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Die Chromatika
2020
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Martin Firrell
Geboren 1963 in Frankreich
Martin Firrell ist ein französischer Künstler, der Debatten im öffentlichen Raum anregt um den sozialen Wandel zu katalysieren. Er benutzt Sprache um direkt mit der Öffentlichkeit in Kontakt zu treten und den Dialog zu provozieren, in der Regel über Aspekte der Marginalisierung, Gleichheit und gerechte soziale Strukturen. Das vom Künstler erklärte Ziel ist es, «die Welt menschlicher zu machen». Seine Arbeit wurde als «Kunst der Debatte» beschrieben.
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92 artworks online
Curated by
Barbara Ulbrist + Christiane Kunz
Wikidata
Q6775431
Die Chromatika
2020
Medium
Digital posters

Displayed
Schweiz, Juli, September 2020

Die Chromatika ist eine neue psychologische Farbenlehre für das 21. Jahrhundert, die der Künstler als Antwort auf Goethes «Farbenlehre» und Rudolf Steiners Schriften über die Farbe schuf.
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Rot
2020
Violett
2020
Orange
2020
Gelb
2020
Indigo
2020
Blau
2020
Still Revolting
2020
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions

Displayed
UK October 2020

The Still Revolting series commemorated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Gay Liberation Front in the UK. Based on an original protest placard by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, the artworks stress that the struggle for equality continues around the world.
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Moustache and Leopard Skin
2020
Girl on Girl
2020
Arcadia
2020
Union City
2019
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions

Displayed
UK July to August 2019

Based on conversations between the artist and Clare Short (Secretary of State for International Development 1997-2003), the Union City series explores the moral content of socialism.
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A Moral Idea (with Clare Short)
2019
Immoral Flaws
2019
All Members of Society
2019
Secure Employment
2019
Equality for Women
2019
Safety at Work
2019
Progress
2019
Cooperative Society
2019
Protest Is Liberty's Ally
2019
All Men Are Dangerous
Tate Gallery 2006
Medium
Projection

Displayed
February 2006

All Men Are Dangerous was created for Tate Britain against the backdrop of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conflicts that were widely held to be colonially motivated and against international law.
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Think
2006
Security Is No Replacement
2006
Untitled
2006
Power and Gender / Men
2019
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions

Displayed
UK January to March 2019

The Power and Gender / Men series examines the changing archetype of masculinity, the impact of social conditioning on men's emotional responses, and the characteristics of power when held by men rather than women.
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All Men Are Dangerous
2019
It's Easy to Be Angry
2019
The Great Heroes
2019
A Good Man (with Justin Cochrane)
2019
Men Are Really Great
2019
It's Back to Burt Reynolds
2019
Power and Gender / Women
2019
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions

Displayed
UK January to March 2019

The Power and Gender series was developed in conversation with 5 women who have experience of power in business, political, or public life. The series examines the difference between the way women and men gain, hold and use power.
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Ugly Sweaty Men (with Inga Beale)
2019
When Men Hold Power (Annie Rickard)
2019
Distorted Power (Clare Short)
2019
The Simple Idea (Alex Mahon)
2019
Women Make Up Half the Population (Liv Garfield)
2019
All Power Is Temporary
2019
The Question Mark Inside
2008
Medium
Projection

Displayed
St Paul's Cathedral, November 2008

The artist posed the question, 'What makes your life purposeful and meaningful?' to theologians, scientists, artists, atheists, humanists and the general public. The collected responses, from the domestic to the sexual to the sublime, were projected onto the Dome, West Front and Whispering Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral to mark its 300th anniversary.
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Sun (Arabic)
2008
I Don't Understand
2008
Organised Religion Is Hard to Follow
2008
I Don't Think This Is What God Intended
2008
Breasts
2008
Every Human Life Is Owed to a Woman
2008
Love
2008
Sex
2008
Wisdom (Hindi)
2008
Pornosophy
2020
Medium
Video installation

Displayed
Smallest Gallery in Soho September 2020

Pornosophy presents the work of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) interpreted and explained through the eyes of porn star Spurt Reynolds (b. 1971).
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Finger
2020
Spurt Reynolds
2020
After The Hoerengracht (Kienholz 1983-8)
2020
Remember 1967
2017
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions

Displayed
UK July 2017

The Remember 1967 series marks the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalised, under certain circumstances, sexual relationships between men. The series re-states the demands made by 1960s activists that still warrant action today in the artist's view.
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Embrace Lesbianism
2017
Overturn the Ideology
2017
Sexual Revolutionaries
2017
Renounce the Monster
2017
Homosexuals and Women
2017
Society Is still Dominated
2017
Embrace Lesbianism
2017
Reject Male Supremacy
2017
Overthrow the Social Order
2017
Counter Culture Rising
2020
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions

Displayed
UK January to March 2020

The Counter Culture Rising series conveys a cinematic story of alien visitation, climate catastrophe and war, artificial intelligence, hippy philosophy and advanced states of consciousness as an antidote to troubled times.
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A Flying Saucer
2020
The Earth's Crust
2020
War Is Failure
2020
Living Peacefully
2020
Any Word
2020
Billboard on the Highway
2020
War Is Coming
2020
Computers Control Opinion
2020
Reincarnation
2020
Telepathic Transit
2020
Super Consciousness
2020
Alice B. Toklas
2020
Power Is Always Temporary
2007
Medium
Projection

Displayed
Royal Opera, July 2007

In an historic first, public art texts are projected onto the front cloth of the Royal Opera House before each act of Puccini's opera 'Tosca'. The artist reveals the opera-like but real-life experiences of jealousy, infidelity and violence in the lives of Ivy, Jeanne, Mary, Leonie, Rita and Isabelle, 6 women aged between 60 and 84.
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Surrounded by Army
2007
You Can't Shower
2007
How Not to Die Tomorrow
2007
Monograph
2020
Medium
Casebound and paperback book

Published
Zurich Books 2020

Curator Barbara Ulbrist surveys the art of Martin Firrell focusing on the years 2018-2020. During this time the artist displayed 40 different artworks on billboards across the UK bringing his particular variety of 'art as debate' to the majority of the country's towns and cities.
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POWER AND GENDER
ZURICH BOOKS 2020
UNION CITY
ZURICH BOOKS 2020
3 BILLBOARDS FOR BLAIR PEACH
ZURICH BOOKS 2020
Six Feminist Pamphlets
2018
Medium
Pamphlets

Published
London. Martin Firrell Co. 2018

Six feminist texts on the nature of power, sexual abuse and social inequality, and the route to gender equality.
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To Understand a Thing Fully Is To Be Able To Say Nothing about It
2010
Medium
Flyposter 841 x 594mm

Displayed
Marseille December 2010 to February 2011

To Understand A Thing Fully Is To Be Able to Say Nothing About It reflects on the nature of understanding and knowledge. Also titled 'L'Éloquence du Silence', the artwork implies that silence must inevitably fall when understanding exceeds the expressive capabilities of language.
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To Understand a Thing Fully
2010
To Understand a Thing Fully
2010
To Understand a Thing Fully (Artwork)
2010
Cómo Vivimos / How We Live
2016
Medium
Portraiture with projection

Displayed
Fanzara Spain, May 2016

The Cómo Vivimos portrait series conveys the wisdom of the four eldest inhabitants of the Spanish hill town of Fanzara near Valencia. Their insights are presented as digital projections onto the elders' faces creating composite portraits of inner and outer truth.
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El Futuro Es Corto
2016
The Future Is Short
2016
We Are Not Afraid
2016
All Identity Is Constructed
2016
Medium
Digital video billboards

Displayed
UK August 2016

All Identity examines the premise that everyone's identity is a construction. Some identities may be less usual than others - the self-realisation of trans people for example - but this artwork conveys the idea that every identity is equally and arbitrarily invented.
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I Am an Albino
2016
I Definitely Do Feel Like a Free Person
2016
I'm Not Who Everyone Thinks I Am
2016
Skin
2019
Medium
Digital posters

Displayed
UK October 2019

The Skin series was created by the artist in conversation with people from different ethnic backgrounds in celebration of Black History Month.
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Ethnic Enough
2019
Identity Is a Fiction (White)
2019
Any word
2019
Fires of London
2016
Medium
Projection

Displayed
St Paul's Cathedral, September 2016

Fire is projected onto the dome of St Paul's in waves of colour consistent with flame of increasing temperatures (from dull orange to yellow to blue to brilliant white). The artwork, 'Fires Ancient' marks the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London.
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Fires Ancient (Yellow)
2016
Fires Ancient (Blue)
2016
Fires Ancient (White)
2016
Fires of London
2016
Medium
Projection

