Uriel Orlow

Uriel Orlow was born in 1973 in Zurich
He currently lives and works in London

Uriel Orlow studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design London, the Slade School of Art, University College London and the University of Geneva, completing a PhD in Fine Art in 2002.

His practice is research-based, process-oriented and multidisciplinary including film, photography, drawing and sound. He is known for single screen film works, lecture performances and modular, multi-media installations that focus on specific locations and micro-histories and bring different image-regimes and narrative modes into correspondence. His work is concerned with residues of colonialism, spatial manifestations of memory, blind spots of representation and plants as political actors.

Orlow has participated in many international survey shows, such as the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); the 12th Berlin Biennale (2022); Manifesta 9 and 12, Genk/Palermo (2012, 2018); the 5th Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India (2023); Kathmandu Triennale 2077 (2022); British Art Show 9, UK (2021-2022); the 2nd Thailand Biennale, Korat (2021); Bienal de Arte Paiz, Antigua Guatemala (2021); Riboca 2 – Riga Biennial (2020); Taipei Biennial (2020); Lubumbashi Biennial, Congo (2019); 13th Sharjah Biennial (2017); 7th Moscow Biennial (2017); EVA International, Ireland (2014, 2016); 8th Mercosul Biennial, Brazil (2011); Aichi Triennale, Japan (2013); and Bergen Assembly, Norway (2013), among others.

His institutional solo exhibitions include Kunsthalle Nairs, Scuol (2022); La Loge, Brussels (2020); Kusnthalle Mainz (2020); State of Concept, Athens (2020); Tabakalera, San Sebastian (2019); Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Paris (2018); Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen (2018); PAV – Parco d’Arte Vivente, Turin (2017); Parc Saint Léger – Centre d’art contemporain (2017); The Showroom, London (2016); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2015); John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2015); Depo, Istanbul (2015); Spike Island, Bristol (2013); Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris (2013); Al-Ma’mal Foundation, Jerusalem (2013); Les Complices*, Zurich (2013); Kunstmuseum Bern (2013); Centre PasquArt, Bienne (2012); Kunstforening, Oslo (2012).

Orlow’s work has been shown widely in museums and galleries including in London at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Whitechapel Gallery, ICA and Gasworks; in Paris at Palais de Tokyo, Fondation Ricard, Maison Populaire, Bétonsalon; in Zurich at Kunsthaus, Les Complices*, Helmhaus and Shedhalle; in Geneva at Centre d’Art Contemporain and Centre de la Photographie; as well as in Berlin, Ramallah, Marseille, Cairo, Alexandria, Istanbul, Mexico City, Dublin, San Sebastian, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere.

His films have been screened at Oberhausen Short Film Festival; Locarno Film Festival; Videoex, Zurich; Centre Pompidou, Paris; BFI, London; Kino der Kunst, Munich; Visions du Réel, Nyon; Biennale of the Moving Image, Geneva.

Orlow received the CF Meyer Prize in 2020, and the Sharjah Biennial Prize in 2017. He was also awarded the annual major art-award of the city of Zurich in 2015, and three Swiss Art Awards at Art Basel in 2008, 2009 and 2012.

A major monograph of his work, Theatrum Botanicum, was published by Sternberg Press in 2018.

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