Matter as Actor

The group exhibition, Matter as Actor (Lisson Gallery London, 3 May – 24 June 2023) brings together works by artists who present mutable forms of matter – whether embodied in clay, rock, pigment, plastic, metal or organic substances – as active agents in the complex entanglements of humans and the more-than-human world.

The artists in this exhibition come from many parts of the world and critically engage with the materials associated with their respective cultural inheritances. Their work speaks to the challenges as well as the insights of engaging with the material world across and within distinct cultural frameworks. In giving shape to the conceptual insights of multiple situated knowledge systems, the artists and artworks in the exhibition – spanning both of our London galleries but each given their individual space – attest to the pluralistic grounds of contemporary existence.

For our Studio page we spoke to many of those in the show about their individual presentations.