Displayed
National Theatre, September 2016

'Fires Modern' presents 18 histories, or 'metaphorical fires' from the progressive movement as digital projections on to the fly tower of the National Theatre. The series begins with the Lord Mayor's dismissive and inherently misogynist jest that 'the great fire is no threat, a woman could piss it out'.
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This Is Slavery
2016
Fascism Fails in Britain
2016
Hanging Is Abolished
2016
Clause 28
2016
Lesbians Are Out!
2016
Anti War Messages
2016
I Want to Live in a City Where
2006
Medium
Projection

Displayed
National Gallery UK July 2006

I Want to Live in a City Where presents a wish-list of liberal policies as digital projections onto the facade of the National Gallery of Great Britain. The series comprises an ambitious, artist-led agenda for civic agitation and renewal.
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No One Is Sent to War
2006
Violence Never Works
2006
No One Has to Be Afraid of Standing Out
2006
Complete Hero
2009
Medium
Projection

Displayed
British Army Guards' Chapel UK November 2009

The Complete Hero series consists of 18 video portraits, combined with text and graphics, created during the artist's residency with the British Army. The artwork provides a progressive and plural definition of heroism through the eyes of military personnel, scientists, philosophers, writers, comedians and performers.
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The Great Heroes Have Always Wept
2009
The Hero We've Been Sold
2009
Quentin Crisp Said
2009
Women Are Much More Honourable
2009
I Can't Bear the Sight
2009
We Need a Great Civic Hero
2009
3 Billboards for Blair Peach
2019
Medium
Digital billboards

Displayed
Proposed

2019 marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Blair Peach (25 March 1946 - 23 April 1979). Peach was a young white New Zealander, teacher, and liberal killed at an anti-racism demonstration in Southall. 3 billboards for Blair Peach was intended by the artist as the simplest of memorials - naming Blair Peach publicly 40 years after his death.
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April 1979
2019
When the State Turns Violent
2019
Protest Is Liberty's Ally
2019
It Ends Here
2014
Medium
Text, light, haze, performers, sound

Displayed
Waterloo UK July 2014

It Ends Here is an installation of five underground environments examining power inversion and the cyclical nature of abuse and brutality in the French novel Planete Des Singes (Planet of the Apes) by Pierre Boule, and in the Twentieth Century Fox films based on Boule's work.
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Abuse Begets Abuse
2014
Paranoia Begets Paranoia
2014
Idiocy Walks With Wisdom
2014
Brutality Begets Brutality
2014
Brutality begets Brutality (detail)
2014
Resistance Is Grace
2014
Hunty City
2016
Medium
Video installation

Displayed
Shoreditch Town Hall UK March 2016

Text outlines, performance, info-text, music, found dialogue and internet video clips evoke the UK's LGBT+ language, Polari (a coded language enabling LGBT+ people to express themselves whilst avoiding detection as criminalised homosexuals) and the defiant American drag slang from 1970s New York City drag balls.
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Going to the Ranch
2016
Fish & Chips
2016
Angel Food
2016
Gender Think-In
2017
Medium
Think-in

Displayed
Lloyd's of London UK, 29 June 2017

The Sexual Offences Act 1967 partially decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales. To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Act, the artist invited 200 senior leaders in business, culture and policy to a Think-In, designed to question traditional gender roles and modelled on the consciousness-raising think-ins pioneered by the Gay Liberation Front in the early 1970s.
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Speakers
2017
Ballot
2017
Participants
2017
Writing
2004
Medium
Modified till receipts

Displayed
Borders Books, June 2004

Electronic tills at Borders Books are re-programmed by the artist to add an additional text to the bottom of each till receipt. In this way, thousands of public art texts are brought into circulation during the lifespan of the artwork.
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Vernon God Little
2004
Paula, Michael and Bob
2004
Lanzarote (Houellebecq)
2004
Security Notice
2005
Medium
VDU Monitor

Displayed
Railway Stations, London UK 2005

Public information systems are re-programmed so that the standard railway station security message is accompanied by the artist's existential 'security message' evoking the burden of loneliness.
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The One Irreducible Truth
2005
Medium
Digital billboard

Displayed
London railway stations December 2005

In The One Irreducible Truth, the artist paraphrases the renowned American sex researcher Alfred Kinsey who noted that difference in human sexual responses was the only universal constant.
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All artworks courtesy of the artist. Copyright © Martin Firrell 1996-2020
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