I was born in the wagon of a travelling show. My mother used to dance for the money they'd throw. Papa would do whatever he could; preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of 'Doctor Good'.
Alan Currall was born in 1964 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He grew up in Staffordshire and Ayrshire, Scotland. Between 1981 and 1983 he studied art at Newcastle-Under-Lyme School of Art and North Staffordshire Polytechnic and from 1989 to 1992 he studied painting at Staffordshire University. In 1993 he entered the MFA programme at Glasgow School of Art (GSA). Upon completing this in 1995 he remained in Glasgow, taking up teaching work at GSA. In 1998 he was the recipient of the Richard Hough Bursary. in 2002 he was selected for the inaugural Jerwood Platform award. In 2003 he was shortlisted for the Beck's Futures Prize. He continues to teach part-time at GSA, in the Department of Sculpture and Environmental Art, and between 2002 and 2010 he was a School of Fine Art Researcher. Between 2010 and 2017, he also taught part-time at Edinburgh College of Art on the Intermedia programme. He lives and works in rural Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2014
- Alan Currall, Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 2012
- The Carrot Stick Scenario, Liars of the Earth, Thankerton, Scotland.
- 2004
- Some things I want to show you, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 2002
- Alan Currall, The Jerwood Gallery, London, England.
- 2001
- Encyclopædia, Image Gallery, Bedford, England. Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, England. Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia
- Encyclopædia and Other Works, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia.
- Alan Currall, Signal Gallery, Malmo, Sweden
- 2000
- Encyclopædia, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, England. Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, England
- Encyclopædia and Other Works, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, England.
- 1999
- Self Defence/First Aid. http://www.allhorizons.org.uk (no longer online, curatorial project of Chris Evans)
- 1998
- Alan Currall. Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, New York, USA.
- 1996
- Now That I Am In Heaven... Fringe Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1995
- Soup/Spoon. Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
Group Exhibitions
- 2020
- Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories and Transformation, The Lighthouse, Glasgow.
- 2018
- Cabinet Interventions, Pollok House, Glasgow.
- 2017
- I Want! I Want! Art & Technology, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, England.
- 2015
- SOUTH OF NO NORTH: Approaches to art and performance. Siobhan Davies Dance, London
- 2014
- Ideas in things, Maria Stenfors, London, England.
- 2012
- Ourselves, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia.
- Semi, Rhubaba, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Tales of the City, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 2011
- Player Player Player, Poppy Sebire, London, England.
- 2010
- Hertie Querty, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Unwrapped. Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, England.
- 2009
- Running Time: Artists Films in Scotland 1960 to Now. Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Trying to Cope with Things that Aren’t Human (Part One). David Cunningham Projects, San Francisco, USA. AirSpaceGallery, Stoke-on-Trent, England. Cell Project Space, London, England.
- 2008
- Communication Suite, Wolfson Medical School, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 2007
- Persona Non Grata, One in the Other, London, England.
- 990 : General History of other areas, Beacon Art Project. Mablethorpe, England.
- The Juddykes, The Old Art shop At John Jones. London, England.
- A CDEFGHIJK MNOP STUV Z, Tranzit at Societé anonyme. Le Plateau/ Frac Ile-de-France, Paris, France.
- 2006
- I – Direct Ontology, Secession, Vienna, Austria.
- 2005
- Johanna Billing & Alan Currall, Display + Tranzit, Prague, Czech Republic.
- Out in the open, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland.
- iD, Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston Upon Hull, England.
- Narrow Focus, Tranzit Dielne Workshops, Bratislava, Slovakia.
- Sympathy for the Devil, Center of Contemporary Art (CAPC), Coimbra, Portugal.
- Size Matters: Exploring Scale in the Arts Council Collection, Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England. Millais Gallery, Southampton Institute, England. Djanogly Art Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, England. Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster, England. Norwich Castle Museum Art Gallery, Norwich, England. Gallery Oldham, Oldham, England.
- Critics’ Choice, F.A.C.T. Liverpool, England.
- 2004
- Electrohype 2004 - Third Nordic Biennial for Computer Based and High Technological Art, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden. Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg, Sweden.
- Database Imaginary, Walter Philips Gallery, Banff, Canada. Saidye Bronfman Center for the Arts, Quebec, Canada. Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
- Birthday Party, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- TGOZ, The Travelling Gallery, Touring Scotland.
- Stranger than Fiction, City Art Gallery, Leeds, England. Tullie House Art Gallery and Museum, Carlisle, England. Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales. Usher Gallery, Lincoln, England. Nottingham Castle, Nottingham, England. Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Brighton, England.
- Thinking Things Otherwise: The Personal Reconsidered, Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
- 2003
- Artist Videos from the Arts Council Collection, Waterloo Sunset Pavilion, Hayward Gallery, London, England.
- 25hrs. International Video Art Show, Poliesportiu El Raval, Barcelona, Spain.
- Beck’s Futures 2003, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England. Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Scotland. Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, England.
- Near Life Experience, Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London, England.
