Ruth Ewan is a Scottish artist based in Glasgow, who focuses on projects looking at

social movements A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of ...

and protests.

Early life

Ruth Ewan was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, Scotland, in 1980. She studied fine art at the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

, graduating in 2002.

Exhibitions

*2006: Psittaciformes Trying to Change the World Studio Voltaire, London *2007: Ours is the world, despite all. Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

*2007: Did you kiss the foot that kicked you,

Artangel Artangel is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1985 by Roger Took. Directed since 1991 by James Lingwood and Michael Morris, it has commissioned and produced a string of notable site-specific works, plus several projects for TV, film, r ...

London *2010: ''Damnatio Memoriae'', Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung, Hohenlockstedt, Germany *2011: ''A Lock is a Gate,''

Art on the Underground Art on the Underground, previously called ''Platform for Art'', is Transport for London's (TfL) contemporary public art programme. It commissions permanent and temporary artworks for London Underground, as well as commissioning artists to create ...

, London *2011: ''Brank & Heckle'',

Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen movie theater, cinema, a printmaking, print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar. The cur ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

*2012: ''Ruth Ewan'', Kunsthall Charlottenborg,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

*2013: ''A Revolutionary Advent Calendar'', MoMA,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Projects

A Jukebox of People Trying to Change the World

In 2003 Ewan began a project that is still ongoing to create an archive of songs that carry a message about changing the world. She used her own research, and that of other people. She invites participation from others, via a section on her own website. In April 2018, it was in the

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barb ...

, Bothy Gallery, where some songs included references to Donald Trump.

We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be

Ewan created new clocks based on the French Republican Calendar which ran for 13 years from 5 October 1793. Each day was made up of 10 hours. The work is made up of ten clocks, and was commissioned for

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

's Triennial in 2011. There are two clocks which were made in addition to the initial ten, one red and one black. The red version is held by the Tate Britain, and the black by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Sympathetic Magick

In 2018, as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, Ewan collaborated with magician Ian Saville to commission 16 political magicians to perform at various venues through the city.

Awards

* 2006:

EASTinternational EASTinternational, often shortened to EAST, was an annual open-submission exhibition selected by invited guests – artists, critics, museum directors and gallerists – that occurred in Norwich University College of the Arts between July and Au ...

* 2008: Cocheme Fellowship, Byam Shaw School of Art * 2012: CREATE Art Award

References

External links

Ruth Ewan

BBC Open Air
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewan, Ruth 1980 births Artists from Aberdeen Scottish women artists Living people