Than Hussein Clark

B. 1981, Exeter, New Hampshire
Lives and works in London.

Than Hussein Clark is an artist, designer, performer, director, and writer based in London. His work explores economies and histories taken from architecture, the decorative arts, and theater to explore new trajectories for queer objects and subjectivities in the present.

Recent exhibitions and performance projects include 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennale 2021; A Little Night Music (And Reversals), CRAC Occitanie, Sète, France; Yes, Yes, all the News That’s Fit to Print, Art Basel Parcours; A Month in the Country, Galerie Karin Guenter, Hamburg; Tete-A-Tete (A Dolls House), Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; Tragedy Machine (with Villa Design Group), MIT, Cambridge, Mass; The 2016 Liverpool Biennial (with Villa Design Group); We Call it Ludwig (with Villa Design Group), Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Violet Crab at DRAF, David Roberts Art Foundation, London; DEBTS (Erotic Review Sinai), Futura, Prague; Republic Authorizations (L’Aigle à Deux Tetes), Mathew New York, New York; A Summer’s Rest (Je T’aime Mont Blanc), with Villa Design Group, LISTE Performance Program, Junges Theater Basel; Inauguration of the Russian Season: The banquet (with Villa Design Group); Waves (Das Gluckliche Rothschild), Mathew Gallery, Berlin; Royal Institute of British Architecture, London; The Pool’s Edge or Gstaad Will Never Change, Swiss Institute, New York.

Clark is a founding member of Villa Design Group and lives and works between London and Hamburg.To date, he has written, directed and staged over 14 plays at institutions including The Swiss Institute, Frans Hals Museum, M.I.T List Center and Art Basel, where his play Yes, Yes, All the News That’s Fit to Print was included in Art Basel Parcours.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

2012/16

  • Hoschschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg, MFA, Time Based Media

2011

  • Goldsmiths College, London, BA (Hons)

2007

  • University of Edinburgh, BA (HSS)

Solo exhibitions

2021

  • 1981 - 1986 (Active Analysis), Karin Guenther, Hamburg (DE)

2020

  • A Little Night Music (And Reversals), CRAC Occitanie, Sète (FR)

2019

  • The Paintings of Selma Vaz Dias, Damien & The Love Guru, Brussels (BE)
  • L’Isola Dei Baci (Disappearing Acts), K​URA. c/o Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, Milano (IT)

2018

  • His Leftover Heart (Pauly et Cie), Crèvecoeur, Marseille (FR)
  • The Director’s Theatre Writer’s Theatre, GAK Bremen, Bremen (DE)

2017

  • Recognition (Love at the Frankfurt Autoshow), VI VII, Oslo (NO)
  • Hollywood Regency, Crèvecoeur, Paris (FR)
  • Parcours, Art Basel 2017, Basel (CH)

2016

  • A Month In The Country, Karin Guenther Gallery, Hamburg (DE)
  • The Tragedy Machine (with Villa Design Group), MIT List Visual Arts Centre Boston (US)
  • Tête a Tête (A Doll’s House), Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem (NL)

2015

  • Meatlocker (with Villa Design Group), Art Basel Miami Solo (CH)
  • Presentation with Mathew Gallery, Miami (US)
  • Frieze Frame, Solo Presentation with Mathew Gallery, Frieze New York, New-York (US)
  • DEBTS (Erotic Review Sinai), Futura, Prague (CZ)
  • Authorizations (L’aigle à deux têtes), Mathew Gallery, New-York (US)
  • The Violet Crab, David Roberts Art Foundation, London (UK)
  • The Bernard Natan Centre for the Arts, with Villa Design Group, Mumok, Vienna (AT)

2014

  • Inauguration of the Russian Season: The House of Adelaida (RU)
  • Ivanovna, with Villa Design Group, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh (UK)
  • Solo Presentation with Mathew Gallery, Liste 2014, Basel (CH)
  • Sessions, with Christiane Blattmann, Amstel 47, Amsterdam (NL)
  • Vengeance… Oh Libya!, WCW Gallery, Hamburg (DE)

2013

  • Waves (Das Glückliche Rothschild), Mathew Gallery, Berlin (DE)

Selected group exhibitions

2023

  • House of Dreamers, Villa Empain, Bruxelles (BE)

2022

  • British Art Show 9, Wolverhampton, Aberdeen, Plymouth and Manchester (UK)

2021

  • The Dreamers, 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennale 2021, Belgrade (RS)

2020

  • Jacques de Bascher, Treize, Paris (FR)

2019

  • Futomomo, CAC Brétigny - centre d’art contemporain, Brétigny (FR)

2018

  • School of Pain, A​rt in General, New York (US)
  • Condo,​ Crèvecœur, New York (US)
  • Deux sens du décoratif, CAC Passerelle, Brest (FR)
  • Room Raiders​, Mathew Gallery, New York (US)

2017

  • Art Basel Miami, Nova section, w. Crèvecoeur (FR)

2016

  • WHO ARE YOU?, Salts, Basel, Switzerland (CH)
  • Exhume / Consume, Mathew NYC, New-York (US)
  • Carpet For A Lord, Supportico Lopez, Berlin (DE)
  • The King And The Mockingbird, Vermillion Sands, Copenhagen (FDK)
  • Liverpool Biennial, with Villa Design Group, Liverpool (UK)
  • Museum Ludwig, with Villa Design Group, Cologne (DE)
  • Group Presentation with Mathew Gallery, Liste 2016, Basel (CH)
  • MM Mundus Muliebris, Cura Basement, Rome (IT)
  • Condo, Carlos/Ishikawa, LondonSalzburg (AU)

