Through layering photographic negative and positive transparencies, Yass creates vibrant and unusual images. After consultations with a sleep scientist, she produced a series of works investigating the psychological structures of dreams.
2006
Ilfotrans transparency, light box
33 7/8 x 26 3/4 x 4 7/8 in. (light box)
Ed. of 3
© Catherine Yass. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York.
"I've always had a suspicion of the ease in which you believe an image. I was using [the camera] to record performances, and still think of my images as recordings of a place. When I started photographing with it, I put the film in the wrong way round; when I saw that this was having funny effects, I experimented. I photograph on individual sheets: first of all, the positive transparency on one side of a plate, then another transparency on the other, which is processed as a negative, making it blue. I overlay the two, and there's a time gap between the two exposures. The photographs are then displayed in lightboxes to make the colours much more intense. There is a feeling of being drawn right into the inner world of the image."
Born 1963, London, England
Lives and works in London, England
MFA, Goldsmiths College, London, England, 1990
BA, Slade School of Art, University College London, London, England 1986
Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany, 1984-1985
Solo Exhibitions
2014 Cadences: Works from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam and film by Catherine Yass, Milton Keynes Gallery, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
2012 Lighthouse, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York
Lighthouse, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, England
2011 De La Warr Pavilion, East Sussex, England
Descent, The Philips Collection, Washington, DC
2009 The China Series, Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands
Descent, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Afloat, Galeria Estiarte, Madrid, Spain
2008 High Wire, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Scotland; Commissioned and produced by Artangel and the Gi Festival. Traveled to The German Gymnasium, London, England
Alison Jacques Gallery, London, England, Laing Gallery, Newcastle, England
2006 Lock, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, England
Wall: Descent: Flight, Khalil Sakakini Centre, Ramallah, Palestine
2005 Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Art Basel, Unlimited, Basel Art Fair
Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Herzliya Museum of Modern Art, Herzliya, Israel
2004 Alison Jacques Gallery, London, England
2003 Jerwood Gallery, London
2002 Descent, aspreyjacques, London, England
Glass Box Project: Catherine Yass, ARTLAB 16 at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, England
Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London
2001 Double Agent, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford, England
Jerwood Gallery, London, England
Star, National Gallery of Modern Art, Jaipur House, New Delhi. Traveled to National Gallery of Modern Art, CJ Hall, Mumbai, India; Birla, Calcutta, India; Lalit Kala, Chennai, India
2000 Cell, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, England
Synagogue, (Art in Sacred Spaces), The Congregation of Jacob, London, England
1999 Baths, The Pool, Central Club Hotel, London, England
British Council Exhibition Space, Prague, Czech Republic
Project Space, Galeri Wang, Oslo, Norway
1998 Baths, Sabine Schmidt, Cologne, Germany
Galería dels Angels, Barcelona, Spain
Invisible City, Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997 Grave, Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Stage, Cell Space, Barbican Centre, London, England
1996 Stall, Laure Genillard, London, England
Steel, Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Wales
1995 Spectators, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, England
1994 Chair, Viewpoint Photography Gallery, Salford, England
Guy’s Cliffe, Herber Percy Gallery, Warwickshire, England
1992 Laure Genillard, London, England
1991 The Tavistock Centre for Psychotherapy, London, England
Group Exhibitions
2018 Living with Buildings: Health and Architecture, Wellcome Collection, London, England
Powerful Tides - 400 Years of Chatham and the Sea, The Historic Chatham Dockyard, Kent, UK
2017 Navigating the Unknown: Elastic Actions in a Dizzying World, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
Togetherness: Notes on Outrage, Kestle Barton Gallery, Cornwall, England
Mission is 40, Mission Gallery, Swansea, South Wales
2016 Precarious Balance, Christchurch Center of Contemporary Art, Chistchurch, New Zealand
2015 How to Construct a Time Machine, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
2014 Walk On: From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff – 40 Years of Art Walking, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery and Peninsula Arts, Plymouth, Massachusetts
It’s All About the River Film Festival, part of the River Tamar Project, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Lost in Landscape, Museo di Arte Mdoerna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART), Rovereto, Italy, Museum Moderner Kunst (Mumok), Vienna, Austria
Bad Copy: Carrdiff by Parris, Museums at Night, Cardiff Museum, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Ship to Shore: Art and the Lure of the Sea, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom
Cultural Cartographies, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, Utah
Tribute to an Avenue, Sculpture International Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2013 DRONE: The Automated Image, 13th Montreal Photo Biennale, Montreal, Canada
High Wire, Walk-On, The Gymnasium, Berwick upon Tweed, United Kingdom
Government Art Collection, Revealed, Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Fluid Motion, Lizbeth and George Krupp New Media Gallery: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Summer Exposure, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York
2012 Nuit Blanche, TIFF Space, Toronto, Canada
The World in London, Olympic Commission Victoria Park, The Photographers Gallery, London, England
High Wire, Tate Britain, London, England
Government Art Collection, Commissions: Now and Then, Whitechapel Gallery, London, England
Government Art Collection, Lancaster House London, England
Desire Lines, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art (forthcoming in December)
Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
2011 Editions and Acquisitions 2011, The Alan Cristea Gallery, London, England
The Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York, England
Left Behind: Selected Gifts from the Heather and Tony Podesta Collection, Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Projections: Works from The Artangel Collection, The Manchester International Festival, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, England
Interventions in the Landscape, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York
2010 P(art)ners: Gifts from the Heather and Tony Podesta Collection, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.
