Lucy Orta
Born in Great Britain (1966).
Lucy Orta’s visual arts practice investigates the interrelations between the individual body and community structures, exploring their diverse identities and means of cohabitation and employing socially engaged methodologies. She works across a range of mediums including drawing, textile sculpture, photography, film and performance to realise singular bodies of work. Amongst the most notable are 'Refuge Wear' and 'Body Architecture', portable and autonomous habitats that reflect on issues of mobility and human survival; 'Nexus Architecture', clothing and accessories that shape modular and collective bodies through the metaphor of the social link; and 'Life Guards' and 'Genius Loci', wearable sculpture that embody human vulnerability and resilience. She collaborates with a wide range of communities, often those on the margins of exclusion such as prison residents, asylum seekers, homeless and care hostel residents, empowering participants through co-creation and inclusive methods of creative practice.
In 2003 she was the youngest female artist to be published in the Phaidon Press contemporary artist collection. In acknowledgement of her innovative socially engaged research practice Lucy Orta was nominated as Head of the Man & Humanity, a pioneering master program for sustainable design, which she cofounded with Li Edelkoort at Design Academy Eindhoven, in 2002. She is a Professor at London College of Fashion since 2002, a member of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, and Chair of Art and the Environment at the University of the Arts London since 2013. In recognition of her esteem and academic contribution to the visual arts, she has received an honorary Master of Arts from Nottingham Trent University and an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Brighton.
Lucy co-founded the Studio Orta with her partner the Argentine artist Jorge Orta, in 1992. They have worked in partnership since 2005 under the co-authorship Lucy + Jorge Orta. In recognition of their contribution to the arts, they are the recipients of numerous awards including the Andy Warhol Foundation Visual Arts Award (2001) and Green Leaf Award for artistic excellence with an environmental message, presented by United Nations Environment Programme in partnership with the Natural World Museum at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway (2007). Their monumental Cloud Meteoros was selected for the inaugural Terrace Wires public art commission for St Pancras International in London (2013).
Full list of exhibitions and commissions here
Academic
University of the Arts London
Post:
Chair of Art and the Environment. Member of Centre for Sustainable Fashion
Site:
http://sustainable-fashion.com/about/
University of Brighton
Post:
Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters
Site:
http://www.brighton.ac.uk/
London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
Post:
Professor of Art, Fashion and the Environment
Site:
http://www.arts.ac.uk/fashion/
Nottingham Trent University
Post:
Honorary Degree Master of Fine Art, School of Art and Design
Site:
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/
University of the Arts London
Post:
Member, Fashion Body and Material Culture Research Centre
Site:
http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/23630.htm
London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
Post:
Research coordinator, Artefact Hub
Site:
http://www.arts.ac.uk/fashion/
University of Edinburgh
Post:
Particiapnt, ARHB/EPSRC's 'Designing in the 21st Century'
London College of Fashion (University of the Arts London)
Post:
Rootstein Hopkins Chair of Fashion, Professor
Site:
http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/15382.htm
Design Academy Eindhoven
Post:
Founding member and Head of Man & Humanity, Master in Industrial Design
Site:
http://www.designacademy.nl
Edinburgh College of Art
Post:
Virtual Research Fellow in Fine Art
E.N.S.A.D. (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs)
Post:
Head of Fashion & Costume
Site:
http://www.ensad.fr
Nottingham Trent Polytechnic
Post:
Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Fashion Knitwear Design
Conferences - Workshops
Practice at the Perimeter
Type: Lecture
Venue:
MIT Department of Architecture, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Site:
https://architecture.mit.edu/events/lucy-orta
Body Matters - AHRA 21st International Conference 2024
Type: Conference Keynote
Venue:
Norwich University of the Arts, Norwich, UK
Site:
https://ahra2024.org
Reimagining Research: Migration, Community, and Aesthetics through Participatory Approaches
Type: Symposium Keynote
Venue:
Kingston University, London, UK
