Ivan Morison

The central preoccupation of his research has always been how we navigate catastrophe and the violence of change – from the wider collective view down to how individuals deal with moments of personal calamity.

Currently, his work and research is focused on sacred space and therapeutic spaces of care, and how light and temporality are used within these and other settings. He is working on two new permanent centres for therapeutic care in London and Liverpool, permanent sculptural works and landscape designs in various places, a building on a beach to be slowly washed away by the tide, a temple in a forest, a mobile observatory and a library of short fiction.

He has produced major works for many British institutions, including Tate Modern; exhibited widely across Europe, North America and Australasia; and represented Wales at the 52nd Venice Biennal. His work is held in many collections around the world.

His work is often performance-based and site-specific, existing as one-off events, social projects, or large-scale installations and buildings in public spaces. In particular, he is known for his architectural structures and buildings that relate to ideas of escape, refuge, the transformation of the modern city, and the function of civic communities.

Honorary Fellow of Hereford College of Art, 2021

Wood Awards (small projects) 2019/20

Dezeen Award (Interiors), 2021

Surface Design Awards, 2021

Civic Award, 2021

BBSA Award, 2021

Paul Hamlyn Award (runner up)(along with Heather Peak), 2022, 2018, 2014, 2009 and 2008.

Selected solo exhibitions and projects

(2023) Moon Palace, Leeds 2023

(2022) Two Cannibals Eating a Clown, Create, London

(2021)Silence, pavilion commission,
Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Oak Project

(2021) Small Bells Ring, commissioned by Coventry City of Culture, Super Slow Way, Lancashire Libraries, Coventry Libraries and Canal and River Trust

(2021) Deep Time, public art commission,
HS2 Curzon station, Birmingham with Ikon Gallery with HS2 (permanent)
(2021) Unity Lawns, landscape design and sculptural forms, commissioned by Coventry Cathedral (permanent)

(2021) I stand for language, I speak for history, I shout for truth, public art commission, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth (permanent)

(2021) Lead Artists for NN Contemporary Arts, Northampton, capital redevelopment

(2020) Mother, public art / pavilion commissioned,
Wysing Arts Centre and National Trust, Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

(2020) Small Bells Ring, commissioned by Super Slow Way and Lancashire Libraries

(2020) Tiny Little Witches Hovering, landscape design, sculptural seating and playground commissioned by Coventry City Council for Bull Yard

(2020) Last Place on Earth, VR and social sculpture, commissioned by HOME Manchester

(2020) The Liminal Cup, commissioned by Tideway with Tate Modern, Wellcome Collection and Victoria and Albert Museum

(2019) Tideway, artists in residence for London’s Super Sewer

(2019) The Civic Banquet, Rochdale Town Hall and Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale

(2019) General Life, commission for Selfridges, London and London Design week

(2019) The Mouse and his Child, solo show, NOW Gallery, London

(2019) Seafood Disco, public art commissioned, Knight Dragon for Greenwich Peninsula, London (permanent)

(2019) Lead Artist for national program Creative Civic Change commissioned by Local Trust, Esmee Fairbairn Trust and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

(2019) The Moment, public artwork commission, City of Vancouver, Canada (permanent)

(2018) I Will Be With You, Whatever, pavilion commission, BISS, Munich, Germany

(2018) The Long Afternoon of Earth, The Hive, Worcester

(2018) Bliss Park, St Helens, commissioned by Heart of Glass, Liverpool

(2017) Bronze House, public art commission, Future Cities and Cambridge City Council, Trumpington, (permanent), Cambridge Library (permanent)

(2017) The Bell, Foreground Projects, Bristol/Bishop Road School, Bristol (permanent)

(2017) Look! Look! Look!, pavilion commission, Berrington Hall, Ludlow commissioned by National Trust

(2015) Lightning Tree, public art commission, South London Gallery, London

(2015) The Cleaving, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto

(2015) Love Me or Leave Me Alone, public art pavilion commisssion, Cardiff Bay, commissioned by Igloo and Chapter, Cardiff (permanent)

(2015) Sky Grey / Shell Pink, Koh Rong Samloen, Cambodia (two houses commissioned by private client)

(2015) Lead artist, Blueprint for Happiness, Banff Centre, Canada

(2014) All’s Well That Ends, public art commission,
(2014) Urbane Kunst Ruhr / Schauspielhaus Bochum, Bochum, Germany

(2014) Shadow Curriculum, commissioned by the South London Gallery, London (permanent commission for Highshore School)

(2014) Knives are Mothers, WORKS|PROJECTS, Bristol

(2014) Sleepers Awake, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia

(2014) Smile all the While, Whitechapel Gallery, London

(2014) I lost her near Fantasy Island. Life has not been the same, Night at the Museum, Moscow, Russia

Selected group exhibitions

(2020) Faster Than Ever, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Attenborough Centre, Leicester

(2019) Civic Dining Room, Touchstones, Rochdale

(2019) General Life, London Design Week

(2018) Synthetic Landscapes, Weston Park, commissioned by Meadow Arts

(2017) Cetaceans, Natural History Museum, London

(2016) Will You Please Be Quiet, Please,
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
(invited by guest curator Richard Wilson RA)

(2015) Inside Cities: Art and the Built Environment, Arup Exhibition Space, London

(2015) The Cleaving, Nuit Blanche, Toronto

(2015) Sceance Fiction, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, Canada

(2015) Cryropreservation, Syson Gallery, Nottingham

(2015) Qwaypurlake, Hauser and Wirth, Somerset

(2014) You Are Lost, N34 Kunst Route, Drenthe, The Netherlands and Kinsale Arts Festival, Ireland

(2014) Puppet Show, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool and Gavle Konstcentrum, Sweden

(2014) In/Humano, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo De Monterrey, Mexico

Unit Master at the Architectural Association, in London

Visiting Professor at Uniarts Helsinki, Finland.

Director, Studio Morison