Rory Pilgrim (born 1988 in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England) is a British artist who lives and works in

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and the

Isle of Portland The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...

Career

Initially Pilgrim was drawn to music, he studied classical music and sung in a cathedral choir when he was young and was part of two pop bands while a teenager. Later he came to art for the 'open space' it provided. After an initial art education in the UK, Pilgrim since 2008 continued their career home basing in the Netherlands where they received recognition by Dutch contemporary art institutions including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Pilgrim's work is influenced by socially engaged art, as well as activist and feminist traditions. The creation of the work often entails social processes, involving other people through collaborations, workshops, and dialogues. The artistic media used by Pilgrim include life performance, video art, installation, music composition, and drawing, The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam described Pilgrim's work as creating spaces "..where people of diverse backgrounds can come together and develop new forms of understanding and caretaking..". In 2019 Pilgrim was awarded the Prix de Rome (Netherlands), for his work ''The Undercurrent''. Pilgrim developed ''The Undercurrent'' during an artist residency at MING Studios in

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, and the work revolves around a group of young people from Boise. It explores the intricate interplay between their individual struggles and broader societal issues. These encompass a spectrum of concerns, spanning from climate change to gender equality. Pilgrim was nominated for the 2023

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

for the work ''RAFTS''. While working on ''RAFTS'', Pilgrim indicated that it "in many ways, is a second chapter to ''The Undercurrent'' and explores intersections between mental health and the climate crisis."

Solo & duo exhibitions

* ''pink & green'',

Chisenhale Gallery Chisenhale Gallery is a non-profit contemporary art gallery based in London's East End. The gallery occupies the ground level of a former veneer factory on Chisenhale Road, situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, near Victoria Park, To ...

, London, UK, 2024 * ''Radio Ballads'',

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...

, London, UK, 2022 * ''HOP to HOPE: Rory Pilgrim'', Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, Finland, 2022 * ''The Undercurrent'', Badischer Kunstverein, Karsruhe, Germany, 2020 * ''The Resounding Bell'', Between Bridges, Berlin, Germany, 2019 * ''Software Garden'', MING Studios, Boise, USA, 2019

Performances

* ''RAFTS Live'', Cadogan Hall,

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...

, London, UK, 2022 * ''Software Garden'',

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, Paris, France, 2021 * ''As close to the future as possible'',

South London Gallery The South London Gallery, founded 1891, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London. Until 1992, it was known as the South London Art Gallery, and nowadays the acronym SLG is often used. Margot Heller became its direct ...

, London, UK, 2018 * ''Open'',

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2012 * ''Women and Children: What has made this building last?'',

, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2010

Screenings

* ''The Undercurrent'',

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

(MoMA), New York, USA, 2022 * ''RAFTS'', Kunsthuis SYB, Beetsterzwaag, the Netherlands, 2022

Collections

* Tate Collection, UK *

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

, UK * Bonnefantenmuseum, NL

References

External links

Official website

Video interview - Tate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilgrim, Rory Artists from Bristol Alumni of the University of the Arts London 1988 births Living people