2009 Passing Thoughts & Making Plans, group show curated by Catherine Yass, Jerwood Space, London, England
Learning Modern, The School at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
There Goes the Neighborhood, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio
The Photographic Object, The Photographer’s Gallery, London, England
2008 Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China, Mass MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts
Dateline Israel, The Jewish Museum of Maryland, Baltimore (MD)
Turned on, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, England
Parallax, Fieldgate Gallery, London, England
2007 The Speed Art Museum: Highlights from the Collection, The Speed Art Museum, Louisville
Bare Life, The Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel
Weather Report: Climate Change and Visual Arts, Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art, The Jewish Museum, New York, New York
Sleeping and Dreaming, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, Germany. Traveled through 2008 to Wellcome Collection, London, England
The Summer Exhibition Royal Academy of Arts, London, England
Urban Landscapes: Emancipation and Nostalgia, David Winton Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Video and Photograph from the Western Bridge, Museum of Art, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington
2006 6th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
MAN- Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Sarretto, Italy
Seoul International Photography Festival 2006
In The Society of London Ladies, La Nuit Blanche, Miss China Beauty Room, Paris
Dual Realities, The 4th Seoul International Media Biennale
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
New Territories, Cultuurcentrum Brugge, Bruge, Belgium
2005 7th Graz Biennial on Media and Architecture, Graz, Austria
Art Futures, Contemporary Art Society, Bloomberg SPACE, London, England
EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan, British Pavilion, Nagoya Eastern Hills, Japan
In Progress, Locarno International Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland
Les Grande Spectacles, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
Switched On, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, England
Thrust, 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2004 Interior View: Artists Explore the Language of Architecture, De Zonnehof, Centrum voor Moderne Kunst, Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Traveled to Firstsite, Colchester, Essex, England; Fri-Art, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Fribourg, Switzerland
WOW, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2003 CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Eastwing Collection 06, Courtauld Institute of Art, London, England
Some Things We Like..., aspreyjacques, London, England
The City That Never Was. Fantastic architecture in Western art. Traveled to Centro de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Museo De Bellas Artes De Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain
Up Close and Personal, Nottingham Castle, Drawing With Light International Photography Festival, Nottingham, England
Wetterling 25-ars jubileum, Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
2002 Cinema India: The Art of Bollywood, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
The Ink Jetty, Neon Gallery, London, England
Tate Modern Collection, Tate Modern, London, England
Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Glass Box Project: Catherine Yass, ARTLAB 16 at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
In Print: Contemporary British Art from the Paragon Press February 2002-2006, Art Pavillon ‘Cvijeta Zuzoric, Belgrade. Traveled to various locations
2001 10th Indian Triennale, Delhi, India
Multiplication: Artists’ Multiples, Artists Multiplied, National Museum of Art, Bucharest, Romania. Traveled to Muzeul de Arta, Braşov, Romania; Muzeul Brukenthal, Sibu, Romania
No World Without You. Reflections of Identity in New British Art, Herzliya Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
Nothing, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, England. Traveled to Contemporary Arts Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania; Rooseum Centre for Contemporary Art, Malmo, Sweden
Read Only Memory, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre University of Warwick, Coventry, England
The gallery: UNCOVERED, University of Essex, Essex, England
2000 Eat, Fuck, Die, Platform, London, England
Explorations of the Environment: Landscape Redefined, Barbara Gillman Gallery, Miami, Florida
Light x 8, The Jewish Museum, New York, New York
1999 Glen Dimplex Artists Award, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Officina Europa, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy. Traveled to Chiostri di San Domenico, Imola, Italy; Ex Fabbrica Arrigoni, Cesena and Palazzo dell’Arnego, Rimini, Italy
Prime, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland
This Other World of Ours, TV Gallery, Moscow, Russia
National Gallery of Art, Tirana
1998 Modern British Art, Tate, Liverpool, England
New Art From Britain, Kunstraum, Innsbruck, Austria
Performing Buildings, Tate, Bankside, London, England
Queen’s Festival, Waterfront Concert Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Screen, Anne Faggionato Gallery, London, England
Feeringbury V111 – Cultivated, Feeringbury Manor and Firstsite, Colchester, England
London Screen, Edicions T Gallería d’Art, Barcelona, Spain
United in Death, Cambridge Darkroom Gallery, Cambridge, England
1997 Date with an Artist, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, England
