Susan Hiller
Encyclopedia
Susan Hiller is an American
-born artist who lives in London, UK. Her art practice encompasses installation
, video
, photography
, performance
and writing
.
in 1940, Susan Hiller was raised in and around Cleveland, Ohio
. She later moved to Coral Gables, Florida
in 1950 where she attended Coral Gables High School, graduating in 1957. She attended Smith College
in Northampton, Massachusetts and received a B.A. in 1961. After spending a year in New York studying photography, film, drawing and linguistics, HIller went on to pursue a post-graduate degree at Tulane University
in New Orleans, Louisiana
with a National Science Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology. She completed a Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1965.
After doing fieldwork in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, with a grant from the Middle American Research Institute (1962-5), Hiller became critical of academic anthropology; she did not want her research to be part of the “objectification of the contrariness of lived events [that was] destined to become another complicit thread woven into the fabric of ‘evidence’ that would help anthropology become a science”. It was during a slide lecture on African art, that Hiller decided to become an artist. She felt art was “above all, irrational, mysterious, numinous … [she] decided [she] would become not an anthropologist but an artist: [she] would relinquish factuality for fantasy”.
and Conceptual art
and now cites Minimalism
, Fluxus
, Surrealism
and her study of anthropology
as major influences on her work.
Hiller's first exhibition was a group show at Gallery House in London in 1973. There she presented two works, one under her own name and one using the pseudonym ‘Ace Posible’ (Spanish for ‘make it possible’) Transformer, 1973,a floor to ceiling grid structure with tissue paper covered with the artist's marks,and Enquires,1973, a slide show of facts collected from a British encyclopaedia meant to emphasise culturally partisan definitions in what is considered an objective and equitable source of information Her artistic practice was innovative for her time and included a variety of media and performance-based work. In the early 1970’s Hiller created participatory ‘group investigations’ including Pray/Prayer (1969), Dream Mapping (1974) and Street Ceremonies (1973).
Over the course of her career, Hiller has been recognized for making use of everyday phenomena and cultural artefacts from our society, drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as postcards, dreams, automatic writing, archives, Punch & Judy shows, UFO sightings, horror movies and narratives. Using the techniques of collecting and cataloguing, presentation and display, she transforms these everyday ephemera into art works that offer a means of exploring the inherent contradictions in our collective cultural life, as well as the individual and collective unconscious and subconscious.As an artist, she is interested in the areas of our cultural collective experience that are concerned with devalued or irrational experiences: the subconscious, the supernatural, the surreal, the mystical and the paranormal. She engages with these experiences and phenomena that defy logical or rational explanation through the rational scientific techniques of taxonomy, collection, organization, description and comparison. She does not, however, apply systems of judgment to the work, refraining from ever categorising the experiences as ‘true’ or ‘false’, ‘fact’ or ‘fiction’.
Hiller describes her practice as ‘paraconceptual’ a neologism that places her work between the conceptual and the paranormal. Many of her works explore the liminality of certain phenomena including the practice of automatic writing (Sisters of Menon, 1972/79; Homage to Gertrude Stein, 2010), near death experiences (Clinic, 2004) and collective experiences of unconscious, subconscious and paranormal activity (Dream Mapping, 1974; Belshazzar
’s Feast, 1983-4; Dream Screens, 1996;
PSI Girls, 1999; Witness,2000). Since the 1980's, Hiller has incorporated the use of audio and visual technology as a means of investigating these phenomena, allowing the visitor to 'make visions from ambiguous aural and visual cues'. In describing Hiller's work, Art Historian Dr. Alexandra Kokoli notes that “Hiller’s work unearths the repressed permeability ... of ... unstable yet prized constructs, such as rationality and consciousness, aesthetic value and artistic canons. Hiller refers to this precarious positioning of her oeuvre as 'paraconceptual,' just sideways of conceptualism and neighbouring the paranormal, a devalued site of culture where women and the feminine have been conversely privileged. Most interestingly, in the hybrid field of 'paraconceptualism,' neither conceptualism nor the paranormal are left intact ... as ... the prefix 'para' -symbolizes the force of contamination through a proximity so great that it threatens the soundness of all boundaries."
