Oliver Beer trained in musical composition before attending the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, and studying cinematic theory at the Sorbonne, Paris. This musical background is reflected in his live performances, films, installations and sculptures, which reveal the hidden acoustic properties of vessels, bodies, and architectural environments. The artist's familial relationships often inform multi-disciplinary works that engage with intimate yet universal concerns, such as the sounds and memories contained within personal possessions. Beer explores the unifying potential of music that resonates across history, generations and cultures, as embodied in objects and spaces.
In Beer's ongoing The Resonance Project (2007– ), vocal performances stimulate the natural harmonics inside buildings, ranging from the Sydney Opera House and Palais de Tokyo in Paris to a hammam in Istanbul and the Brighton sewers. According to the artist: 'At the right frequency, a room will take on the energy of a singer's voice – so much so that a singer can whisper a note and the room will completely eclipse their vocal presence with its resonance and become an extension of their body. You can't build a space without building a musical note.' He has applied similar principles in works such as Vessel Orchestra (2019), created using hollow objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. These were selected for their natural pitches and assembled to create an idiosyncratic musical instrument that also forms an audible portrait of the museum collection.
In his sculptural practice, Beer surgically slices and then reassembles personal possessions in resin to create 'Two-Dimensional Sculptures', dissecting the material world and the traces we leave on it. These items often include musical instruments, as well as family heirlooms such as his grandmother's jewellery or pipes from his grandfather's collection. Using a technique unique to Beer's practice, he transforms three dimensions into two, creating a 'physical cubism' in which multiple perspectives can be simultaneously perceived. The artist notes that sound travels in straight lines directly through matter – as in ultrasound imaging – not stopping at the surface as light does, so these works allow us to perceive the world beyond its surface.
Beer, who lives and works in London and Paris, joined the gallery in 2013. Following his presentation at the Lyon Biennale that year, he developed a Resonance Project piece for the gallery's Pantin space. His work has been the subject of many solo and group exhibitions, notably at the Met Breuer and MoMA PS1 in New York; Centre Pompidou, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Palais de Tokyo and Palace of Versailles in Paris; the Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; WIELS, Brussels and the Sydney and Istanbul biennials. The artist has also held residencies at the Palais de Tokyo, the Watermill Centre, Sydney Opera House and Fondation d'entreprise Hermès.
2023
Recompositions: Night Revels, Almine Rech, Shanghai, China
Oliver Beer: Albion Waves, London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK
Oliver Beer: Resonance Paintings—Blue Notes, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2022
Oliver Beer: Resonance Paintings – Two Notes, Thaddaeus Ropac, Seoul, South Korea
2021
Composition for Mouths (Songs My Mother Taught Me), Opéra Garnier, Paris, France
Ghost Notes (Part I), THE CLUB, Tokyo, Japan
2020
Oliver Beer: Oma, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
2019
A Thousand Faces (in collaboration with Louvre Abu Dhabi), Al Jahili Fort / Qasr al Hosn, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Oliver Beer: Vessel Orchestra, Met Breuer, New York, NY, USA
Recomposition (Baloo Stripped Bare), Manif d'art 9 - The Quebec City Biennial, Galerie des arts visuels, Quebec City, Canada
Household Gods, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Mona Confessional (permanent installation), Mona – Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia
Oliver Beer: Impossible Composition, University of New South Wales Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2018
Reanimation (Alice Falling), Ruya Foundation, Baghdad, Iraq
Reanimation (Snow White), George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY, USA
Oliver Beer: Impossible Composition, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2017
Oliver Beer: New Performance & Sculpture, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
Oliver Beer, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2015
Life, Death and Tennis, Daiwa Art Prize 2015 Exhibition, Aoyama Meguro, Tokyo, Japan
Deconstructing Sound, Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan
Making Tristan, Artist in Residence, Watermill Center, New York, NY, USA
Call to Sound, Istanbul Biennale, Kilic Ali Pasa Hamam, Istanbul, Turkey
2014
Composition For a New Museum, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Diabolus in Musica, Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
Rabbit Hole, Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Prospectif Cinéma 2014: Oliver Beer, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2013
Composition For Hearing An Architectural Space, Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
Outside-In (permanent installation), Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
The Resonance Project, Art Brussels, WIELS Contemporary art centre, Belgium, Brussels
The Resonance Project: Deep and Meaningful, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2012
KLANG, Palais de Tokyo Art Club, Paris, France
2011
The Resonance Project: Pay and Display, Autumn Almanac, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2010
Deep and Meaningful, murmurART, 20 Hoxton Square, London, UK
Training, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2009
Die Budgie History, Dolphin Gallery, Oxford, UK
2008
The Resonance Project, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2007
Oliver Beer, La Viande Gallery, London, UK
2023
L’autre musée, the treasures of a major contemporary art collection, Frac Bretagne, Rennes, France
Un Lac Inconnu, Bally Foundation, Villa Heleneum, Lugano, Switzerland
Je(ux) en construction, Les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse / Médiathèque Grand M, Toulouse, France
2022
L'enfance dans la collection Agnès B., La Fab., Paris, France
Formes du transfert, cur. Gaël Charbau, Magasins généraux, Fondation Hermès, Pantin, France
The Woman in the Window, between the arts, Tokyo, Japan
Uncombed, Unforeseen, Unconstrained, Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello, Venice, Italy
2021
