Duncan Campbell
Born 1972 Dublin – lives and works in Glasgow
Balanced precariously between fact and fiction, Duncan Campbell’s films are a combination of found footage and self-shot material based on the works and lives of significant public figures. His BA at the University of Ulster (1996) and Masters of Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art (1998) led him to explore and reveal the dynamics between fact and fiction in documentary film, often separating his subjects from their shadowing fame. In addition to solo exhibitions in Pittsburg and London, Campbell has also participated in travelling shows. In 2009-2011, his film Make It New John (2009) visited Chisenhale Gallery in London, Tramway in Glasgow, Silgo’s The Model, Belfast Exposed and Artists Space in New York. His film is a portrait exploring the life of car manufacturer John DeLorean up to the factory closure in 1982 in Northern Ireland and mostly excluding his relationship to the 1980’s hit film Back to the Future.
The self-referential subject of his documentary portraiture earned Campbell representation at the 2013 Venice Biennale and the 2014 Turner Prize with his work It for Others (2013) in which he explores the accumulation of cultural value. In the 54-minute film, cultural value is assessed through the effects of colonialism on African heritage and our subsequent fetishization of African artifacts and art works based on the essay film Les statues meurent aussie (1985) by film makers Chris Marker and Alain Resnais. Four episodes of Marxist dance, the IRA, happy cleaning products and sculptures from the British Museum explore how value is constructed by media and cultural institutions (including his film) as well as how value is assigned on a personal basis. Shown at the 55th Venice Biennale alongside Marker and Resnais’ original black-and-white film.
Born 1972 Dublin – lives and works in Glasgow
Balanced precariously between fact and fiction, Duncan Campbell’s films are a combination of found footage and self-shot material based on the works and lives of significant public figures. His BA at the University of Ulster (1996) and Masters of Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art (1998) led him to explore and reveal the dynamics between fact and fiction in documentary film, often separating his subjects from their shadowing fame. In addition to solo exhibitions in Pittsburg and London, Campbell has also participated in travelling shows. In 2009-2011, his film Make It New John (2009) visited Chisenhale Gallery in London, Tramway in Glasgow, Silgo’s The Model, Belfast Exposed and Artists Space in New York. His film is a portrait exploring the life of car manufacturer John DeLorean up to the factory closure in 1982 in Northern Ireland and mostly excluding his relationship to the 1980’s hit film Back to the Future.
The self-referential subject of his documentary portraiture earned Campbell representation at the 2013 Venice Biennale and the 2014 Turner Prize with his work It for Others (2013) in which he explores the accumulation of cultural value. In the 54-minute film, cultural value is assessed through the effects of colonialism on African heritage and our subsequent fetishization of African artifacts and art works based on the essay film Les statues meurent aussie (1985) by film makers Chris Marker and Alain Resnais. Four episodes of Marxist dance, the IRA, happy cleaning products and sculptures from the British Museum explore how value is constructed by media and cultural institutions (including his film) as well as how value is assigned on a personal basis. Shown at the 55th Venice Biennale alongside Marker and Resnais’ original black-and-white film.