She is represented by Volker Diehl, Berlin
; and Timothy Taylor Gallery
, London
(1986) and Tate Liverpool
(1996). In 2000, Hiller represented Britain in the 7th Havana Biennial
and she has also featured in numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including Whack! Feminist Art and the Revolution (2007), and, most recently, a major solo exhibition at Tate Britain
(2011).
; Tate Gallery
, London
.; Colby College
Museum of Art, Colby, Maine; Ella Fontanals Cisneros Foundation, Miami; Frac Bourgogne, Dijon; Henie –Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo; Henry Moore Sculpture Collection, Leeds; Inhotim, Brumadhino, Brazil; Israel Museum
, Jerusalem; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Moderner Museet, Stockholm; National Gallery of Art South Australia, Adelaide; Rhode Island School of Design
Museum, Providence, Rhode Island; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Victoria and Albert Museum
, London.
Hiller has lectured at the Slade School of Fine Art
, London and has served as ‘Distinguished Visiting Professor’ at California State University
(1988) and as
‘Visiting Professor’ at the Department of Art at the University of California, Los Angeles
(1992).
Enquiries/Inquiries, Gardner Arts Centre Gallery, University of Sussex, Brighton, with The Arts Council of Great Britain 1979; texts as illus.
Sisters of Menon, Coracle Press for Gimpel Fils. London 1983; facsimile of handwritten texts and charts as illus. hand painted board covers.
After the Freud Museum, Book Works, London, 1995. Reprinted 2000; 79 b/w illus. cover, text by Susan Hiller
Witness, Artangel, London 2000; 21 b/w and col. illus.
Spilt Hairs: The Art of Alfie West, self-published, Berlin, 2004, co-authored with David Coxhead, 9 col. illus.
The J. Street Project 2002-2005, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, and Berlin 2005; 303 col. illus. Intro. by Susan Hiller, afterword by Jörg Heiser (text in English and German)
Levitations:Homage to Marcel Duchamp, Institute of Contemporary Arts with Book Works, London 2008; 70 b/w and col. illus., text by Susan Hiller.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born artist who lives in London, UK. Her art practice encompasses installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, performance
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
and writing
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
.
Early Life and Education
Born in Tallahassee, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in 1940, Susan Hiller was raised in and around Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. She later moved to Coral Gables, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in 1950 where she attended Coral Gables High School, graduating in 1957. She attended Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
in Northampton, Massachusetts and received a B.A. in 1961. After spending a year in New York studying photography, film, drawing and linguistics, HIller went on to pursue a post-graduate degree at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
with a National Science Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology. She completed a Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1965.
After doing fieldwork in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, with a grant from the Middle American Research Institute (1962-5), Hiller became critical of academic anthropology; she did not want her research to be part of the “objectification of the contrariness of lived events [that was] destined to become another complicit thread woven into the fabric of ‘evidence’ that would help anthropology become a science”. It was during a slide lecture on African art, that Hiller decided to become an artist. She felt art was “above all, irrational, mysterious, numinous … [she] decided [she] would become not an anthropologist but an artist: [she] would relinquish factuality for fantasy”.
Artistic Career
Beginning her artistic practice in the early 1970’s, Hiller was influenced by the visual language of MinimalismMinimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
and Conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
and now cites Minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
, Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
, Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and her study of anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
as major influences on her work.
Hiller's first exhibition was a group show at Gallery House in London in 1973. There she presented two works, one under her own name and one using the pseudonym ‘Ace Posible’ (Spanish for ‘make it possible’) Transformer, 1973,a floor to ceiling grid structure with tissue paper covered with the artist's marks,and Enquires,1973, a slide show of facts collected from a British encyclopaedia meant to emphasise culturally partisan definitions in what is considered an objective and equitable source of information Her artistic practice was innovative for her time and included a variety of media and performance-based work. In the early 1970’s Hiller created participatory ‘group investigations’ including Pray/Prayer (1969), Dream Mapping (1974) and Street Ceremonies (1973).
