Kansas, USA, 2018
A Measure of Humanity
Columbus Museum of Art
Ohio, USA, 2018
Seven Exhibitions
Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam
Germany, 2018
Slow Violence
University of Hertfordshire Arts
Hatfield, UK, 2018
Actions. The image of the world can be different
Kettle's Yard
Cambridge, UK, 2018
Life Time: Biological Clocks of the Universe
MU, Eindhoven
The Netherlands, 2018
Scaling the Sublime: art at the limits of landscape
Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham Lakeside Arts
Nottingham, UK, 2018
BUCHWELTEN
ALTANA Kulturstiftung
Bad Homburg vd Höhe, Germany, 2018
Apocalypse – End Without End
Natural History Museum Bern
Switzerland, 2018
OutLook
Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art
Guangzhou, China, 2018
ETRE PIERRE
Musee Zadkine
Paris, France, 2017
Islands, Constellations and Galapagos
Yokohama Triennale
Japan, 2017
Gray Matters
The Wexner Center for the Arts
Ohio, USA, 2017
Totality
Thinktank Science Museum
Birmingham, UK, 2017
Paysages révélés
Musée de Jouet
Moirans-en-Montagne, France, 2017
and per se and, Part III
Ingleby Gallery
Edinburgh, UK, 2017
A Certain Kind of Light
Towner Art Gallery
Eastbourne, UK, 2017
Between Poles and Tides
Talbot Rice Gallery
Edinburgh, UK, 2017
The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?)
Gwangju Biennale
South Korea, 2016
The Distant Unknown
OCAT
Shanghai, China, 2016
Starry Skies of Art
Serlachius Museum
Mänttä, Finland, 2016
The Scottish Endarkenment: Art and Unreason 1945 to the Present
Dovecot Gallery
Edinburgh, UK, 2016
Oeuvres. On precision, repetition and obsession
Slewe Gallery
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2016
Real Time
Arts Santa Monica
Barcelona, Spain, 2016
Setting Out
Apexart
New York, USA, 2016
A Lesson in Sculpture with John Latham
Henry Moore Institute
Leeds, UK, 2016
The Forces Behind the Forms
Galerie im Taxispalais
Innsbruck, Austria, 2016
The Forces Behind the Forms
Museen Haus Lange Und Haus Esters
Krefeld, Germany, 2016
The Forces Behind the Forms
Kunstmuseum Thun
Switzerland, 2016
Hemelbestormers
Garage Rotterdam
Netherlands, 2015
Threads: A Phantasmagoria about Distance
Kaunas Biennial
Lithuania, 2015
Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time and Beauty
Contemporary Jewish Museum
San Francisco, USA, 2015
Storylines
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York, USA, 2015
RARE EARTH
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary
Vienna, Austria, 2015
How to Construct a Time Machine
MK Gallery
Milton Keynes, UK, 2015
Listening, Hayward Touring Show
Baltic39, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
The Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK
SITE Gallery and Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery, Sheffield, UK
Art Exchange and Firstsite, Colchester, UK
2014-15
Dead Reckoning: Whorled Explorations
Kochi-Muziris Biennale
India, 2014
Rumors of the Météore
FRAC Lorraine
Metz, France, 2014
Outer Space
Bundeskunsthalle
Bonn, Germany, 2014
WeberWoche
Stroom den Haag
The Hague, Netherlands, 2014
The Fifth Season
James Cohan Gallery
New York, USA, 2014
Laisser les sons aller où ils vont
FRAC Franche-Comté
Besançon, France, 2014
They Used to Call it the Moon
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead, UK, 2014
Worlds in Collision: Adelaide International 2014
Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art
Adelaide, Australia, 2014
A Planetary Order
Christian Ehrentraut
Berlin, Germany, 2014
Republic of the Moon
Arts Catalyst, Bargehouse
London, UK, 2014
LIGHT SHOW
Hayward Gallery, London, UK
Auckland Art Museum, New Zealand
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates
2013-14
East Wing Biennial
The Courtauld Institute of Art
London, UK, 2013
Curiosity: Art, Wonder & the Pleasures of Knowing
Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
Castle Museum & Art Gallery Norwich, UK
de Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2013-14
Dissident Futures
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, USA, 2013
Foreign Bodies, Common Ground
Wellcome Collection
London, UK, 2013
LIFE: ON THE MOON
Various Small Fires
Los Angeles, USA, 2013
Suicide Narcissus
The Renaissance Society
The University of Chicago, USA, 2013
Tipping Point
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
UK, 2013
The Piano
Art Gallery of Alberta
Canada, 2013
Now Here is also Nowhere
The Henry Art Gallery
Seattle, USA, 2013
The Unseen
The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial
China, 2012
Metaphoria
Museo Arqueológico Martins Sarmento
Guimarães, Portugal, 2012
Nuit Blanche
Toronto
Canada, 2012
Expanded Drawing
Casal Solleric
Palma, Spain, 2012
The Sculpture Show
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Edinburgh, UK, 2012
Marking Time
Museum of Contemporary Art
Sydney, Australia, 2012
Light and Landscape
Storm King Art Center
New York, USA, 2012
100 Billion Suns (Venice)
Haunch of Venison and AnOther Magazine
during the 54th Venice Biennale, Italy, 2011
Exposure: Matt Keegan, Katie Paterson, Heather Rasmussen
Art Institute of Chicago
USA, 2011
Meer licht
Museum de Fundatie
Zwolle, Netherlands, 2011
Seeing is Knowing: the Universe
Weitz Center for Creativity
Minnesota, USA, 2011
Incheon Woman Artist's Biennale
South Korea, 2011
Nuit Blanche
Paris
France, 2011
Mystics or Rationalists?
Ingleby Gallery
Edinburgh, UK, 2011
As the World Turns
Anna Schwartz Gallery
Sydney, Australia, 2011
Constellations
Cornerhouse
Manchester, UK, 2011
Wild Sky
Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst
Oldenburg, Germany, 2011
Space. About a Dream
Kunsthalle Wien
Austria, 2011
Cage Mix
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead, UK, 2010
Systematic
176
London, UK, 2010
noire et pourtant lumineuse
Matthew Bown Gallery
Berlin, Germany, 2010
Map Marathon: Maps for the 21st Century
Serpentine Gallery
London, UK, 2010
PERFORMA 09
New York, USA, 2009
Life-forms
Bonniers Konsthall
Stockholm, Sweden, 2009
Universal Code
The Power Plant
Toronto, Canada, 2009
Earth-Moon-Earth
Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts
Nottingham, UK, 2009
Contemporary Eye: Material Matters
Pallant House Gallery
Chichester, UK, 2009
Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009
Tate Britain
London, UK, 2009
Dead Air
FRAC Collection Aquitaine
Bordeaux, France, 2009
Flow
CCAndratx
Mallorca, Spain, 2009
Awards and Residencies
The Arts Council Collection commission
70th Anniversary
UK, 2016
The Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize
(PIAC), shortlisted
France, 2015