2015

  • Mon Horizontalité, Until Then, Paris (FR)
  • Group Presentation with Mathew Gallery, Liste, Basel (CH)
  • Group Presentation with VI VII, Oslo Gallery, Liste, Basel (CH)

2014

  • Little Messages for Modern Shut-Ins, Aran Cravey, Los Angeles (US)
  • Dolce Fare Neite, with Villa Design Group, Marabiers 14, Geneva, Switzerland (CH)
  • Transatlantic Transparency, Mathew Gallery & Mathew NYC, Berlin(DE) & New-York (US)
  • There is Nothing Personal of Yours to Exhibit, Crèvecoeur, Paris, France (FR)
  • I Love You Me Either, Project Native Informant, London (UK)
  • Like A Virgin, VI, VII, Oslo, Norway (NO)

2013

  • Don’t Worry – This One is On US, Salt 3: Pageantry, with Villa Design
  • Group, Lima Lima Zulu, London (UK)
  • Homes and Gardens, Freedman Fitzpatrick, Los Angeles (US)
  • Heavy Listening, Jahresausstellung HFBK, Klasse Michaela Melian, Hamburg (DE)
  • Platitude Normale, CAPC, Bordeaux (FR)
  • Love Is Still Colder Than Capital, Mathew, Berlin (DE)
  • The Portshead Garden, with Villa Design Group, Beton Galerie, Hamburg (DE)
  • Clay Pipe, HFBK Galerie, Hamburg (DE)

2012

  • Volcano Extravaganza 2012, curated by Nick Mauss and Milovan
  • Faronatto, Fiorucci Arts Trust, Stromboli (IT)
  • Coffers IV – Emperor! Emperor! Emperor (with Christiane Blattman), Vitrine, Berlin The Photographers (DE)
  • Tragedy, Beton Galerie, Hamburg, Germany (DE)
  • Life will be Frozen in Peaches and Cream, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, Netherlands (NL)
  • Montez Press at Palazzo Visconti, with Villa Design Group (IT)

2011

  • Spring 2007: Fall 2007, Zurück in die Zukunft, with Villa Design Group, KUB Arena, Kunsthaus Bregenz (DE)

2010

  • Villa 1: This House is a Triadic Fascist and Made of Industry Glass, with Villa Design Group and Luis Lazaro Matos, George and Dragon Cabaret Bar, London (UK)

Plays and performances

2019

  • “Chamber Music for Europe (Nonent for Selma Vaz Dias)”, Flagey, Brussels (BE)
  • “Stage for a Theatre on Mars”, PLATO, Ostrava (CZ)
  • “Meet Me In Saint Louis, Lewis!”, Move, Centre Pompidou, Paris (FR)

2017

  • “Three Types of Wind in Trieste”, GAK Bremen (DE)
  • “Yes Yes, All The News That’s Fit to Print”, Parcours, Art Basel 2017, Basel (CH)
  • “Love at the Frankfurt Auto Show”, Kunstnernes Hus Kino, Oslo (NO)
  • “Said The Assassinations”, Club Silencio, Paris (FR)

2016

  • “This Is It or Dawn at Bar Bouzkha”, MIT List Visual Arts Centre (with Villa Design Group), Massachusetts (US)
  • Tête-à-Tête, & OUD”, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem (NL)

2015

  • “The Violet Crab”, DRAF, David Roberts Art Foundation, London (UK)
  • “DEBTS (Erotic Review Sinai)”, Studio Hrdinů, Prague (CZ)
  • “A Summer’s Rest (Je t’aime Mont Blanc)”, Junges Theater, Basel (CH)
  • “Launch of Heterophobia” (with Villa Design Group and SALT.), South London Gallery, London (UK)

2014

  • Inauguration of the Russian Season: “The Banquet” (with Villa Design Group), Royal Institute of British Architecture, London (UK)
  • “The Pool’s Edge or Gstaad Will Never Change”, The Swiss Instute, New-York (US)
  • Montez Press at Palazzo Visconti (with Villa Design Group), Milan (IT)

2013

  • Spring 2007: Fall 2007, Zurück in die Zukunft (with Villa Design Group), KUB Arena, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (AU)
  • “The Alvar Aalto Sleepover” (with Villa Design Group), Mathew, Berlin, Germany (DE)

2012

  • “Villa 1: This House is a Triadic Fascist and Made of Industry Glass”, with Villa Design Group and Luis Lazaro Matos, George and Dragon Cabaret Bar, London (UK)

2011

  • Demetriou Penthouse, with Villa Design Group
  • Prizes

2019

  • Hublot Design Prize Shortlist

2013

  • Preis des DAAD für hervorragende Leistungen ausländischer Studierender (DAAD Prize for Exceptional Achievement by a Non-German Student)

2011

  • Art School Alliance Residency, Fall 2011, Goldsmith College

Press

Press

7 Great Things I Saw at Frieze and Frieze Masters, New York Times / T Magazine

In Defence of Style: Than Hussein Clark interviewed by Simon Castets, Mousse Magazine, 2014