Over the course of her career, Hiller has been recognized for making use of everyday phenomena and cultural artefacts from our society, drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as postcards, dreams, automatic writing, archives, Punch & Judy shows, UFO sightings, horror movies and narratives. Using the techniques of collecting and cataloguing, presentation and display, she transforms these everyday ephemera into art works that offer a means of exploring the inherent contradictions in our collective cultural life, as well as the individual and collective unconscious and subconscious.As an artist, she is interested in the areas of our cultural collective experience that are concerned with devalued or irrational experiences: the subconscious, the supernatural, the surreal, the mystical and the paranormal. She engages with these experiences and phenomena that defy logical or rational explanation through the rational scientific techniques of taxonomy, collection, organization, description and comparison. She does not, however, apply systems of judgment to the work, refraining from ever categorising the experiences as ‘true’ or ‘false’, ‘fact’ or ‘fiction’.
Hiller describes her practice as ‘paraconceptual’ a neologism that places her work between the conceptual and the paranormal. Many of her works explore the liminality of certain phenomena including the practice of automatic writing (Sisters of Menon, 1972/79; Homage to Gertrude Stein, 2010), near death experiences (Clinic, 2004) and collective experiences of unconscious, subconscious and paranormal activity (Dream Mapping, 1974; Belshazzar
Belshazzar
Belshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of Babylon, the son of Nabonidus and the last king of Babylon according to the Book of Daniel . Like his father, it is believed by many scholars that he was an Assyrian. In Daniel Belshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of...
’s Feast, 1983-4; Dream Screens, 1996;
PSI Girls, 1999; Witness,2000). Since the 1980's, Hiller has incorporated the use of audio and visual technology as a means of investigating these phenomena, allowing the visitor to 'make visions from ambiguous aural and visual cues'. In describing Hiller's work, Art Historian Dr. Alexandra Kokoli notes that “Hiller’s work unearths the repressed permeability ... of ... unstable yet prized constructs, such as rationality and consciousness, aesthetic value and artistic canons. Hiller refers to this precarious positioning of her oeuvre as 'paraconceptual,' just sideways of conceptualism and neighbouring the paranormal, a devalued site of culture where women and the feminine have been conversely privileged. Most interestingly, in the hybrid field of 'paraconceptualism,' neither conceptualism nor the paranormal are left intact ... as ... the prefix 'para' -symbolizes the force of contamination through a proximity so great that it threatens the soundness of all boundaries."
She is represented by Volker Diehl, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
; and Timothy Taylor Gallery
Timothy Taylor Gallery
The Timothy Taylor Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery in Mayfair, London, owned and founded by Timothy Taylor. The gallery represents a variety of modern and contemporary artists, selling original and editioned artworks across many different media.-History:The gallery was founded in...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Recognition
With a practice extending over 40 years, Susan Hiller can be considered one of the most influential artists of her generation and is acknowledged to be an important influence on younger British artists. Her work is found internationally in both private and public collections and her career has been recognized by mid-career retrospectives at London’s Institute of Contemporary ArtsInstitute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
(1986) and Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporation...
(1996). In 2000, Hiller represented Britain in the 7th Havana Biennial
Havana biennial
The Havana Biennial Art Exhibition takes place in Havana every two years, and principally aims at promoting the « Third World » contemporary art...
and she has also featured in numerous international solo and group exhibitions, including Whack! Feminist Art and the Revolution (2007), and, most recently, a major solo exhibition at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
(2011).
