Sam Williams

[email protected]
@s_a_m_w

Vault 8
Somerset House Studios
Strand
London
WC2R 1LA

Sam Williams is an artist with a multidisciplinary practice, working across moving-image, collage, choreography and text. Sam is based in London where he is a resident at Somerset House Studios. He has exhibited and screened work at institutions including Arnolfini, Baltic39, Siobhan Davies Dance, Somerset House, Tate Britain, Studio Voltaire and South Kiosk (UK), She Will (Norway); Kino Arsenal, Akademie der Kunst, Tanzhalle Wisenberg and B3 Biennale (Germany).

His ongoing research focuses on multispecies entanglements, ecological systems, bodies-as-worlds and folk mythologies and how they can inspire ideas for present and future ways of non-human-centric living.

Watch my Somerset House Studios Artist Profile Film on Channel

Past Works

Education

2014–16
  • MA, Sculpture and Moving Image, Royal College of Art (distinction)

Selected presentations

  • Work Title, Exhibition/Gallery, City, Country (context)
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, Natural History Museum, Gothenburg, SE (group)
  • Deep in The Eye and The Belly, Husavík Whale Museum, Husavík, IS (screening)
  • 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

2023
  • LUX Critical Forum, London, UK
  • Summer School, Kunstverein München, Munich, DE
  • Elephant Trust Grant
2022
  • Arts Council England Project Grant
  • a-n Development Bursary
  • Two Temple Place/ThorpStavri, London
  • Rupert Residency, Vilnius, Lithuania
2021
  • Axisweb Digital Residency
  • Hospitalfield Interdisciplinary Residency, Scotland
  • Darmstädter Sezession Prize for Young Artists
  • Somerset House/King's College London Research Grant
  • Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice grant
2020
  • Wysing Arts Centre Syllabus VI
2019
  • Somerset House Studios resident artist
  • Arts Council England Project Grant
  • London Creative Network Development Program
  • Elephant Trust Grant
2018
  • Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice grant
  • PRAKSIS, Oslo (residency)
  • ArtHouse Jersey (residency)
  • JOYA Arte + Ecología (residency)
  • Artist Network Professional Development Bursary
2017
  • Stuart Croft Foundation Award
  • Synthetic Ecology II Midnight Notes, ONCA, Brighton (residency)
  • Figure Four, Baltic39, Newcastle, UK (residency)
2016
  • Relax Digital Commission
2015
  • Cité Internationale des Art, Paris (residency)

Website by Nate van der Ende

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