British Art Show 9, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and University of Wolverhampton School of Art, Wolverhampton; Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen; The Box, KARST, The Arts Institute's Levinsky Gallery and The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth; HOME, Manchester Art Gallery, Castlefield Gallery, The Whitworth and the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Manchester, UK
Murs du Son (Infinite Variations on a Theme), Venet Foundation, Le Muy, France
The Still Point, THE CLUB, Kudan House, Tokyo, Japan
Flat Work, cur. Ryan Gander, Solid Haus, Melton, UK
Sables brûlants (Burning Sands), La Grande Place, Musée du Cristal Saint-Louis, Saint-Louis-lès-Bitche, France
Polyphone, Kunstsammlung Gera and Museum für Angewandte Kunst Gera, Gera, Germany
Sound Vision: Harmonious Relationships in Art and Music, Lehman College Art Gallery, City University of New York, NY, USA
When in Doubt, Go to a Museum, City Museum of Ljubljana, Slovenia
2020
Inner Space, Oliver Beer Studio, London, UK
Rendez-vous, Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, Netherlands
and suddenly it all blossoms, Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA2), Riga, Latvia
10th Anniversary Exhibition, Mona – Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia
2019
Collectionner au XXIe siècle: De leur temps (6), Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Where We Now Stand – In Order to Map the Future, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Hidden Pulse, Vivid Live (in collaboration with M+), Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
Syncopation: Contemporary encounters with the Modern Masters, Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan
...Et l'obscur, L'Abbaye du Thoronet (in collaboration with Le Palais de Tokyo, Paris), Le Thoronet, France
Hypertimes, FuturDome, Milan, Italy
Oliver Beer, Rassegna di video arte del XXI secolo al MACRO, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy
2018
21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney Opera House and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Wonderland, ACMI, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract/ion, Galerie Klüser, Munich, Germany
The Myriad Forms of Visual Art: 196 Works with 19 Themes, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
À bâtons rompus, les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
2017
Voyage d'hiver, cur. Palais de Tokyo, Château de Versailles, Versailles, France
Sans réserve: Exposition des oeuvres de la collection, MAC VAL - Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
7th Socle du Monde Biennale, Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark
2016
Polyphonies, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
VG Award Exhibition, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK
Nuit Blanche 2016, Paris, France
Imprisoned, Jailbreak, Imprisoned, Jailbreak, AOYAMA/MEGURO, Tokyo, Japan
2015
Collective Collection, Le BBB centre d'art, Toulouse, France
Where the day begins, Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France
Daiwa Foundation Art Prize Exhibition 2015, Daiwa Foundation Japan House, London, UK
Sounds Like Music, D+T Project Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2014
Orkest!, Netwerk / Center for Contemporary Art, Aalst, Belgium
Condensation, Atelier Hermès, Seoul, South Korea
Bright Intervals, cur. Palais de Tokyo, Sunday Sessions, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY, USA
Condensation, Le Forum, Maison Hermès, Tokyo, Japan
Saint Jerome, Meessen de Clerq, Brussels, Belgium
2013
Oliver Beer | Shingo Yoshida, Villa Arson, Nice, France
The Present is Unfinished, 12th Biennale de Lyon, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Nouvelles Vagues, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2012
100 Curators, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Nuit Blanche 2012, Paris, France
2nd Biennale de Belleville, Paris, France
Whitstable Biennale 2012, Horsebridge Arts Centre, Whitstable, UK
(Entre)Ouverture, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Hebbel Theatre, Berlin, Germany
FRAC Corsica (with Pavillon Neuflize OBC), Corte, France
Pavillon Neuflize OBC, Palais de Tokyo, Ménagerie de Verre, Paris, France
La Part de l'Ombre, Galerie de Roussan, Paris, France
2011
Mindful, Old Vic Tunnels, London, UK
Saatchi Gallery at The Big Chill Festival, Eastnor Castle, Hertfordshire, UK
2010
Sir John Soane's Museum, London, UK
Anticipation 2010, Selfridges, London, UK
Ruskin Shorts, Oxford Playhouse, Oxford, UK
Concrete and Glass, 20 Hoxton Square, London, UK
Reflections, DNA Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2009
New Sensations 2009 (org. The Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4), A Foundation, Rochelle School, London, UK
Resonance FM, online, London, UK
Ruskin Degree Show 2009, The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Ruskin Shorts, Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford, UK
2008
ICA, Performance with Goodbooks, London, UK
20 Eventi, Rome, Italy
Box Ladder, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
Beaconsfield Gallery, performance with Matmos, London, UK
Vivarosi Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2007
Chelsea College of Art, London, UK
2006
Beardsmore Gallery (with Oliver Barratt), London, UK
Balaton Film Festival, Balatonfüred, Hungary
Vivarosi Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Australia
Mona - Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania
China
Deji Art Museum, Nanjing, China
France
Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris
Collection du MAC Val
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
FRAC Bretagne, Rennes
Kadist Collection, Paris
Le Plateau, Frac Île-de-France, Paris
Les Abattoirs, Musée – FRAC Occitanie Toulouse, Toulouse
Musée national d'arts moderne du Centre Pompidou, Paris
Musée d'art contemporain – MAC, Lyon
Venet Foundation, Le Muy
India
RMZ Foundation, Bangalore
Japan
National Museum of Art, Osaka
Monaco
Nouveau Musée National de Monaco
Netherlands
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar
Norway
Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker
United Arab Emirates
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi
UK
Arts Council Collection
GOSH Arts Programme, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
USA
Kramlich Collection, San Francisco, CA
2021
Mondes Nouveaux – National Culture Prize, Paris, France
2017
Artist in Residence, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
2015
Daiwa Art Prize 2015 (winner), Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London, UK
Artist in Residence, Watermill Center, New York, NY, USA
2013
Artist in Residence, Villa Arson, Nice, France
2012
Artist in Residence, Fondation Hermès, Saint-Louis glass manufacturer, France
2011
Artist in Residence, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2010
Arts Council England Award and Commission
2009
New Sensations 2009 (winner), Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4, London, UK