Collections
Hiller’s works are included in both international public and private collections including the Centre Pompidou, ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.; Colby College
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
Museum of Art, Colby, Maine; Ella Fontanals Cisneros Foundation, Miami; Frac Bourgogne, Dijon; Henie –Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo; Henry Moore Sculpture Collection, Leeds; Inhotim, Brumadhino, Brazil; Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, Jerusalem; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Moderner Museet, Stockholm; National Gallery of Art South Australia, Adelaide; Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
Museum, Providence, Rhode Island; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, London.
Art Fellowships and Awards
- 1968 Karolyl Foundation, Vence, France (residency)
- 1969 Ministère des Beaux Arts, Moroccco (residency)
- 1975 Artist in Residence, University of Sussex, Brighton (GB)
- 1976 Gulbenkenian Foundation Visual Artist’s Award (GB)
- 1977 Gulbenkenian Foundation Visual Artist’s Award (GB)
- 1981 Greater London Arts Association Bursary (GB)
- 1982 Visual Arts Board Travelling Fellowship (Australia), National Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (USA)
- 1998 Guggenheim Fellowship in Visual Art Practice (USA)
- 2002 DAAD residency, Berlin, 2002-2003 (Germany)
- Kulturstifung des Bundes, Halle (Germany)
- Couvent des Recollets residency, Paris (FR)
Hiller has lectured at the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
, London and has served as ‘Distinguished Visiting Professor’ at California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
(1988) and as
‘Visiting Professor’ at the Department of Art at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
(1992).
Key Works 1970 - 2010
- Conceptual Painting, 1970- 1984
- Relics, 1972 – ongoing
- Transformer, Transformation, 1973/4
- Enquiries/Inquiries, 1973-5
- Dream Mapping, 1974
- Dedicated to Unknown Artists, 1972-6
- 10 Months, 1977 – 9
- Sisters of Menon, 1972/79
- Work in Progress, 1980
- Monument, 1980-1
- Self-Portraits, 1982-7
- BelshazzarBelshazzarBelshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of Babylon, the son of Nabonidus and the last king of Babylon according to the Book of Daniel . Like his father, it is believed by many scholars that he was an Assyrian. In Daniel Belshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of...
’s Feast, 1983-4 - Magic Lantern, 1987
- An Entertainment, 1990
- From the Freud Museum, 1991-6
- Dream Screens, 1996
- Wild Talents, 1997
- PSI Girls, 1999
- Witness, 2000
- The J. Street Project, 2002-2005
- Ceramic Works, 2003
- What Every Gardener Knows, 2003
- Clinic, 2004
- The Last Silent Movie, 2007
- Homages, 2003 – ongoing
Artist’s Books
Rough Sea, Gardner Arts Centre Gallery, University of Sussex, Brighton, 1976; 56 b/w illus.Enquiries/Inquiries, Gardner Arts Centre Gallery, University of Sussex, Brighton, with The Arts Council of Great Britain 1979; texts as illus.
Sisters of Menon, Coracle Press for Gimpel Fils. London 1983; facsimile of handwritten texts and charts as illus. hand painted board covers.
After the Freud Museum, Book Works, London, 1995. Reprinted 2000; 79 b/w illus. cover, text by Susan Hiller
Witness, Artangel, London 2000; 21 b/w and col. illus.
Spilt Hairs: The Art of Alfie West, self-published, Berlin, 2004, co-authored with David Coxhead, 9 col. illus.
The J. Street Project 2002-2005, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, and Berlin 2005; 303 col. illus. Intro. by Susan Hiller, afterword by Jörg Heiser (text in English and German)
Levitations:Homage to Marcel Duchamp, Institute of Contemporary Arts with Book Works, London 2008; 70 b/w and col. illus., text by Susan Hiller.
External links
- The Official Site
- David Berridge. The Storyteller of Negative Space : Writing in the Work of Susan Hiller. FillipFillipFillip is a Vancouver-based contemporary art publishing organization formed in 2004. It publishes a magazine as well as books of critical writing...
. Book Review. 2010.