Insa Art Space presents Simon Starling’s lecture as the eighth IAS Talk series. Simon Starling((b. 1967, lives and works in Berlin/Glasgow) made his visit for his exhibition at 2006 Busan Biennale. Starling is an artist who is also like a researcher, traveler and narrator, as Tate's curator Rachel Tant has rightly described on his winning of 2005 Turner Prize. To borrow Starling’s own expression, his body of works is a "physical manifestation of a thought process". Based on meticulous research, he tracks down source materials for his "experiments". In the course of this experiments that are more like pilgrimage-journeys, he purses the processes involved in transforming one object or substance into another, and reveals hidden histories or unlikely relationships between seemingly disparate objects.

The installation piece, Tabernas Desert Run (2004) features a makeshift bicycle and a watercolor painting. The bicycle is powered by hydrogen that reacted with oxygen in the atmosphere and he rode it for 66 kilometres across the Tabernas desert in southern Spain. The only waste product was water, which he then used to paint a watercolour of a cactus that he had seen on his trip.

Rescued Rhododendrons(2000) is a video piece recording his rescue mission to return Rhododendron to its original habitat. The plant was imported from Spain to Scotland in 18th century, but faced an uprooting so that they would not alter the original ecosystem of Scotland. Starling counteracted this plan and set out a journey to return them to their original homeland.

Contextual shift, reversing process of historical development, human connection, nature, technology and economics are the key words in assessing Starling’s works, but just as much as these, there is also his pure joy to create objects or simple tools that can be adapted to different contexts for multiple uses.


Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2006, 'Cuttings', The Power Plant, Toronto; 2004 'Tabernas Desert Run', The Modern

Institute, Glasgow; 2003 Djungel, South London Gallery; 2002 'Kakteenhaus', Portikus,

Frankfurt; 2001 Secession, Vienna; 2001 Neugerriemshneider, Berlin; 2000 Camden Arts Centre, London