Gathering is delighted to announce representation of Tai Shani (b. 1976, London), following the artist’s inaugural exhibition with the gallery in 2022.
“We’re thrilled to share this wonderful news. Tai is a remarkable artist and she has been an integral part of Gathering’s vision – her unique, courageous and powerful voice epitomises the gallery’s desire to showcase the most compelling contemporary and historical artists. We couldn’t be more excited to continue our journey together. “
– Alex Flick, Founder & Director, Gathering
Tai Shani’s artistic practice, comprising performance, film, photography, and installation, uses experimental writing as a guiding method. Oscillating between theoretical concepts and visceral details, Shani’s texts attempt to create poetic coordinates in order to cultivate fragmentary cosmologies of marginalised nonsovereignty. Taking cues from both mournful and undead histories of reproductive labour, illness and solidarity, her work is invested in recovering feminised aesthetic modes – such as the floral, the trippy or the gothic – in a register of utopian militancy. In this vein, the epic, in both its literary long-form and excessive affect, often shapes Shani’s approach: Her long-term projects work through historical and mythical narratives, such as Christine de Pizan’s allegorical city of women or the social history of psychedelic ergot poisoning, extending into divergent formats and collaborations. Shani’s projects examine desire in its (infra-)structural dimension, exploring a realism that materially fantasises against the patriarchal racial capitalist present. Tai Shani is the joint 2019 Turner Prize winner together with Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Oscar Murillo. Her work has been shown extensively in Britain and internationally.
Shani’s work will be featured in upcoming exhibitions at Reina Sofia, Madrid; Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim; Mécènes Du Sud, Montpellier; and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.
Her recent solo and two-person exhibitions and performances include: Your Arms Outstretched Above Your Head, Coding With The Angels, Gathering, London (2022); The Neon Hieroglyph, Manchester lnternational Festival, Manchester (2021); Sol LeWitt/Mahler Foundation Carla Fendi Foundation, Spoleto (2021); Tragodía, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (2020); Turner Contemporary, Margate (2019); The Tetley, Leeds (2018); Nottingham Contemporary (2018); Tramway, Glasgow International (2018); Andromedan Sad Girl (with Florence Peake), CentroCentro, Madrid (2019) and Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2017); Dark Continent: Psy Chic Anem One, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2019) and Athens Biennale (2018); Serpentine Galleries, London (2016); Tate Britain, London (2016); and Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2015).
“We’re thrilled to share this wonderful news. Tai is a remarkable artist and she has been an integral part of Gathering’s vision – her unique, courageous and powerful voice epitomises the gallery’s desire to showcase the most compelling contemporary and historical artists. We couldn’t be more excited to continue our journey together. “
– Alex Flick, Founder & Director, Gathering
Tai Shani’s artistic practice, comprising performance, film, photography, and installation, uses experimental writing as a guiding method. Oscillating between theoretical concepts and visceral details, Shani’s texts attempt to create poetic coordinates in order to cultivate fragmentary cosmologies of marginalised nonsovereignty. Taking cues from both mournful and undead histories of reproductive labour, illness and solidarity, her work is invested in recovering feminised aesthetic modes – such as the floral, the trippy or the gothic – in a register of utopian militancy. In this vein, the epic, in both its literary long-form and excessive affect, often shapes Shani’s approach: Her long-term projects work through historical and mythical narratives, such as Christine de Pizan’s allegorical city of women or the social history of psychedelic ergot poisoning, extending into divergent formats and collaborations. Shani’s projects examine desire in its (infra-)structural dimension, exploring a realism that materially fantasises against the patriarchal racial capitalist present. Tai Shani is the joint 2019 Turner Prize winner together with Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Oscar Murillo. Her work has been shown extensively in Britain and internationally.
Shani’s work will be featured in upcoming exhibitions at Reina Sofia, Madrid; Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim; Mécènes Du Sud, Montpellier; and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.
Her recent solo and two-person exhibitions and performances include: Your Arms Outstretched Above Your Head, Coding With The Angels, Gathering, London (2022); The Neon Hieroglyph, Manchester lnternational Festival, Manchester (2021); Sol LeWitt/Mahler Foundation Carla Fendi Foundation, Spoleto (2021); Tragodía, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (2020); Turner Contemporary, Margate (2019); The Tetley, Leeds (2018); Nottingham Contemporary (2018); Tramway, Glasgow International (2018); Andromedan Sad Girl (with Florence Peake), CentroCentro, Madrid (2019) and Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2017); Dark Continent: Psy Chic Anem One, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2019) and Athens Biennale (2018); Serpentine Galleries, London (2016); Tate Britain, London (2016); and Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2015).
27 Apr 2023
