Multimedia artist Alex Pearl explores the world through the breaks and slippages caused by his relationship with technology. In 2018 he completed a PhD (at MMU and FACT Liverpool) on mechanical breakdown and anthropomorphism. This involved making, and pretending to dress up as, a series of badly made robots. Current work uses gif animation to unravel the strange afterlife of images in the digital realm.
Solo Exhibitions and Screenings
2024, Sick Bed, Atlas House
2021, Petting Zoo, Small House Gallery, London
2020 We’ve Never Heard of this Man, The Executive, Ipswich
2018 Breakdown, ELAN, Cambridge
2017 Love Machines, The Minories, Colchester
2016 Denis ex Machina, Canal Project Space, London
Object Liberation Front, Metal, Liverpool
2015 Machine 2, Gallery 333, Phoenix Arts Centre, Exeter
2014 Mothra vs Godzilla, Canal Gallery, London
2012 Let’s Go!, Fishmarket Gallery, Northampton.
2010 Whitstable Biennale, Whitstable (commission)
The Incredible Shrinking Man, Tap Gallery Southend, (solo)
Goodbye to most of the Daydreams, ICIA, University of Bath
2009 Goodbye to most of the Daydreams, BCA Gallery, Bedford
2008 Persistence of Vision, City Gallery offsite program, Leicester
Little Deaths, Salt Gallery, Hayle
Selected Group Exhibitions, Screenings & Film Festivals
2024
One Minute Volume 11, Touring
Sluice Vernacular, The Minories, Colchester
2023
Breaking the Narrative, Thamesside Studios, London, https://www.thames-sidestudios.co.uk/news/exhibitions/2023/breaking-the-narrative
2020
One Minute Volume 10, curated by Kerry Baldry (touring)
Moon Show, General Practice, Lincoln
2018
Uncommon or Garden, The Jugg Art Foundation, Ipswich
Sciomancy, Transition Two, London (Two person show with Katherine Tulloh)
Open Call, Atlas House, curated by Adam Thompson
2017
Our Friends Electric, QUAD, Derby
A Grand Exposition, Talbot Mill, Manchester
Ghost Cinema, Transition Gallery, London
2016
Home Time, Transition Gallery, London
Ob_ject & Ob_serve, Small View Gallery, Gostins Arcade, Liverpool
Time is Love - 9, Berlin, Paris, Seydisfjordur, Yokohama, and touring, curated by Kisito
Assagni
One Minute, volume 8, Touring, curated by Kerry Baldry
2015
Compression Culture, Manchester Metropolitan University
The Names, Transition Gallery, London
Sluice Art Fair (Transition Gallery)
Critical & Contemporary Culture - Play, Waterside Contemporary, London & Online
2014
Enclosures, CANAL, London
Monomania, Cambridge Junction, Aid & Abet, Cambridge
News From Nowhere, Kelmscott House, London
2013
Playing with Space, Firstsite, Colchester, curated by Lawrence Bradby and Tim Phillips
Time is Love, (touring), curated by Kisito Assagni
One Minute, volume 6, Touring, curated by Kerry Baldry
2012
Now the Dream is over and the insect is awake, Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London
The End of the Future, Transition Gallery, London
S1 Salon, S1 Artspace, Sheffield
Bread & Roses, Motorcade/Flashparade, Bristol
Journeying with Shadows, 19th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film
Collectible, Zeitgeist Art Projects, London
Beyond Belonging, 12th GOEAST – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film,
Wiesbaden, Germany
2011
Sluice, London
Eastern Pavilions, Norwich curated by Kaavous Clayton
The Man who Fell to Earth, A Monika Bobinska project at Jens Hills, 4-25 June 2011
The Count of Monte Cristo, Rogue Project Space, Manchester, Phoenix Gallery, Exeter &
Influx, Limerick (Group show with Annabel Dover, Mimei Thompson & Hayley Lock)
Pulp Fictions, Transition Gallery, London, curated by Cathy Lomax
Badlands, London Art Fair, Islington (curated by Monika Bobinska)
Saison Video, Lille
Creative Machines Minimalist Sculpture, THE EVENT, Curzon Street Station,
Birmingham, Curated by Charlie Levine and Minnie Weisz. (touring)
6 Degrees, The Monks Gallery, Lincoln
In Close Succession, Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich
2010
Unspooling – artists and cinema, Cornerhouse, Manchester (curated by Andrew Bracey
& Dave Griffiths)
Artside, Southend, curated by Michaela Freeman & Amy McKenny
Floccinaucinihilipilification, King’s Lynn Arts Centre
Korean Experimental Art Festival, Hogdae, Seoul
Verwertung, Stattbad Wedding, Berlin
Meleager’s Garland, Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory, Lincoln
Cosmic Mysteries, London Art Fair, London & Gallery Espacio, Valencia, curated by Monika Bobinska
