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).

Ceal Floyer
Windsock, 2021

Installation view: Istanbul Triennial 2022

Ceal Floyer
Windsock, 2021 and Maximum Headroom, 2014

Installation view: Istanbul Triennial 2022

Ceal Floyer
1mx1m, 2021

Plastic folding rulers

Ceal Floyer
1mx1m, 2021

Plastic folding rulers

Ceal Floyer
Hammer and Nail

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

Ceal Floyer
Fallen Star

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

Ceal Floyer
Untitled (Static)

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

Ceal Floyer
Maximum Headroom

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

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

Ceal Floyer
Mind the Step

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

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)

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

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.

Ceal Floyer
Silent Movie

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

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

Ceal Floyer
Garbage Bag

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

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.

Ceal Floyer
Line Busy

2011
Loud speakers, wall. Dimensions variable.

Ceal Floyer
Ladder

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

Ceal Floyer
Facsimile

2010
DVD Projection. Dimensions variable.

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.

Ceal Floyer
Duck-Rabbit

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

Ceal Floyer
Scale

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

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.