b. 1983, Cardiff, U.K; lives and works in London, U.K and Berlin, Germany.

James Richards’s practice explores the intersection of technology, identity, and human experience through a practice of expanded film, video, and installation. He examines themes of obsession and desire through archival research and by using found footage, diverse source materials, audio samples, and personal recordings to build immersive and multi-layered narratives. In its scope, his practice is able to address the relentless flow of imagery in the twenty-first century and yet simultaneously never shies away from creating a quite singular space where the personal, the political and the digital meet. These spaces become waypoints in a practice that more broadly navigates the complexities of contemporary culture, contending with themes such as memory, desire, sexuality, and the impact of digital technologies on our lives. His ability to merge disparate elements into cohesive and evocative compositions creates an arresting interlude in our otherwise saturated world, producing a strange signal within the noise, which leaves a lasting impact on those who encounter his work.

James Richards's recent solo exhibitions include Our Friends in the Audience, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2024); Signals...Folds and Splits, Para Site, Hong Kong (2023); Full Burn: Video from The Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023); When We Were Monsters, Haus Mödrath, Kerpen (2021); Alms For The Birds, Castello Di Rivoli, Turin (2020); Migratory Motor Complex, Collective, Edinburgh (2019); S, with Leslie Thornton, Kunstlerh Stuttgart, Stuttgart (2018); Crossing, with Leslie Thornton, Secession, Vienna (2018); Migratory Motor Complex, Chapter, Cardiff (2018); Music for the Gift, CymYrun Fenis, Wales in Venice, Venice Biennale, Venice (2017); James Richards and Leslie Thornton, Abyss Film, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (2016); Radio At Night, Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (2016); Requests and Antisongs, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2016); Crumb Mahogany, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2016); To Replace a Minute’s Silence with a Minute’s Applause, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2015); James Richards, Kunstverein München, Munich (2015); James Richards, CCA, Kitakyushu (2012); Not Blacking Out, Just Turning The Lights Off, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2011); Call and Bluff, Tramway, Glasgow (2009). Group exhibitions include Preis Der Nationalgalerie 2024, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2024); THE FIRST FINGER, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2023); WORLD CLASSROOM: CONTEMPORARY ART THROUGH SCHOOL SUBJECTS, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2023); SIGNALS…FOLDS AND SPLITS, Para Site, Hong Kong (2023); WORKERS IN SONG, WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels (2023); La Fabrique du Nous #1 / Des voix traversées, IAC, Villeurbanne (2022); Penumbra, Fondazione In Between Art Film, Complesso dell’ Ospedaletto, Venice (2022); Anathemata, mostyn, Wales (2021); Metabolic Rift, Kraftwerk Berlin, Berlin (2021); Techno, Museion, Bolzano (2021); The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and the Cosmic Tree, Camden Arts Centre, London (2020); Time, Forward!, V-A-C Foundation, Venice (2019); Biennial of Moving Images 2018, The Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneve, Geneva (2018); Sixty Years, Tate Britain, London (2018); Generation Loss. Ten Years of the Julia Stoscheck Collection, Julia Stoscheck Collection, Dusseldorf (2017); Whitney Biennial 2017, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2017); British Art Show 8, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, Inverleith House, Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Talbot Rice Gallery (2015-2017); Less Than One, WalkerArtCenter, Minneapolis (2016); The Screen: Sounds of Light, CAPC, Bordeaux (2016); Aleksandra Domanović, Yngve Holen and James Richards: Ars Viva 2014/2015, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2015); Biennale of Moving Images 2015, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia (2015); Ars Viva 2014/2015, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2014); Moving Images at the Heart of the Centre. Biennale of Moving Images 2014, Centre d’art contemporain, Geneva (2014); Cut to Swipe, MoMA, New York (2014); Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Bienniale, Gwangju, South Korea (2014); Turner Prize 2014, Tate Britain, London (2014); Looking Back: The Eighth White Columns Annual selected by Pati Hertling, White Columns, New York (2014); Meanwhile ... Suddenly and Then, 12th Biennale de Lyon, Lyon (2013); The Encyclopaedic Palace, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice (2013); Frozen Lakes, Artists Space, New Y ork (2013); The Imaginary Museum, Kunstverein München, Munich (2012); The Voice is a Language, Film and Per-formance Programme, Tate Modern, London (2012); Coming After, The Power Plant, Toronto (2011); Art Now: Clunie Reid and James Richards, (with Clunie Reid), Tate Britain, London (2010); Generational: Younger Than Jesus, The New Museum Of Contemporary Art, New York (2009); Nought to Sixty, ICA, London (2008).

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For James Richards's entry on Asia Art Archive's website please click here.