Lisson Gallery

Ceal Floyer

Conceptual artist Ceal Floyer is celebrated for her deft manoeuvres in everyday situations, testing the slippage between function and implication, the literal and the imagined. Working in film and installation, she reconfigures familiar objects as sources of surprise and humour. In Light (1994), for example, a solitary unconnected bulb is lit up from four sides by slide projectors; in Hammer and Nail (2018), stock footage of a nail being hammered is edited so that the footage rises with each blow, the frame of the film and wood plank coming up to meet the hammer. Such adjustments in usage draw on an acute sense of the absurd, with an economy of language that makes a powerful argument for beauty in the detail. Viewers are nudged to double take, and on closer inspection, recognise a sparse kind of poetry. Floyer’s clarity of thought and the elegantly concise presentation of her ideas resonate through all areas of her practice. The deceptive simplicity of the work is informed by Floyer’s particular sense of humour and an awareness of the absurd. Using double-takes and shifting points of view, Floyer forces the viewer to renegotiate their perception of the world.

Ceal Floyer was born in 1968 and lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She completed a BFA at Goldsmiths College, London, UK (1994). Recent solo exhibitions include: Lisson Gallery, East Hampton (2021), University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, USA (2019), Lisson Gallery, London, UK (2018), Aspen Art Museum, USA and Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (both 2016), Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2015), Kolnischer Kunstverein, Germany (2013), DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada (2011), Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, USA (2010), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (both 2009), and Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina (MADRE), Naples, Italy (2008). 

Among many group exhibitions, she has been featured in exhibitions at: Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield East, Australia (2021), South London Gallery, London, UK and the Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA (both 2018), at the Broad Art Museum, Lansing, USA (2017) and at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin and the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (Germany, both 2017). She participated in Aichi Triennale, Nagoya City and Toyota City, Aichi, Japan (2019), Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong, China and documenta 13, Kassel, Germany (both 2012), and the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009). She won the Preis der Nationalgalerie Fur Junge Kunst, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (2007) and the Nam June Paik Art Centre Prize, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (2009). 

 

Windsock, 2021

Ceal Floyer
Windsock, 2021

Installation view: Istanbul Triennial 2022

Windsock, 2021 and Maximum Headroom, 2014

Ceal Floyer
Windsock, 2021 and Maximum Headroom, 2014

Installation view: Istanbul Triennial 2022

1mx1m, 2021

Ceal Floyer
1mx1m, 2021

Plastic folding rulers

1mx1m, 2021

Ceal Floyer
1mx1m, 2021

Plastic folding rulers

Hammer and Nail

Ceal Floyer
Hammer and Nail

2018
Video projection with audio Dimensions variable 26 seconds (looped) ed. 1 of 3 + 2 APs

Fallen Star

Ceal Floyer
Fallen Star

2018
35 mm slide projector, slide mask, mirror, telescopic AV stand Dimensions variable ed. 1 of 3 + 2 APs

Untitled (Static)

Ceal Floyer
Untitled (Static)

2018
Parabolic speaker and ready-made sound effect Dimensions variable ed. 1 of 3 + 2 APs

Maximum Headroom

Ceal Floyer
Maximum Headroom

2014/2018
Site specific custom printed aluminium sign Dimensions variable ed. 1 of 3 + 2 APs

Hotel Rooms

Ceal Floyer
Hotel Rooms

2018
Scanned and printed promotional images of hotel rooms mounted on matte Plexiglas panels Diptych: 120 x 65 x 0.3 cm (each panel) Diptych: 47 1/8 x 25 1/2 (each panel) ed. 1 of 3 + 2 APs

Mind the Step

Ceal Floyer
Mind the Step

2006
Installation view, spring 2018: 'Rehearsal', Old Bailey Galleries, Hong Kong, China. ​© ​Tai Kwun​ ​Contemporary. Photographer: Kwan Sheung Chi.

Ink On Paper (Set of 12)

Ceal Floyer
Ink On Paper (Set of 12)

1999
Felt tip pen on blotting paper 29.7 x 21 cm (each) 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 in (each)

 The Answer

Ceal Floyer
The Answer

2015
Photographic print mounted on aluminium. 102 x 160 cm 40 1/8 x 63 in 40 1/8 x 63 in

Mirror Globe

Ceal Floyer
Mirror Globe

2014
Ready-made mirror ball in modified globe stand. 36 x 30 x 30 cm / 14 1/4 x 11 7/8 x 11 7/8 in.

Silent Movie

Ceal Floyer
Silent Movie

2014
Video file with sound, speakers, projector. 3 mins.

Untitled (Suggestion Box)

Ceal Floyer
Untitled (Suggestion Box)

2008
Ready-made "Suggestion" box, ready-made "Closed" sign 30 x 31 x 15.5 cm 11 3/4 x 12 1/8 x 6 in ed. of 3 + 2 AP

Garbage Bag

Ceal Floyer
Garbage Bag

1996
Garbage bag, air and twist tie Dimensions variable ed. of 5 + 2 APs

Page 11,083 of 11,803

Ceal Floyer
Page 11,083 of 11,803

2010
11,083 pages of A4 paper 21 x 29.7 x 116.5 cm / 8 3/8 x 11 5/8 x 46 in.

Line Busy

Ceal Floyer
Line Busy

2011
Loud speakers, wall. Dimensions variable.

Ladder

Ceal Floyer
Ladder

2010
Aluminium ladder 278.5 x 37.5 cm / 109 5/8 x 14 7/8 in.

Facsimile

Ceal Floyer
Facsimile

2010
DVD Projection. Dimensions variable.

Secret

Ceal Floyer
Secret

2009
Two megaphones 47.5 x 16 x 16 cm / 18 5/8 x 6 3/8 x 6 3/8 in.

Duck-Rabbit

Ceal Floyer
Duck-Rabbit

2009
Poster on alu-dibond. 60 x 60 cm / 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in.

Scale

Ceal Floyer
Scale

2007
24 wall-mounted speakers, computer, 12 stereo amplifiers. Dimensions variable.

Solo

Ceal Floyer
Solo

2006
Koenig & Meyer 'Proline' mic stand, 22mm mic holder, hairbrush. Installation shot and detail: Aspen Art Museum, 2016, photography by Tony Prikryl.

Double Act

Ceal Floyer
Double Act

2006
Light projection, photographic gobo, theatre lamp. Installation View. Lisson Gallery, London.

Plumbline

Ceal Floyer
Plumbline

2004
Metal plumb, fine string / wire. Dimensions variable.

Overgrowth

Ceal Floyer
Overgrowth

2004
Medium format slide and medium format slide projector. Dimensions variable

Peel

Ceal Floyer
Peel

2003

DVD projection

Installation view: Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany

Photograph: Andrea Rossetti

Peel

Ceal Floyer
Peel

2003

DVD projection

Installation view: Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany

Photograph: Andrea Rossetti

Peel

Ceal Floyer
Peel

2003

DVD projection

Installation view: Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany

Photograph: Andrea Rossetti

Exhibitions

  1. Ceal Floyer

    Ceal Floyer

    3 June – 13 June 2021

  2. Ceal Floyer

    Ceal Floyer

    16 November 2018 – 12 January 2019

  3. Ceal Floyer

    Ceal Floyer

    27 March – 16 May 2014

  4. Ceal Floyer

    Ceal Floyer

    23 November 2010 – 29 January 2011

  5. Ceal Floyer

    Ceal Floyer

    7 April – 6 May 2006

  6. Ceal Floyer

    Ceal Floyer

    9 May – 29 June 2002

  7. Ceal Floyer

    Ceal Floyer

    24 May – 5 July 1997

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