Biography

Julyan’s work is evidence of a compulsion to seek out material truth and uninhabited imaginative space.
Turner Contemporary

Born in 1962 Alex Julyan lives and works in London. Her works are assembled from a wide range of everyday and abandoned materials, as well as texts and fabricated elements. Dissecting familiar objects, spaces and situations with a quiet investigative wit, she subverts their individual and universal properties, making subtle shifts in the familiar qualities that define them. Her ongoing collaborative projects are characterized by exchanges across art forms and media, including large-scale events which explore the territory between music, theatre and installation.

education + training

1980-1984 Chelsea School of Art
Foundation Course . 1980-1981
BA Hons Fine Art . 1981-1984
2008 Punchdrunk . directing + site sympathetic production
2002 Theatre de Complicite @ Tate Modern . interpretation
2002 Arts Council . video projection
1999 Chisenhale Gallery . Get Art . SEN skills
1995 Whitechapel Gallery . gallery education
 

events + performance

2011 get mOuthy! . Wellcome collection . London
event curator: Whole building Spectacle
Wellcome Trust commission
2010 Grey Goose . Punchdrunk Theatre
NPA Promotional event
design and installation of The Memory Distillery
Quacks and Cures: new formula
event curator: diagnosis and cures with new additions
Wellcome Trust commission
Lux in Tenebras . Barbican Centre . London
choreographer . music: Stephen Montague
BBC Symphony Orchestra commission + Laban Dance
2009 Quacks & Cures . Wellcome Collection. London . Whole Building Spectacle curator . Wellcome Trust commission
2008 Apparitions produced & composed by Stephen Montague Mull, Scotland . Dartington, Devon . co-producer . costumes + installations .
Dartington International Summer School, PRS Foundation & Scottish Arts Council commission
2005 Beach Singularity by Trevor Wishart . Scarborough Beach . art director . Sonic Arts Network commission
2004 Musicircus, UnCaged Festival . Barbican Arts Centre . London .
Installations . BBC Symphony Orchestra commission
2000 Bells of Remembrance with Stephen Montague Ickleton, Cambridge . Year of the Artist commission
1998 Corridors of Power with Cameron Sinclair Manchester Town Hall . site specific multi-media event . ISCM Festival commission
Winner of the George Butterworth Award
1997 Musicircus: Inventing America Festival . Barbican Centre . London . installations . BBC Symphony Orchestra commission
   

site specific work

2005 Unfastened Silence . Spitalfields Market . London Spitalfields Development Trust commission
2003 Memory Spaces . Royal College of Art . London . BBC Proms commission
2002

composition of impulses . the Wapping Project. London sound by Cameron Sinclair . site specific multi-media work . SPNM commission
Received Wisdom . Chelsea Physic Garden . London . site specific . Physic Garden commission

1999 Safe and Sound with composer Cameron Sinclair . St. Margaret’s Chapel, Sunderland . site specific . Helix Arts commission
1999 Support System . Whiteleys . London
A Created Space commission
   

selected solo exhibitions

2003 composition of impulses. Turner Contemporary . Margate Arts Council of England commission
2002 Made in England . Shire Hall Gallery . Stafford
1998 Ground Control . PriceWaterhouse . London
1996 The Museum of Nonsense.Holland Park . London
   

selected group exhibitions + commissions

2009 Summer Show . England & Co . London
Flatpack Architecture. Fermynwoods Contemporary Art . Northamptonshire
Held in the Hand . Leicester Artworks Collection
2007 Summer Show .Royal Academy. London
open . Café Gallery Projects . London
2005 Here-Now . Kaze Gallery . Tokyo
2003 London Artfair . represented by England & Co
2002 new sculptures. England & Co . London
Two Schools of Thought . Oxo Gallery . London
London Artfair . represented by England & Co
Artfutures Contemporary Art Society . Bankside . London
2001 London Artfair . represented by England & Co
2000 Value Judgements . Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool . Ruskin Gallery. Sheffield . Cleveland Crafts Centre
London Artfair . represented by England & Co
Artfutures Contemporary Art Society . Barbican . London
1999 Summer Show Royal Academy . London
Hidden Art . London
Artfutures Contemporary Art Society . Festival Hall, London Featured artist
1998 Whitechapel Open . London
Art at 100 . Park Lane . London
1997 Open . Towner Gallery . Eastbourne
   

selected Exhibitions 1985-95

  Riverside Studios . Groucho Club . Royal Overseas League South London Gallery . London Contemporary Art Fair . Southern Arts Touring Exhibitions . Whitechapel Open . Cable & Wireless collection
   

publications

2009 Lost in Translation . by Alex Julyan & Bill Gilonis a project exploring perception, language and chance
 

design

backdrop, costume & set design Paul Smith (1984-1987)
LIFT FESTIVAL
Frankfurt Music Messe
MTV
BBC2 TV Picture This
BBC1 TV Carluccio’s Southern Italian Feast .
PriceWaterhouse corporate film
Glyndebourne Youth Opera
Barbican Arts Centre
Dartington International Summer School

illustration

Telegraph Magazines
Radio Times
New Scientist
Discovery Channel
Royal Mail
British Diabetic Association
Holland Park Opera
   

public art

2007 Highbury Corner . London
2006 Old Dagenham Park . London
2002 Altab Ali Park . Whitechapel . London
1984-1988 Thomas Tallis School . London
Greenwich Hospital . London
Southampton General Hospital
Isleworth Hospital
   

presentations

2011 ArtQuest . Real world series: professionalism in the arts
2010 ArtQuest . Self Assembly series: rates of pay
2009 Yo Opera! conference . Holland . drawing as performance
2008 RESEO conference . Austria . visual arts in opera education
2004 ENGAGE conference . London . artist-educator's perspective
   

teaching

1987-99 Winchester School of Art
1994-95 N E London University
1989 Uttar Pradesh India
   

gallery + museum education

1997 ongoing Autism London . Barbican Art Gallery . CGP. Chisenhale Gallery . Creative Partnerships . De La Warr Pavilion . ENGAGE . Look Ahead Housing and Care National Portrait Gallery . Serpentine Gallery . Science Museum . Southbank Centre . South London Gallery Turner Contemporary . Towner Gallery . Whitechapel Gallery
   

core teams + development

2003-current ongoing British Library
Explore the Worlds Knowledge, Texts in Context, Listen Up!
Special Exhibitions
2004-2008 Tate Modern
Schools & Community Programme
1998-2007 V & A
Family programme, RIBA pilot project
   

cross-arts education

Royal Opera House
Orchestra of St. John’s
BBC Proms
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Glyndebourne Opera
BBM Sustainable Architects
Will Alsop Architects
   

writing + evaluation

2010 - 2011 Southwark Council. curating Silver Views
Lucy Wilson + Alex Julyan
2008 Tate Modern. Community Programme: Finding Louise
Michelle Fuirer + Alex Julyan
CGP FutureBluePerfect. seniors learning
Lucy Wilson + Alex Julyan
2007 The Natural House Clay Build Architecture in practice