Susan Philipsz (b.1965)

"My work deals with the spatial properties of sound and with the relationships between sound and architecture.  I am particularly interested in the emotive and psychological properties of sound and how it can be used as a device to alter individual consciousness. I have used sound as a medium in public spaces to trigger an awareness in the listener, to temporarily alter their perception of themselves in a particular place and time." - Susan Philipsz

Education  

1989-1993 BA in Fine Art (Sculpture) at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee 
1993-1994 MA in Fine Art at The University of Ulster, Belfast 
1994-1996 Catalyst Arts Management Committee Member, Catalyst Art, Belfast 
1996-2000 Founding member Grassy Knoll Productions, Belfast 
2000- 2001 International Residency Programme, P.S.1, New York 
2001 2002 International Residency Programme, Kunst-Werke e.V., Berlin 
2003 International Artist in Residence, Art Pace, San Antonio, Texas 
2019- Professor Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden, Dresden  

Awards   

2007 Prize Pilar Juncosa I Sotheby’s 2007 
2010 Turner Prize Winner 
2014 OBE Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to British Art 
2015 Villa Aurora Artist Fellowship, Los Angeles 
2016 Global Fine Art Award winner for War Damaged Musical Instruments at Tate Britain 2015  
2017 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) University of Dundee, Scotland

Recent Solo Exhibitions

The Lower World, MUDAM, Luxembourg (2025); Susan Philipsz, Endless Exhibition, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2025); Susan Philipsz, Hangzhou Yi Museum, Hangzhou, China (2025); Susan Philipsz, fjk3 Contemporary Art Space, Vienna (2024); Sokol Terezin, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf (2023); The Depths, Kunstmuseum Brandts, Odense (2023); Sokol Terezin, ARoS Aarhus (2023); Separated Strings, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York (2023); Songs Sung in the First Person on Themes of Longing Sympathy and Release, SF MoMA, San Francisco (2022); The Fall, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2021); Slow Fresh Fount, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin (2021), Rosa, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2021) The Calling, Kunstmuseum Bonn (2021); Sleep, Close and Fast, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles (2020); The Unquiet Grave, Philadelphia Contemporary, Philadelphia (2020); The Wind Rose, Kröller Müller Museum, The Netherlands (2019); Seven Tears, Pulitzer Art Foundation, St. Louis (2019); I See a Darkness, The Tanks, Tate Modern, London (2018); The Yellow Wallpaper, Belsay Hall, Northumberland, UK (2018); Separated Strings, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, SKD; Dresden (2018); A Single Voice BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2017); Susan Philipsz, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2017); Lost in Space, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2017), Returning, Kunstverein Hannover (2016), Night and Fog, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2016); Part File Score, Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington (2016); War Damaged Musical Instruments, Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain, London (2015); Follow Me, various locations Genoa, Museo de Arte Contemporana Villa Croce, Genoa (2015) War Damaged Musical Instruments (Pair), Theseus Temple, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (2015); As Many As Will, Hauser & Wirth Somerset (2015); The Distant Sound, various venues, Denmark, Sweden Norway (2014); Part File Score, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2014); The Missing String, K21 Ständehaus, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, (2013); The River Cycle, Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo (2012); Close To Me, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2012); It Means Nothing To Me, Mizuma Gallery, Beijing, (2012); You Are Not Alone, Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin (2011); We Shall Be All, MCA Chicago (2011); Surround Me; A Song Cycle for the City of London, Artangel, London (2010); Lowlands, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, Glasgow (2010); I See a Darkness, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York (2010). Recent group exhibitions include As Many As Will, Goodwood Art Foundation, Goodwood (2025); Holding Pattern, HMKV, Dortmund (2025); Hear Here, M+, Leuven (2025) Consider Listening, Haubrok Foundation, FAHRBEREITSCHAFT, Berlin (2025); Of Anarchy in Music, NTMOFA, Taichung, Taiwan (2025); Lady Meng Jiang, Aranya Art Center, China (2025); Journeys in Sound, West Bund Art Museum, Shanghai (2024); Long Gone, Still Here, Museum Marta, Herford (2023); Echo, Centre Pompidou at Abbey of Saint-Germain in Auxerre (2023); Fuori Tutto, MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Rome (2023); Manifesta 14, Kosovo (2022); OPERA OPERA, PalaisPopulaire, Berlin (2022); Dreams of Freedom; Romanticism in Germany and Russia, Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden and The State Tretyakov Gallery Moscow (2021); NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2020); Der Löwe hat Hunger, Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2020), Art Outside, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami (2020); Summer at Louisiana, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2020); Trauern, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2020); Weimar Variations, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles (2020); Resonating Spaces, Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2019); By Artists; Homages to the works of the Cerruti Collection, Castello di Rivoli, Italy (2019); Passages, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, (2019); Divided We Stand, Busan Biennale, South Korea (2018); Machines a Penser, Fondazione Prada, Venice (2018); Revolt and Revolutions, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK (2018), Moving is in Every Direction, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2017) Soundtracks, SF MoMA, San Francisco (2017); The Distant Unknown, OCAT, Shanghai (2016); Wanderlust, The High Line, New York (2016), Saltwater; 14th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2015); Soundscapes, The National Gallery London (2015); Parasophia, Kyoto (2015); Manifesta 10, St. Petersburg (2014); Soundings, A Contemporary Score, MoMA, New York, (2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012); Haunted, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010); Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London (2010); The 29th Biennale de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo (2010); The 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, (2008); Sydney Biennale, Sydney (2008); Skulptur Projekte Münster 07, Münster, (2007); 4th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2006); Borderline Syndrome, Manifesta 3, Ljubljana, (2000)  