Quiet Voices, Tate Britain, London
2009
Shift Festival, Basel
For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn, g39, Cardiff, Curated by Michael Cousins
Trying to cope with things that aren’t human, DCP, San Francisco, Airspace, Stoke on
Trent, & Cell project space, London. curated by Ian Brown, (Publication)
Animated, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, curated by Lotte Juul Petersen
Between Tracks, International 3, Manchester & Nextex, Bad Haus, St Gallen (curated by
the Salford Restoration Office Windows Festival, Residence, Belfast
Fragments, Geborgen Kamers The Hague
Perforation, UAMO, Munich
Refutation, London & Online
E32, 5C Cultural Center Lounge, New York
2008
Outpost Members Show, Outpost, Norwich
Big Vaudeville 100, Greenroom, Manchester
Reading Experimental Film Festival, Rising Sun Arts Centre, Reading
From the Picturesque to the Demolished, Stratford, London
Studio Voltaire Members' Show, Studio Voltaire, London
Open Show, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
Sizemology, BBC Big Screen, Liverpool
To the Pleasure Garden, Tatton Park Biennial, Manchester
Cheap Like Wow, UAMO 2008, Munich
2007
Intermix, Pavilion, Leeds
Vane Shorts, Vane, Newcastle
RSVP, Contemporary Artists at the Foundling Museum, London (commission &
exhibition)
Time Based Media Invitational, Artspace, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Demolition, Site, Liverpool
Joking Aside, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, curated by Craig Ashley
Black Light, Colony, Birmingham, curated by Mona Casey & Paul McAree
700IS Experimental Film & Video Festival, Culture Centre of Fljotsdalsherad, Egilsstadir,
Iceland (and touring to Reykjavik, St Petersburg, Arizona and Alsager)
One Minute Film & Video Festival, Aarau, Switzerland
Digifestival, 2007, Florence
Experimenta 2007, Bangalore & Mumbai
Fresh, South Hill Park, Bracknell
Edge, Kings Lynn, curated by Sook-Kyung Lee
2006
Drawing Links, The Drawing Room, London & Touring to Outpost, Norwich,
International3, Manchester Hun Gallery International, Hun Gallery, New York
Purescreen, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Tulca, Visual Arts festival, Galway
60 seconds of Play. Saltworks Gallery, Atlanta, Savannah, Delhi (Touring), curated by
Avantika Bawa
The Vending Machine Project, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (multiples project)
The Moving Picture Show, BCA Gallery, Bedford
Parkgewusel Festival, Vienna, Austria
Darklight, Dublin
Izolenta ’06, International Digital Film Festival, Museum of Cinema, St Petersburg
2nd Athens Video Art Festival, Athens, Greece
D>Art.06, dLux Media Arts, Sydney, Australia
37 Seconds, BBC Big Screen Liverpool, Clayton Square, Liverpool
2005
Regeneration, WAG at St Mary at the Quay, Ipswich
About Space, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham
Trampoline, Reactor, Nottingham
L’Alternativa 2005, 12th Independent Film Festival of Barcelona, Centre de Cultura
Contemporània de Barcelona.
Extra Short Film Festival, Novosibirsk, Russia.
Residencies
2011, Art as a Full Time Hobby, Aid & Abet, Cambridge
2010, Pearlville, Production Residency for, Unspooling – artists and cinema,
Cornerhouse, Manchester (curated by Andrew Bracey & Dave Griffiths)
2009, Production residency BCA gallery, Bedford,
2008, Automatic Film making Residency, There & Then, Airspace, Stoke on Trent
2007, Bury St Edmunds Arts Festival, artist in residence, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery
2006, Automatic Film making Residency, Sideshow, Nottingham
Talks, discussion groups etc
“Goodbye to most of the Daydreams”, In Conversation with J J Charlesworth, ICIA
University of Bath
“Alex Pearl”, Airspace, Stoke on Trent
“Failure”, In Conversation with John Plowman, Café Artistique, Cardiff
“To Go or Not to Go”, In conversation with Chris Dobrowolski & Simon Munnery
“To Blog or not to Blog”, Artists Talking event, Peckham Space, London
“Operation Pusscat”, Too Many Artists, Market Project Event, Firstsite, Colchester
Publications
“Little Orphan Artists”, Garageland Family, Issue 11 winter/spring 2011
“Annabel Dover”, Garageland Nostalgia, Issue 8 2010
“Trying to Cope with Things that aren’t Human”, 2009
Awards:
2006/7
Selected artist - Escalator Visual Arts, Commissions East
Several projects have been supported by the Arts Council (and several haven’t)