Denys Lasdun Retrospective, Royal Academy of Arts, London, England
Dimensions Variable: Works from the British Council Collection, City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland. Traveled through 2000 Royal Academy of Free Arts, Stockholm, Sweden; Soros Foundation, Kiev, Ukraine; Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw Poland; Stadtische Kustsammlungen, Chemintz, Germany; Prague National Gallery of Modern Art, Prague, Czech Republic; Zagreb Union of Croatian Artists, Zagreb, Croatia; Institute Mathidenhohe, Darmstadt, Germany; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnus, Lithuania; Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary; Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia; National Theatre Galleries, Bucharest, Romania
False Impressions, British School, Rome, Italy
Green on Red Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Light, Richard Salmon, London, England
Pictura Britannica, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Private Face / Urban Space, The Gasworks, Athens, Greece
Six Unrelated Projects, The Tannery, London, England
Surroundings, Museum of Modern Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Urban Legends, Kunsthalle Baden–Baden, Baden–Baden, Germany
1996 ACE Arts Council New Purchases, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England; Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire, England; Oldham Gallery, Oldham, England; Hayward Gallery, London, England; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England; Mappin Art gallery, Sheffield, England; Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, England; Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Elektroniske understromme, Kunst & Video, Statens Museum for Kunst & Filmhuset, Kobenhavn, Denmark
Inner London, Delfina, London, England
Inside Bankside, South London Gallery, London, England
Join the Dots, Galerie 5020, Salzburg, Austria
Manifesta 1, European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Private View, Bowes Museum, Darlington, County Durham, England
1995 152c Brick Lane, London, England
British Art Show 4, Cornerhouse, Manchester. Traveled through 1996 to Edinburgh, Scotland; Cardiff, Wales
Care and Control, Hackney Hospital, London, England
Gang Warfare, Independent Art Space, London, England
Institute of Cultural Anxiety, ICA, London, England
Melange d’Aout, Laure Genillard, London, England
Open House, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, England
Whistling Women, Royal Festival Hall, London, England
1994 Guys Cliff, Heber-Percy Gallery, Warwickshire
Martina Detterer Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
Miniatures, The Agency, London, England
Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England
1993 Inner Side, Architectural Association, London, England
Vox Pop, Laure Genillard, London, England
1992 Brit Art, Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland
Discretion, Canary Wharf, London, England
Exhibit A, Serpentine Gallery, London, England
1991 Brit Art 1, Galeri Senger, Zürich, Switzerland
Countdown, Chisenhale Gallery, London, England
Post-Morality, Cambridge Darkroom, Cambridge, England
Sign of the Times, Camerawork, London, England
Swimming Underwater, Imagination, London, England
The Clove Building, Butler’s Wharf, London, England
1989 Suppose It’s True After All? Crypt Gallery, London, England
1985 Galerie Ackerstrasse, Berlin, Germany
1984 New Contemporaries, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England
Special Commmissions & Other Projects
2017 Clandon Park, The National Trust, West Clandon, England
2009 Passing Thoughts & Making Plans, group show curated by Catherine Yass, Jerwood Space, London, England
2003 Set design for Merce Cunningham: Split Sides, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, New York; Performance toured to Théâtre de la Ville, Paris and Barbican Theater, London, England
2000 Christmas Tree 2000, Tate Britain, London, England
Awards
2002 Arts and Humanities Research Board, Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, through 2005
Turner Prize Shortlist, Tate Britain, London, England
Wellcome Trust Award, London, England
2001 10th India Triennale Award, New Delhi
2000 Sci-Art Award, The Wellcome Trust, London
Year of the Artist Award, The Arts Council of England
1999 Glen Dimplex Artists Award, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
1997 Citibank Photography Prize Shortlist, London, England
1987 Boise Travel Scholarship, Slade School of Art, London, England
Monographs
Catherine Yass. London: aspreyjacques, 2000.
filmografía/filmography. Gran Canaria, Canary Islands: Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, 2005.
Catherine Yass: High Wire. London: Artangel, 2009.
Public Collections
Arts Council of England, United Kingdom
Biblioteca Albertina, Leipzig, Germany
The British Council Collection, London, United Kingdom
Delfina Entrecanales, London, United Kingdom
Dundee City Council, Dundee, Scotland
Government Art Collection, London, United Kingdom
Jewish Community Centre, London, United Kingdom
The Jewish Museum, New York, New York
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
The Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, Washington
The National Museum of Women in the Arts Collection
National Museum and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff, Wales
New Art Gallery, Walsall, England
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Public Art Development Trust, London, United Kingdom
Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum, Warwick, England
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
Tate Collection, London, United Kingdom