Permanent Commissions

Wishing Well, New North Zealand Hospital (Herzog de Meuron); We'll All Go Together, Powder Mountain Utah, USA, By Sound Near Seawall, Whitehaven Harbour, UK; Day Is Done, Governors Island, New York; The Lost Reflection, Törminbrucke, Münster.   

Public Collections 

Tate, London; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, Washington; Fondation Beyeler, Basel; SF MoMA, San Francisco; MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; MCA Chicago; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, Kentucky; Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo; Ludwig Museum, Köln; Kröller-Müller Museum, The Netherlands; Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), Münster; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Palazzo Reale, Milan; MONA; Hobart; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh;   

Publications  

Susan Philipsz, War Damaged Musical Instruments, DISTANZ Verlag, 2025. ISBN forthcoming 
Susan Philipsz, Broken Ensemble, fjk3 Contemporary Art Space, 2024. ISBN 978-3-86335-912-6 
Susan Philipsz, Lost in Space, Art & Theory Publishing, 2017. ISBN 978-3-86335-912-6 
Susan Philipsz, Night and Fog, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2016. ISBN 978-3-86335-912-6 
Susan Philipsz, Follow Me, Humboldt Books, 2015. ISBN 978-88-99385-02-6 
Susan Philipsz, The Distant Sound, Art & Theory Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-91-981573-4-5 
Susan Philipsz, The Missing String, K21, Verlag Kettler, 2014. ISBN 978-3-86206-367-3 
Susan Philipsz, You Are Not Alone, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2014. ISBN 978-3-86335-405-3 with accompanying audio guide www.susanphilipsz-youarenotalone.com 
Susan Philipsz, Appear to Me, Museo Nacional Centro d'Arte Reina Sofía, 2009. ISBN 978-84-8026-390-0 
Susan Philipsz, When Day Closes, Pro Arte Foundation, 2010. ISSN L-1799-8239 
Susan Philipsz, I See a Darkness, Jarla Partilager, 2009. ISBN 978-91-976351-4-1 
Susan Philipsz, Modern Art Oxford, 2009. ISBN 978-901352-42-9 
Susan Philipsz, There Is Nothing Left Here, with 12” vinyl CGAC, 2008. ISBN 978-84-453-4588-7 
Susan Philipsz, Stay With Me, Malmö Konsthall, 2005. ISBN 91-7704-106-2  
Susan Philipsz Ziggy Stardust, CD, Pork Salad Press, 2004. ISBN 87-91409-12-8