Mikhail Karikis, photo by Maruan Sipert (2024)
Mikhail Karikis is a Greek/British artist based in London and Lisbon. His work in moving image, sound, performance and other media is exhibited in leading contemporary art biennials, museums and film festivals internationally. Through collaborations with individuals and/or communities located beyond the circles of contemporary art and (in recent years) with children, teenagers, young adults and people with disabilities, Karikis develops socially embedded projects that prompt an activist imaginary and rouse the potential to imagine possible or desired futures of self-determination and potency. Centering on listening as an artistic strategy and focusing on themes of social and environmental justice, his projects highlight alternative modes of human action and solidarity, while nurturing critical attention, dignity and tenderness.
Biennial/Triennial exhibitions include 2nd Saitama Triennale, JP (2023); 5th Mardin Biennial, TR (2022); 2nd Riga Biennial, LV (2020); Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016, IN; British Art Show 8, UK (2015-2017); Steirischer Herbst, AT (2015); 5th Thessaloniki Biennale, GR (2015); 19th Biennale of Sydney, AU (2014); Mediacity Seoul/SeMA Biennale, Seoul, KR (2014); Videonale 14, Kunstmusuem Bonn, DE (2013); 2nd Aichi Triennale, Nagoya, JP (2013); Manifesta 9, Ghenk, BE (2012); Danish Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale, IT (2011).
Solo exhibitions include Songs for the Storm to Come, HOME Manchester, UK (2024); Voices, Communities, Ecologies, Cukrarna Centre for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, SO (2024); Acoustics of Resistance, Void Art Centre, Derry, N. Ireland (2024); Because We Are Together, National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST), GR (2023); Acoustics of Resistance, Carpintarias de São Lázaro/Lisboa Soa, PT (2022); Ferocious Love, Tate Liverpool, UK (2020); Children of Unquiet, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, IT (2019); For Many Voices, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK (2019-2020); I Hear You, De la Warr Pavilion, UK (2019-2020); Mikhail Karikis, MORI Art Museum, Tokyo, JP (2o19); No Ordinary Protest, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2018-2019); Ain’t Got No Fear, Turku Art Museum, FI (2018); The Chalk Factory, Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture, DK (2017); Love Is the Institution of Revolution, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art Contemporain, LU (2017); The Endeavour, The Gallery at Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle UK (2015); Children of Unquiet, Villa Romana, Florence, IT (2014); SeaWomen, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (2013).
Group museum exhibitions include On Raising our Voices, Lentos Kunstmuseum, AU (2024); Récréation Générale, Centre d’Art Madeleine Lambert Vénissieux, Lyon, FR (2024); The Whole World in Our Hands, Blackwood Gallery, Ontario, CA (2024); A Outra Vida Dos Animais, MNAC – National Museum of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, PT (2022); Ear to the Ground: Earth and Element in Contemporary Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, US (2019); State of Union, Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne, AU (2018); Artists’ Film International, MAAT, PT (2017); Staging Film, Busan Museum of Art, KR (2016); Art in the Age of Energy and Raw Material, FKA Witte de With, NL (2015); Listening: Hayward Touring (Baltic 39 & The Bluecoat), UK (2014-2015); Inside, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR (2014-2015); Assembly, TATE Britain, London, UK (2014); Aquatopia, TATE St Ives & Nottingham Contemporary, UK (2013-2014); Art Sheffield 2013, Site Gallery, UK.
Performances for the stage include his two large-scale projects with a total number of 400 performers, ‘Universe of Solutions’ (2024) created for the inauguration of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in Braga, PT, and ‘Sons de Uma Revoluçã0/Sounds of a Revolution’ (2024) for Gulbenkian Foundation’s Grand Auditorium in Lisbon. Elsewhere, Karikis has performed internationally including at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, and Barbican Theatre, London. His sound works have been published world-wide by Bjork, DJ Spooky, UNICEF, MIT and on Sub Rosa records, and broadcast on most major European national radio stations including the BBC Radio 3, RAI3 and Radio France.
Karikis has been shortlisted for the 2019 and the 2016 Film London Jarman Award, UK, and the 2015 Daiwa Art Prize, UK-JP.
Mentoring and teaching activities world-wide include Royal College of Art, London, UK; the Ruskin School at Oxford University, UK; Nederlandse Filmacademie, Amsterdam, NL; ZHDK, Zurich University of the Arts, CH; Aarhus School of Architecture, DK; École Cantonale d’art du Valais, Sierre, CH; Goldsmiths College, London, UK; Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, NL; UCL, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK; UAL, Central Saint Martins, London, UK; Universidade de Saõ Paulo, BR. Karikis held permanent Research and Professorial positions at University of Brighton, UK and at School of Arts & Creative at Industries Teesside University, UK.