Neal White is an artist based in London who works on projects that frequently connect complex threads between social, political and techno-scientific modes and fields of inquiry. His work situates the ruptures and impacts of our increased detachment from the natural world by paying close attention to both embodied experience and anthropogenic landscapes that are both shaped by competing and sometimes violent epistemic imaginaries of power and control that impact people, places and environments.
Following his Masters in Digital Arts and a period exhibiting Internationally with a groundreaking collective of artists/coders based in London; Soda (1997-2002), White’s projects emerged through residencies in scientific laboratories. His early work in this area, informed by technological interests, began to probe sensitive ethical concerns within social contexts, often situating the artist and viewer as an experimental subject. Expanding his own post-studio practice through construction of displaced offsite structures; urban space stations, remote desert studio labs etc, White started to explore where and how techno-scientific imaginaries are connected to lived experiences and places. Leading to the founding of Office of Experiments, itself a project exploring instituent/collective practice, White continued this work whilst learning about investigative methods from collaborators including Arts Catalyst, N55 and members of Center for Land Use Interpretation (USA). Rich encounters with artists (John Latham/ Barbara Steveni), activists (Mike Kenner), academics (Geographers, Anthropologists, STS Scholars) and later theoretical architects (Monsoon Assemblages) shifted his interest to where knowledge is situated, to whom it speaks and how. This is now a space of inquiry that shapes his own work as well as his interests in the modes and processes of artistic investigation and practice connecting social, environmental and ecological struggles across internationally linked conflicted landscapes and sites of contention.
Selected exhibition history includes; Glazen Huis, Amstelpark, Amsterdam (2022), Central Pavillion of Venice Biennale of Architecture, Italy (2021), Konsthalle, Trondheim (2020), Fargfabriken, Stockholm (2017), Henry Moore Institute (2005, 2016), Royal College of Art (2016), Objectif Exhibitions, Antwerp (2015), Portikus, Stadehlschule, Frankfurt (2014-15), Whitechapel Gallery (2014), TULCA, Galway (2013), Chelsea Space (2010), John Hansard Gallery (2008-9), Camden Roundhouse (2006), Natural History Museum (2003), Moderna Museet (1999) Lux Galllery (1998), Gasworks (1998). Work has been funded by amongst others; Mondriaan Fund (NL), Arts Council of England, Henry Moore Institute and Henry Moore Foundation, The Wellcome Trust and Center for Land Use Interpretation, Utah, USA, amongst many others in Europe. Selected works are in the collection of the The Henry Moore Insitute and Leeds Gallery Sculpture Collection.
Many of the exhibitions listed include collaborative projects, specifically with artist Tina O’Connell. Other collaborations include; Monsoon Assemblages, The Deep Field Project (Diann Bauer, Jol Thoms), Incidental Unit / O+I, N55, Mike Kenner, and many others. Other collaborative work and artistic research has been undertaken with Office of Experiments - see link in Menu.
Neal White is a Professor of Art at University of Westminster. He is Director of CREAM, and a founding member of Ecological Futurisms collective. He was a curator of the Soil Assembly at Kochi Muziris Biennale 2023, with Srishti Manipal Institute of Art & Design (IN) Makery (FR) and Hacketeria (CH). He is also currently a visiting research at Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
London Studio Contact ︎contact form
Links to academic publications, talks etc. are accessible via Neal White’s profile at CREAM.
Full Exhibition list and artist CV available on request - please use contact form.
Website front image: Asymmetic Power Protest (Unauthorised access). Dugway Proving Grounds / UTT- a documented protest on the edges of the largest US Military Bombing Range. (UTT) - Utah. 2007. The custom made mobile structure (F-Utility Vehicle) and placards with equations (machine decipherable) used in war games, and military planning that address zero-sum scenarios are elements of a work that address the asymmeties of power in democracies. Undertaken whilst in residence; Center for Land Use Interpretation, Wendover, Utah, funded by Henry Moore Foundation.