Sam Williams

Sam Williams is an artist with a practice that intertwines moving-image, collage, choreography, sound and writing. His ongoing research focuses on multispecies entanglements, ecological systems, bodies-as-worlds and folk mythologies and how they propose possibilities for present and future ways of non-human-centric living.

Sam is based in London where he is a resident at Somerset House Studios. He has presented work at institutions including Chisenhale Gallery, Arnolfini, Siobhan Davies Dance, Somerset House, Tate Britain, Studio Voltaire and South Kiosk (UK), She Will (Norway); Röda Sten Konsthall (SE); Kino Arsenal, Akademie der Kunst, Tanzhalle Wisenberg and B3 Biennale (Germany).

Watch my Somerset House Studios Artist Profile Film on Channel

Current & Ongoing Works

Past Works

Education

2014–16

MA, Sculpture and Moving Image, Royal College of Art (distinction)

Selected presentations

Work Title, Exhibition/Gallery, City, Country (context)

2024

Wormshine, Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg, SE (performance)
Everywhere Playground, Somerset House, London, UK (workshop)
- FADE Undercurrents, Resonance FM, London, UK (radio show)
FADE Undercurrents, Montez Press Radio, London, UK (radio show)
- Stay, Salt Lake City Experimental Film Festival, Utah, USA (film festival)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, 14th Philosophical Film Festival, Skopje, MK (film festival)
Welter, Phenomenology Film Festival, Arts & Health Hub, London, UK (film festival)

2023

Salvage Rhythms, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK (performance)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (screening)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, RADAR, Loughborough, UK (screening/talk)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, Arts Catalyst, Sheffield, UK (screening/workshop)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, Natural History Museum, Gothenburg, SE (group)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, Uppsala Short Film Festival, Uppsala, SE (film festival)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, Husavík Whale Museum, Husavík, IS (film festival)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, Designhaus Darmstadt, DE (solo)
Salvage Rhythms, Dance Remainings, Gothenburg, SE (performance)
Deep in The Eye and The Belly, San Mei Gallery, London, UK (solo)
The Figure Was..., INSIDE, Two Temple Place, London, UK (group)

2022

Salvage Rhythms, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (performance)
Stay, Studio Voltaire project space, London, UK (solo, with Oluwaseun Olayiwola)
Welter, Visions at The Nunnery, BowArts, London, UK (group)
and in the soil there be mirrors, B3 Biennial of Moving Image, Frankfurt, DE (film festival)
and in the soil there be mirrors, Cube Cinema, Bristol, UK (screening)
Wormshine, Troubling Time, SLICE, Berlin, DE (group)
Salvage Rhythms, May Fair Art Weekend, London, UK (screening)

2021

and in the soil there be mirrors, South Kiosk, London, UK (solo, with Hollie Miller)
ISLAND, Videograms, Vilnius, LT (group)
Welter, Shape Arts (online)
See What I See, Darmstädter Sezession, Darmstadt, DE (screening)
See What I See, Oberhausen Film Festival, Oberhausen, DE (film festival)
ISLAND, Hyper Functional Ultra Healthy, Somerset House, London, UK (online)

2020

Salvage Rhythms, She Will Art Space, Oslo, NO (solo)
Salvage Rhythms, Chapters, Sankt Studio, Berlin (group)
See What I See, Swedenborg House, London, UK (film festival)
See What I See, SPERRA, Blaker, NO (group)
See What I See, Visions in the Nunnery, BowArts, London, UK (group)
Salvage Rhythms, I Should Be Doing..., Gallery 31, Somerset House, London, UK (group)
the actual structure is the material, Irruptive Chora, Chalton Gallery, London, UK (group)

2019

the actual structure is the material, Siobhan Davies Dance, London, UK (solo)
Salvage Rhythms, AGM Somerset House Studios, London, UK (performance)
Here and Not, Edit 4, The Lowry, Manchester, UK (with Joe Moran)
A Fruiting Body, Ian White: Cinema As Live Art, Kino Arsenal, Berlin, DE (performance)

2018

Bozar Electronic Series, BOZAR, Brussels, BE (performance, with Emptyset)
Loomings, Eyecatcher III, Big Screen, Focal Point Gallery, Essex, UK (solo)
i want you to know i was thinking of you today, A Million Love Songs, Korai Space, Nicosia, CY (group)

2017

Here and Not, On The Habit Of Being Oneself, Sadlers Wells, London, UK (with Joe Moran)
Loomings, Failed States, DeptfordX, London, UK (screening)
until they feel–ahead of them–a barrier, Aesthetica Art Prize, York Gallery, York, UK (group)
there was an idea of equality, Baltic39, Newcastle, UK (solo/residency, with Hollie Miller)
until they feel–ahead of them–a barrier, Cairo Video Festival, Cairo, EG (film festival)

2016

until they feel–ahead of them–a barrier, ESTUARY 2016, Tilbury, Essex, UK (group)
Slow Curtain, Late at Tate Britain, London (with Theo Adams Company)
RCA SHOW 2016, Royal College of Art, London (group)
Paper.Publication.Performance, Lychee One, London (group)
Borrowed Time, Jerwood Space, London (screening)

2015

Test Pieces/Secrets of the Open Sea, Tanz Im August, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, DE (with Rosemary Butcher MBE)
Secrets of the Open Sea, NottDance, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK (with Rosemary Butcher MBE)
Medium, Sound It Out, V&A Museum, London (with Emptyset)

Awards and Residencies