Site:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-symposium-on-participatory-research-in-migration-community-and-aesthetics-tickets-917266066497?aff=ebdsreoeymlcollection
Craft/ing: Exploring Migrant Memory and Identity
Type: Workshop Speaker
Venue:
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Site:
https://www.sustainable-fashion.com/traces-stories-of-migration
Traces: Stories of Migration
Type: Workshops
Venue:
The Lab E20, Newham, London, UK
Site:
https://mcusercontent.com/9af0b65b52db89ea7c04d1e3b/files/aa17630b-3e25-3548-68e8-781778f668b2/Orta_Traces_Catalogue_A5_Digital.01.pdf
Traces: Story of Migration
Type: Workshops
Venue:
Bromley by Bow Centre, Tower Hamlets, London, UK
Site:
https://mcusercontent.com/9af0b65b52db89ea7c04d1e3b/files/aa17630b-3e25-3548-68e8-781778f668b2/Orta_Traces_Catalogue_A5_Digital.01.pdf
Traces: Stories of Migration
Type: Workshops
Venue:
Bromley by Bow Centre, Tower Hamlets and Rosetta Arts, Newham, London, UK
Site:
https://mcusercontent.com/9af0b65b52db89ea7c04d1e3b/files/aa17630b-3e25-3548-68e8-781778f668b2/Orta_Traces_Catalogue_A5_Digital.01.pdf
Close of Play: Climate Emergency and Creative Action
Type: Keynote
Venue:
Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK
Site:
https://www.gsa.ac.uk/life/gsa-events/events/c/close-of-play-being-human-keynote/
Art of Change 21
Type: Speaker
Venue:
French Pavilion, UN Climate Change Conference Scottish Event Campus, Blue Zone, Glasgow, UK
Site:
https://artofchange21.com/en/art-of-change-21-artistic-programme-at-cop26-with-john-gerrard-and-lucy-orta/
Cultures d'avenir
Type: Seminar
Venue:
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Site:
https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/offer-to-professionals/teachers-academics/cultures-davenir
Virtual Studio Visits
Type: Guest lecture
Venue:
Whitechapel Gallery and Duchamp & Sons, London, UK
Site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNPl6M4RjHI
Aesthetics of Civil Resistance
Type: Guest lecture
Venue:
Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Weimar, Germany
Site:
https://www.uni-weimar.de/qisserver/rds?state=verpublish&publishContainer=lectureContainer&publishid=49750&noDBAction=y&init=y
Parole de Créateurs - #4 Talk Céline Cousteau & Lucy + Jorge Orta: the importance of the poles
Type: Online conversation
Venue:
Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
Site:
https://www.fondationthalie.org/en/podcasts/word-of-makers-celine-cousteau-lucy-jorge-orta
Studio Orta
Type: Artist talk
Venue:
Leeds Arts University, Leeds, UK
Design for Emergency
Type: Online in conversation with Singgih Susilo Kartono, Michael Pinsky
Venue:
UAL CSM Material Futures, UK
Antarctica in Sight
Type: Online symposium with Ken Arnold (Creative Director, Wellcome Collection); Prem Gill (British Antarctic Survey & WWF); Camilla Nichol (Chief Exec UK Antarctic Heritage Trust)
Venue:
Celcius in partnership with UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, UK
Site:
https://mansionsofthefuture.org/events/celsius/
The Environmental Dilemma: Why is Residency Practice Important?
Type: Online in conversation with Marco Maria
Venue:
Res Artis, UK
Site:
https://youtu.be/eUXot7pyshw
Fashion between Art and History for Polimoda "Out of Fashion"
Type: Lecture
Venue:
Gianfranco Ferré Foundation, Milan, Italy
Site:
http://www.connectingcultures.it/
Art for a Sustainable World
Type: Conversation with Alice Audouin
Venue:
Silencio, Paris, France
Site:
http://www.silencio-club.com/en
Can Design Save Us?
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
Site:
https://www.design-museum.de/en/information/calendar/events/victor-papanek-exhibition-programme.html
The Current Convening #3: Tabu / Tapu – Who Owns the Ocean?
Type: Keynote Performance
Venue:
Nanyang Technological University, Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore, Singapore
Site:
http://ntu.ccasingapore.org/events/convening-3/
The Commoners' Society
Type: Workshop
Venue:
Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Site:
https://sandberg.nl/temporary-programme-the-commoners-society-team
Fondations et artistes engagés : un cheminement partagé
Type: Roundtable: François Hers, Isabelle Le Galo, Olivier Darné
Venue:
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France
Site:
http://www.projetcoal.org/coal/2017/10/26/prix-coal-2017-annonce-des-dix-finalistes/
Kids Creative Lab
Type: Workshop
Venue:
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Site:
http://kidscreativelab.ovs.it/workshop/lucy-jorge-orta.html
Performing the City
Type: Public Summit
Venue:
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore
Site:
http://ntu.ccasingapore.org/events/summit/
CYCLE 'ART : GENRE FÉMININ'. Women House : la maison, un espace féminin ?