- Reality Check; Recent Developments in British Photography and Video, Poland Bunkier Gallery, Cracow, Poland. Gallery Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic. House of Artists, Zagreb, Croatia. 14 Wharf Road, London, England. Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
- 2002
- Somewhere, Places of Refuge in Art and Life, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, England.
- The GAP Show, Museum Am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany.
- Words from the Arts Council Collection, City Museum & Art Gallery, Plymouth, England. Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales. City Art Gallery, York, England. Gallery Oldham, England. The City Gallery, Leicester, England.
- Tell Me, M&M Gallery, Bornem, Belgium.
- Sonderprogram Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany.
- 2001
- Unter Freunden, Galerie Michael Zink, Munich, Germany.
- Impakt Festival, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
- Here & Now: Scottish Art 1990-2001, Dundee Contemporary Art and Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland.
- Click, Bendigo Art Gallery, Geelong Art Gallery, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Mildura Arts Centre Gallery and Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia.
- Open Country. Contemporary Scottish Artists, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- First There Is A Mountain... Generator, Dundee, Scotland.
- 2000
- Cool Green. Museum Of Contemporary Art, Washington D.C., USA.
- DNET. Lux Gallery, London, England.
- NOW Festival. Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, England.
- Another Place. Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 45ème Salon de Montrouge. Montrouge, Paris, France
- A Day Like Any Other. Stavanger Kulturhus, Stavanger, Norway.
- 1999
- Museum Magogo. Independant Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
- New Video From Great Britain. Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogota, Colombia. Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu, Hawaaii. Paco das Artes, Sao Paolo, Brazil. Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1998
- Fourth Wall. Royal National Theatre, London, England.
- Videor. Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland.
- Habitat, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia.
- The Pedestrian, The Changing Room, Stirling, Scotland.
- Single-Screen, Norwich Gallery, Norwich, England.
- Host, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Video Soup, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Basic Instruction, Art Projects Europe/Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- 1997
- New Video From Great Britain, Museum Of Modern Art, New York, USA.
- Nerve, Glasgow Projects, ArtSpace, Sydney, Australia.
- 60,70,80:90, The Showroom, London, England.
- Soup/Spoon, Cream at Nation, Liverpool, England.
- Glasgow: Real Life, Cornerhouse, Manchester, England.
- Speel, artis, S - Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
- International Film Festival Rotterdam, Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
- Hong Kong Island, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1996
- National Review of Live Art, The Arches, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Be er Monsta, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. The Griffin Bar, Glasgow, Scotland. Duke-of-York, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Smallest Gallery, London, England. Big Jack's Baggot Inn, Dublin, Ireland.
- Video Screening Room, Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork. Ireland.
- Amanda Bindley, Alan Currall, Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
- Current, The Pearce Institute, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Ripe, The Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, England.
- Chicken Farm, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Videos aus Glasgow, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany.
- Dimensions;-Five Artists From Great Britain, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany.
- New Contemporaries, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, England. Camden Arts Centre, London England.
- Transmissions, Free Parking, Toronto, Canada.
- Chicken Farm, A Lick and A Promise and Best of the Fest*, Fringe Film and Video Festival. Film House and Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Never-A-Dumb-Moment, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Scotland. Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, England.
- Phenomenal. Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Pandaemonium, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and touring the U.K.
- 1995
- trans.form.identity, Kulturministeriets Udstillingshus for Nutidig Kunst, Overgaden, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Videos aus Glasgow, Un-Fair, Cologne, Germany. Kunstlerhaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
- Art Lotto, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Club Berlin, Venice Biennale. Venice, Italy.
- Bedrock (a night of conventional technologies), All Girls Gallery, Berlin. Germany.
- 1994
- Card Trick, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- New Art in Scotland, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Scotland. Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland.
- New Scottish Video, Museum of Installation, London, England.
- Good House keeping - Couch Potatoes, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland. Media Biennale, Leipzig, Germany.
- Flow, People's Palace, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Videobar, Mainz, Germany.
- 1993
- 4, Well Street Gallery, Leek, England.
- 1992
- Unframed, Well St. Gallery, Leek, England.
- 1991
- Broad Horizons, City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, England.
- 1990
- Making Faces, City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, England.
-
Residencies and Fellowships
- 2010
- Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Creative Development Residency, CovePark, Argyll, Scotland.
- 2001
- Scottish Arts Council Australian Residency, Canberra School of Art, Australian National University.
- 1998
- Residency, ArtSpace, Sydney.
- 1997-98
- Research Fellow, School of Fine Art, Glasgow School of Art.
- 1995
- Artist-in-Residence, Fringe Gallery, Glasgow.
- 1991
- Artist-in-Residence, City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.
Nominations and Awards
- 2006, Awarded Creative Development Grant, Scottish Arts Council.
- 2003, Awarded Assistance Grant, Scottish Arts Council.
- 2003, Nominated for Becks’ Futures.
- 2002, Awarded Jerwood Artists’ Platform.
- 1998, Awarded The Richard Hough Bursary.
- 1998, Awarded Small Assistance Grant, Scottish Arts Council.
- 1995, Awarded The Richard Ellis Prize, Glasgow School of Art.
- 1994, Awarded The John and Mabel Craig Bequest, Glasgow School of Art.
