Culture Now: Michael Landy

Michael Landy in conversation

From epic performance pieces to meticulous etchings and collages, Michael Landy’s work spans a number of disciplines, reflecting on the nature of production, consumerism and ownership. He is most famous for his installation Break Down (2001) in which he systematically catalogued then destroyed all of his possessions in a disused department store. With sharp and wry observations on every-day life, Landy constantly seeks to question the relationship between art, institutions and markets. His installation Art Bin at the South London Gallery in 2009 featured a huge transparent skip in which members of the public were invited to throw in artwork with which they were dissatisfied. Often inviting public interaction with his work, Landy’s most recent project is a collaboration with Art on the Underground entitled Acts of Kindness; this project asks passengers to share stories on the stations and trains on the Central Line.

After graduating from Goldsmiths College of Art in 1988, Landy exhibited at the Freeze exhibition organized by Damien Hirst and Carl Freedman and became part of the collective of Young British Artists (YBAs). In 2008 Landy was elected as a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and currently lives and works in London with his partner, Gillian Wearing.

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