Matt Gale
I make sculpture and installations that queer how science and the natural world are presented and perceived. Seeing nature as fundamentally queer, my attention is captured by the entanglements, the baffling complexity and the weirdness that exists naturally, allowing me to distil and reimagine this in my work. By blending biology, science fiction and fantasy I create new narratives that frequently involve collaboration with living organisms to create stories about their lives, whether real or imagined.
Selected Exhibitions
2023 Dirty Cultures, Primary, Nottingham
2023 ‘CRYOphage’ (collab with Sahjan Kooner), dankEconogy1_ALIENVillage, Eastside Projects, Birmingham
2022 ‘Hybrids’ (collab Rajni Perera’s ‘A Starry Eyed Subspecies’) Temple Contemporary, Philadelphia, PA
2022 Empathy for People, Empathy for Things (collab. Fiona MacDonald), Uni Hertfordshire
2022 Queer Art(ists) Now, Space Station Sixty-Five, London
2022 Rhymes with Orange, Fold Gallery, London
2022 'Hybrids' - collaboration with Rajni Perera for Traveller, Eastside Projects, Birmingham
2022 HYPERphage (collab. Sahjan Kooner), (ASTRAL VILLAGE) slooooowwww, Artcore Gallery
2021 First Outing, (curator), Abingdon Studios and the Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool
2021 Beyond Heterotopia: Flags for Queertopia, Margate Pride, The Margate School
2021 Clifford Chance London Pride
2021 Ikon for Artists, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
2020 Rituals, Tablespoon Theatre
2020 Queer Contemporaries, curated by Short Supply, Air Gallery, Manchester
2020 The Vulnerabilities of Queer Bodies, Balaclava.q
2020 Pack Midlands online show
2020 Queer Art(ists) Now, Archive Gallery, Rose Lipman Building, London
2019 Coventry Biennial, The Row
2019 Summer Camp Showcase, Eastside Projects, Birmingham
2019 The Future We Want, Naturally (solo show), Asylum Gallery, Wolverhampton
2019 FLUX, Vittoria Street Gallery, BSJ, Birmingham
2019 Next Wave Associate Showcase, RBSA
2019 Blender 1 (Soup V), Stryx Gallery, Birmingham
2018 Queer Art(ists) Now, Archive Gallery, Rose Lipman Building, London
2018 Swop Shop, Selfridge's Birmingham
2018 Next Wave, RBSA, Birmingham
2018 ESP Show Your Stuff, Eastside Projects, Birmingham
2018 Swop Shop, Tate Liverpool
2018 Transitions, Vittoria Street Gallery, BSJ
2017 Coventry Biennial, CET Building
2017 AIR Showcase, Vittoria Street Gallery, BSJ
2017 Fluid Festival, Birmingham, 23-24 September
2017 Margaret, MA Degree show, Birmingham School of Art
Residencies/Projects
The Field Commission: Asad Raza, Reabsorption, Grand Union Gallery, Birmingham, 2021/22
UKNA, Future Producers – curated residency and exhibition, Abingdon Studios, Blackpool Aug - Oct 2021
Queerly Made - Curatorial project with Daniel Fountain, 2020 - 2022
Materials Club, STEAMhouse, Birmingham March 2020 - present
EOP Crit Club, Eastside Projects, November 2019 - March 2020
BOM Fellowship, Birmingham Open Media, 2019/20
Expanded Studio residency, Eastside Projects, August/September 2019
Dirty Practice: Don't Wash your Hands, Wolverhampton School of Art, July 2019
Blender residency, Stryx Gallery, Birmingham, February - April 2019
Summer Lodge residency, Nottingham Trent University, July 2018
Visiting Artist, STEAM project (Birmingham Open Media) 2017/18
Micro residency, Chisenhale Studios, London, May 2016
Artist Lab (Simon Poulter), mac birmingham/New Art Gallery Walsall, March 2016
Work in Progress II, Grand Union Gallery, Birmingham, January 2016
Awards
DYCP, Arts Council England, August 2021
New Art West Midlands Graduate Prize, 2019
Hippodrome 120, Pangaea Sculpture award (shortlisted), July 2019
Next Wave prize, RBSA 2018
Gertrude Aston Bowater Bequest MA Exhibition prize 2017
A-N Professional Development Grant 2017
Publications/Press
QUEER PANDÈMIA (2023), TWM Factory ISBN: 9791255540281
UN//TITLED: An Anthology of Queer Contemporary Art review by Jonathan Kemp, Queerguru (June 2021)
UN//TITLED: An Anthology of Queer Contemporary Art, 2016-2020 (2021)
The Vulnerabilities of Queer Bodies, Balaclava.q, June 2020
Marion Piper and Matt Gale in Conversation (May 2020) Sowing Seeds, Coventry Biennial pg. 18-22
On Smocking, Science and Sex (April, 2020) Decorating Dissidence, Issue 8: Queering Craft
Coventry Biennial 2019, Jennifer Dudley (December, 2019) Art & the Public Sphere, Vol. 8, Number 2
Coventry Biennial review (December 2019), Joanna Byrne
Artist profile and interview, The Asian Curator, 2019
An Artist's Take on the Insularity of Modern Times, RBSA Art Blog, 2019
Review of NTU Summer Lodge 2018, NAWM, 2018
Teaching /Speaking events
Dirty Cultures, Primary, Nottingham October 2023
Fungi BioBox, STEAMhouse Birmingham, October – December 2022
Fungal Futures, BABLAB, Bioarts Birmingham, August 2022
Decaying Matters, Grand Union Gallery, May 2022
The Coast is Queer, a-n Assembly Conference, First Outing panel, 28 Sept 2021
Online Lunch Club, Eastside Projects - 'fungi, mold and decay' March 2021
Biomaterials Outside Science symposium - University of Birmingham March 2021
Visiting Lecturer:
University of Wolverhampton - 10/2019 - 2020
Birmingham City University - 1/2013 - 5/2016
Education
2017 MA Fine Art (Distinction) - BIAD, School of Art, Birmingham City University
2005 PGCE (Advanced) Early Years - The University of Birmingham
1996 BSc. Hons Zoology - The University of Nottingham