Type: Roundtable: Lucy Orta, Lucia Pesapane, Nil Yalter
Venue:
La Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France
Site:
https://awarewomenartists.com/nos_evenements/cycle-art-genre-feminin/
Art of Environmental Justice in an Expanded Field
Type: Symposium
Venue:
Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., USA
Site:
https://environment.princeton.edu/calendar/art-environmental-justice-expanded-field-symposium-creative-activism-and-eco-politics
Fashion Systems and Global Perspectives
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
The New School - Parsons Paris, Paris, France
Site:
http://www.newschool.edu/parsons-paris/
Studio Orta - Food Water Life
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
Wesleyan University Centre for the Arts, Wesleyan, USA
Site:
http://www.wesleyan.edu/creativecampus/crossingdisciplines/feettothefire/eventsandexhibitions/orta.html
Creative Time Summit
Type: Presentation
Venue:
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York, USA
Site:
http://creativetime.org/summit/
TEDx WWF
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
Sofitel, Abu Dhabi, Unites Arab Emirates
Site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bCVjXUafqw
Studio Orta - Food Water Life
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Site:
http://smfa.edu/index.php?module=newsmodule&action=view&id=1582
Studio Orta
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, USA
Site:
http://www.sfai.edu/
Operational Aesthetics
Type: Professorial Platform
Venue:
UAL, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK
Site:
http://newsevents.arts.ac.uk/event/operational-aesthetics-lucy-orta/
Art, écologie & développement durable
Type: Conference
Venue:
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
Site:
http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/foffice/transverse/transverse/accueil.xsp
Women, Ecology and Art. Artistic glances to the environment from the feminine
Type: Conference
Venue:
Facultat de Belles Artes, Barcelona, Spain
22nd International Sculpture Conference
Type: Conference
Venue:
Kings Place, London, UK
Site:
http://www.sculpture.org/
Klimakapseln (Climate Capsules)
Type: Symposium
Venue:
HFBK - University of Fine Arts Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Site:
http://www.hfbk-hamburg.de
Lucy + Jorge Orta: Water, Food, Antarctica and other projects
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
Adelaide Festival, Adelaide, Australia
Rising to the Climate Challenge: Artists and Scientists Imagine Tomorrow's World
Type: Symposium
Venue:
Tate Modern in collaboration with the Royal Society, London, UK
Site:
http://channel.tate.org.uk/#media:/media/85119754001/84648297001&list:/media/85119754001
Lucy Orta
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, UK
Site:
http://www.plymouthartscentre.org/
Berlin unplugged or reconnected?
Type: Conference
Venue:
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum fuer Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
Site:
http://www.chead.ac.uk/berlin2009.html
Body Architecture
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
University of Michigan, School of Art & Design, Ann Arbor, USA
Site:
http://art-design.umich.edu
Culture, Media and Democracy
Type: Presentation
Venue:
European Cultural Parliament, Liverpool, UK
Site:
http://www.antjewessels.de
Remote Habitats (This is Tomorrow - Urban Utopias, Dystopias and Heteropias)
Type: Lecture, discussion
Venue:
MIT Visual Arts, Massachusetts, USA
Site:
http://web.mit.edu/vap/
Embodied Energy
Type: In Conversation: Jon Snow, Prue Lang and Professor Lucy Orta
Venue:
London Festival of Architecture, London, UK
Site:
http://www.grimshaw-architects.com/embodiedenergy.htm
Orta & de Cordier – Art on expedition
Type: Public lecture
Venue:
Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, Holland
Site:
http://www.brakkegrond.nl/
OrtaWater
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA
Site:
http://web.reed.edu/gallery/
Greenham Common - Lucy Orta and John Schofield
Type: Conversation Lecture series, published paper
Venue:
Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Site:
http://www.situations.org.uk/research_research_resource_situations_papers.htm
Antarctic Village
Type: Conference
Venue:
École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France
Site:
http://www.ensba.fr/actualites/actualites.asp
Antarctic Village / OrtaWater
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
C6 Symposium: New Green World, Art for a Sustainable Ecological Conciousness, Chicago, USA
Site:
http://symposiumc6.com/speakers/orta
Refuge Wear / Body Architecture
Type: Artist Talk
Venue:
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Site:
http://www.saic.edu/art_design/vap/index.html#current_series
Emergency Design, International Symposium
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
Institut für Designforschung Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Site:
http://www.emergencydesign.hgkz.ch/
D-Form_Emotive Nexus
Type: Workshop
Venue:
9th Havana Biennale, La Habana Vieja, Cuba
Site:
http://www.studio-orta.com/dform_project/
OrtaWater 02
Type: Lecture / Workshop
Venue:
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Holland
Site:
http://www.fluidarchitecture.net
Nexus Architecture
Type: Lecture
Venue:
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, USA
The Design of Prosperity: OrtaWater
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
The Boras Summit on the Design of Change and Innovation, Boras, Sweden
Site:
http://www.thedesignofprosperity.se/speakers.asp?id=6
Refuge Wear
Type: Lecture
Venue:
Politecnico di Torino, Department of Architecture, Turin, Italy
Body Architecture
Type: Lecture
Venue:
Royal College of Art, London, UK
OrtaWater 01
Type: Masterclass
Venue:
Fabrica, The Benetton Group communication research centre, Trevisso, Italy
Site:
http://www.fluidarchitecture.net
Art04 Arts Council North West & BBC, chaired by Alain Yentob
Type: Keynote speaker
Venue:
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
Challenging the Frame
Type: Keynote speaker
Venue:
8th ELIA (European League of Institutes of the Arts), Luzern, Switzerland
Site:
http://www.elia-artschools.org/conference/keynotes.htm
Fashion on the Edge
Type: Keynote Speaker / Workshop
Venue:
ARTEZ School of the Arts / Musis Sacrum, Arnhem, Holland
Site:
http://www.artez-academiearnhem.nl/index.cfm?nieuwe_taal_id=2
Dwelling X
Type: Public Lecture
Venue:
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK
Nomad + Object, portable technology for erratic habitats’
Type: Key note speaker
Venue:
University of Rome La Sapienza, Faculty of Architecture, Rome, Italy
Dwelling X, Lucy Orta & Aran Chadwick in conversation
Type: Public Lecture chaired by Professor Colin Fournier
Venue:
RIBA (Royal Institute for British Architects), London, UK
Body Architecture
Type: Lecture
Venue:
Central Saint Martins School of Design, London, UK
Architecture Dialogues: Architectural Bodies, Reflective Spaces and Responsive Materials
Type: Keynote speaker
Venue:
Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Nomades in Residence: Body Architecture, Between Intervention and Survival
Type: Moderated discussion: Lucy Orta & Catarina Leitao
Venue:
Van Allen Institute, New York, USA
Public and Community Art
Type: Keynote speaker
Venue:
Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Dwelling Project
Type: Keynote Speaker / Workshop
Venue:
University of Minnesota Design Institute & School of Architecture, Minnesota, USA
London Design Week, World Creative Design Forum
Type: Keynote speaker
Venue:
Bloomberg, London, UK
Refuge Wear and other works
Type: Speaker
Venue:
Gallery 101, Ottawa, Canada
Women in Design Symposium
Type: Keynote speaker
Venue:
University Pennsylvania Graduate School Fine Art, Pennsylvania, USA
Public Interventions Symposium
Type: Speaker
Venue:
Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Italy
Contemporary Issues
Type: Lecture
Venue:
Kingston University School of Art and Design, Kingston, UK
From Material Things, new geographies of visual culture
Type: Key note speaker
Venue:
The British Museum, London, UK
Soul of Design
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
Design Academy Eindhoven, Eindhoven, Holland
The More Things Change
Type: Keynote Speaker
Venue:
I.D.C.A. International Design Conference Aspen, Aspen, Colorado
Generazione delle Immagini, VII Racconti d’Identita
Type: Speaker
Venue:
Commune of Milan, Milan, Italy
Architecture Mobile et Nouvelles Cultures Urbaines
Type: Round Table: Odile Decq, Claire Pétetin, Philippe Grégoire, Debis Gaudel, Lucy Orta, Marie-Claude Vachez, Paul Virillio
Venue:
École Supérieure de l’Architecture, Paris, France
Awards
Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants
Raft of the Medusa
Arts Council of England. Grant for the Arts
Clouds: The Raft of the Medusa. The completion of work for a solo exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and a program of public learning and professional development for young artists.
EU Culture Programme Co-operation Measures (Strand 1.2.1)
EU-Roma, a survey of Roma housing and culture. EU partners: TAMA Greece; LAN Italy; ATU Romania; UAL London. EU Culture Programme (Education, Audio visual and Culture Executive Agency) 2007-2013:
Arts Council of England, South East: Artist production grant
Common Ground (Greenham Common)
The Wellcome Trust: Sciart research award
Totipotent Architecture
Arts Council of England, East Midlands: Artist production grant
Dwelling X
Henry Moore Foundation: Artists production grant
Dwelling X
AHRC: Small Grants in the Creative and Performing Arts
Dwelling X (Synoecismic Dwelling)
Andy Warhol Foundation Grant
Awarded for the first American solo exhibition and US tour organised by the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa
Sissel d'Or
Prize for innovation awarded for Habitent - Refuge Wear