- 1992, Awarded The Benjamin Boothroyd Prize, Staffordshire University.
Publications
- Stranger Than Fiction. Sukhdev Sandhu, Isobel Johnstone & Ann Jones. Published by Hayward Gallery, 2004
- Beck’s Futures 2003. Texts by J.G.Ballard, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Michael Archer. Published by ICA, 2003.
- Somewhere: Places of Refuge in Art and Life. Edited by Angela Kingston. Published by Angel Row Gallery, 2002
- Reality Check. Edited by Frédérique Dolivet. Published by the British Council, 2002
- The GAP Show. Edited by Rosemarie Pahlke. Published by Museum Am Ostwall Dortmund, 2002Words from the Arts Council Collection. Essay by Fiona Bradley. Published by Hayward Gallery, 2002
- Tell Me… focuses on the use of language, text and narration in recent international video-art. Edited by Katrien De Meurechy. Published by CC Ter Dilft and M&M Gallery, 2002
- Here & Now: Scottish Art 1990 – 2001, Essays by John Calcutt, Maria Lind, Katrina M. Brown and Rob Tufnell. Published by Dundee Contemporary Arts, 2001
- Open Country. Contemporary Scottish Artists. Essays by Caroline Nicod, Rob Tufnell and Francis McKee. Published by Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, 2001
- Encyclopædia and Other Works. CD-ROM and book. Essays by Claire Doherty and Sean Cubitt. Published by Film and Video Umbrella, London. 2000
- Passeportout number 15, Nu. Editor Peter Brix Søndergaard. Published by Institut for Kunsthistorie, Aarhus Universitet, 2000
- A Day Like Any Other, Francis Mckee. Published by Solvbarget Stavanger Kulturhus. 2000
- The Richard Hough Bursary 1998. Gilda Williams. Published by Stills Gallery, Edinburgh. 1998
- Morning Star Evening Star. Editors Charlotte Day, Max Delaney, Stuart Koop and Clare Williamson. Published by Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Centre for Contemporary Photography, 200 Gertrude Street and the Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne. 1998.
- Nerve Glasgow Projects. Editors Blair French, Anne Ooms and Nicholas Tsoutas. Published by ArtSpace, Australian Centre for Photography and Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. 1998
- Transmissions / Forget Brown Spot Save the World. Will Bradley, Richard Wright. Published by Transmission Gallery, Glasgow and Free Parking, Toronto. 1996
- Dimensions. Editors, Hans-Jürgen Buderer, Thomas Köllhofer & Sandra Wagner. Published by Kunsthalle Mannheim, 1996.
- New Contemporaries 96. Editors David Crow & Wendy Pennington. Published by New Contemporaries (1988) Ltd., 1996
- '95 mfa Glasgow. Editor, Pavel Büchler. Published by Glasgow School of Art, 1995Grey Suit; Video for Art & Literature, issue 10, Summer 1995. Editor Anthony Howell. Published by Grey SuitNew Art in Scotland, Editor, Nicola White. Published by CCA, 1994
Reviews and Articles
- Alan Currall. Art Monthly, October 2002, No. 260. pp. 30-31. Benn Judd
- Unspeakable Facts. Time Out, 4-11 September 2002. pp.54, 56. Sarah Kent.
- An enlightening irreverence for abstract reference. The Sunday Age, 20 May 2001. p.12. Robert Nelson.
- Then there is no mountain then there is. The List, 5-18 Jan 2001. p. 77. John Beagles.
- Then there is no mountain then there is. The Guardian, 15 Jan 2001. p.16. Elisabeth Mahoney.
- Alan Currall. Metro, 20 Sept 2000. p.18. Sarah Lowndes.
- New Video from Great Britain. Time Out New York, Jan 29-Feb 5 1998. Carol Kino.
- Alan Currall. Time Out New York,Issue 155, Sept. 10-17 1998. Sarah Schmerier
- Hong Kong Island. Frieze, Issue 34, May 1997, p. 86. Padraig Timoney
- Stereoanlagen zu Töpferscheiben. dee Tageszeitung, 19 September 1996. Harald Fricke.
- Ghosts of Celluloid. Flash Art, Vol. XXIX no. 190, October 1996. pp. 96-97. Martin Maloney.
- Having a laugh at the New Contemporaries. Make, August-September 1996. p. 71. Nicky Coutts.
- Pop Goes The Easel. Times Magazine, 30 March 1996. Richard Cork.
- No More Heroes? Time Out, 24-31 July 1996. p. 46. Sarah Kent.
Work in Collections
- Ferens Gallery, City of Hull Collection, England.
- Private Collection, London, England.
- Arts Council of England Collection
- Private Collection, New York, USA.
- City of Glasgow Collection, Glasgow, Scotland.
Academic Employment
- 1995 - 2002: P/T Electronic Media Lecturer and Research Lecturer, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.
- 2002 - 2010: P/T Academic Researcher, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.
- 2002 - present: P/T Lecturer, School of Fine Art, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.
- 2009 – 2011: External Examiner, Norwich University College of the Arts, England.
- 2011 - 2017: P/T Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland.