Duncan Poulton is an artist making video, print and installation using found materials. His practice is fed by an obsessive gathering of online content into a vast digital archive, which he recombines into still and moving image collages. Born out of remix, DIY and British folk art approaches, his digital works aim to provoke the same disorientating, intense experience the web creates in us every day. He makes work instinctively, in the gap between the unconscious and conscious, between the algorithm and his flawed human brain. He is a hoarder, selector and combiner, who uses the internet as his palette and imagination.
Recent solo exhibitions include Outernet, Peckham 24, SET Lewisham, London; and Division of Labour, Salford. Group exhibitions include Ars Electronica, Linz; Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany; TACO!, London; Bloc Projects, Sheffield; MOSTYN, Llandudno; Coventry Biennial; Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea; QUAD, Derby; MIT Museum, Massachusetts; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; arebyte, London; CICA Museum, South Korea; and Transmediale, Berlin. His work has been featured on WeTransfer, WePresent and in Elephant Magazine. He is an alumnus of Wysing Arts Centre’s alternative learning programme The Syllabus, and the University of Brighton.
Interviews & essays
CV
Solo exhibitions
2024
Imagine What We Can Do Tomorrow, Peckham 24, London
2023
Imagine What We Can Do Tomorrow, Division of Labour, Salford
Content Anxiety, WePresent by WeTransfer, Outernet, London
2022
Factory Reset, SET Lewisham, London
Selected group exhibitions
2024
STREET SPACE BANGER, TICK TACK / Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany
If you’re watching this, selected by Morgan Quaintance, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, UK
Bloom, Outhouse, London
Computer Love, Nadir Project Space, Brighton, UK
Tree & Leaf, Division of Labour, Salford, UK
2023
Content Anxiety, Close Up Cinema, London, UK
A Hand is Dealt, Yan Tan Tether, Manchester, UK
I’M HERE BUT I’M NOT A CAT, SET Kensington, London, UK
Y2K, TACO! Thamesmead, London, UK (two-person with Nick Smith)
Y2K, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton, UK (two-person with Nick Smith)
Invisible Hands, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
Many Happy Days, Fabrica, Brighton, UK
2022
WeTransfer homepage, online
Figureheads, Bloc Projects, Sheffield, UK
Mobile Cinema, Deptford X, London, UK
Summer Camp, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK
Kipya Ki?, FORMAT Festival, Derby; FOTEA Foundation, Uganda
6x6 Project, online
2021
My Online Bedroom, MOSTYN, Llandudno, Wales
Alone with Everybody, Od Arts Festival, Somerset, UK
Ikon for Artists, Ikon, Birmingham, UK
2020
In Kepler’s Gardens, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
Going Away.tv, arebyte, London, UK
Copy Paste, Piksel Festival, Bergen, Norway
Copy Paste, Apo33, Nantes, France
arebyte on screen, online
2019
The Twin, Coventry Biennial 2019, Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, Coventry, UK
Transitional States, Art Licks Weekend, Campbell Works, London, UK
How do you spell a scream?, Caraboo Projects, Bristol, UK
Digital Overload, Die Digitale, Dusseldorf, Germany
HOT STEAM II, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
OUTPOST Open Film, selected by Stuart Whipps, OUTPOST, Norwich, UK
2018
Gotcha ;), QUAD, Derby, UK
Frame & Frequency IV, VisArts Centre, Rockville, Washington, USA
Introducing, Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK
A Bridge to the Continent, The Wallace Collection, London, UK
2017
Semi-Self Reflections, Transmediale, Berlin, Germany
No Copyright Infringement Intended, Vivid Projects, Birmingham
No Copyright Infringement Intended, Phoenix, Leicester
NAWKI, 12ø Collective; east bristol contemporary; CBS, Liverpool; The White Pube, London; SERF, Leeds
In The Cut, Flatpack Festival, Birmingham, UK
Playback Festival: in association with Random Acts, ICA, London, UK
THE END IS BY YUR, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, UK
Kochi-Muzeris Biennale, Kerala, India
Athens Digital Arts Festival, Greece
2016
The New Immortals, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton, UK
Future Late, Tate Modern, London, UK
CICA International, CICA Museum, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Summer Camp, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK
After Eden, Latarka Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2015
Sluice_ Art Fair, OXO Tower Wharf, London, UK
New Moves, Latitude Festival, Suffolk, UK
Bibliography
2023
Don’t Panic exhibition essay by Natalie D Kane
I’M HERE BUT I’M NOT A CAT exhibition essay by Hector Campbell
Interview with Ben Nicholson for ALT/KINO
Cover and feature in Terra Firma Magazine issue #08
2022
Feature on WeTransfer.com homepage
Interview with Gaspar Willmann for Young Artists in Conversation
Duncan Poulton: Digital collages made from online waste, Interview with Madeleine Morley for WePresent
Duncan Poulton: Word Salad exhibition essay by Rosa Tyhurst
2021
The Imperfect Librarian, feature in Sluice_ Magazine
2020
New Digital Collage Art
2019
Transitional States, Art Licks Weekend & LUX Critical Forum
2017
Duncan Poulton: Duplication, Simulation & Appropriation, Kolaj Magazine
isthisit? Magazine: Issue 2
2016
New Media Art 2017: Back to Nature, CICA Press
Education
2019–2021
The Syllabus, alternative learning programme run by Wysing Arts Centre / Eastside Projects / Spike Island / S1 Artspace / The Newbridge Project / Iniva
2012–2015
BA Fine Art Critical Practice (1st Class Honours), University of Brighton, UK
2011–2012
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Distinction), School of Art Bournville, Birmingham, UK
Awards
2024
Developing Your Creative Practice award, Arts Council England
2023
Plat(t)form 2023, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
Foam Talent 2023, Foam, Amsterdam (shortlisted)
Chester Contemporary Emerging Artist Award selected by Ryan Gander (shortlisted)
2022
In Between Gallery commission, Fabrica, Brighton
2017
Engine Bursary, New Art West Midlands
Residencies
2023
Collective Conversations residency, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton
2019
LUX Critical Forum, LUX, London
2018
Digital Artist Residency, online
2016
SOUP Part III residency, Stryx, Birmingham, UK
Teaching
2024
Associate Lecturer, BA Graphic Design, Middlesex University, London
Visiting Lecturer, BA Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University
Visiting lecturer, MA Performance: Screen, Central Saint Martins, London
2023
Visiting lecturer, BA Fine Art, Colchester Insititute
Visiting lecturer, BA Visual Communication, Falmouth University
2021
Mentor, Short Film Fund, Roundhouse, London
2017–
Mentor, The FLAMIN Fellowship, Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network (FLAMIN)
Talks & press
2024
Panel talk: ‘FUTURE PROOF: Photography as Fabrication’, Laura Chen and Duncan Poulton in conversation with Ravi Ghosh, Peckham 24
facetime den haag, Den Haag, NL
2023
Artist talk, Central Saint Martins, London
Artist talk, Fabrica, Brighton
Duncan Poulton & Nick Smith in conversation with Natalie D Kane, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton
Imagine What We Can Do Tomorrow featured in KUBAPARIS and Art Viewer
Imagine What We Can Do Tomorrow review by Harpreet Kaur, The Fourdrinier
2022
Featured on WeTransfer homepage
Elephant Magazine’s Artists to Watch
Panel talk: Kipya Ki? with Maria Ahmed, Canon Rumanzi, Lidiya Zelke, Tom Faber and Ibrahim Azab, FORMAT Festival
2021
SALVAGE, Stillpoint Magazine
Artist talk, Od Arts Festival, Somerset
2020
100 Days, The Midnight Club, print publication
Artist talk, Piksel Festival, Bergen, Norway
arebyte on screen online streaming platform
2019
RUNG #02, RUNG Magazine, east bristol contemporary
2018
Risobook 1: Weird Science, The Holodeck/Artefact Projects
Living Room Light Exchange: Duncan Poulton + Emily Roderick, Birmingham, UK
2017
Panel talk: Copyright as Frame and Prison, Phoenix, Leicester, UK
2016
Picture Interview #160 Duncan Poulton, Kollektiv Gallery
Panel talk: Exploring Immortality, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton, UK
Curatorial
2024
Posthuman international screening series with works by Elliot Dodd, Gregor Petrikovič, Chen Di and Maria de la O Garrido, at Videocity / SET / riesa efau
2023
Index of Plagiarism events programme convened by Duncan Poulton & Nick Smith with workshops by Harley Kuyck- Cohen, Graeme Arnfield & Folium, at Phoenix Art Space, Brighton
2019
Hyperlinked screening programme with films by Heather Phillipson, Bedwyr Williams, Mark Leckey & Gillian Wearing, at Flatpack Festival, Birmingham
2017
In The Cut group exhibition with works by Patrick Goddard, Sophie Michael and Joe Hamilton, at The Roundhouse, Birmingham