Stephen Willats

Artist

Stephen Willats, born in 1943, is a British artist who lives and works in London.

Willats studied on the influential 'Ground Course' at Ealing School of Art from 1962 to 1963. Since the 1960s, his projects have centred on the relationships between individuals in society, often focusing on aspects of cognitive behaviour, the ways people encounter one another, how they reach agreement, and how they respond to their environment. Willats combines his theoretical knowledge of cybernetics, learning theory, and interactive, self-organising systems with a desire to operate in the fabric of everyday reality. Taking place anywhere from institutional galleries to tennis clubs and inner-city housing estates, his projects challenge the notion of art as a passive activity, transforming it into an agent of social change.

Willats is editor and publisher of Control Magazine. From 1972 - 1973 he was Director of the Centre of Behavioural Art, Gallery House, London, and from 1979-1980 he was the D.A.A.D. Fellowship artist in West Berlin. He was convenor of the symposium, Art Creating Society at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford in 1990. Stephen Willats Printed Archive was established at Victoria and Albert Museum in 1991.

He has presented solo shows at Victoria Miro, South London Gallery, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, and Modern Art Oxford among others. In 2019 his work was included in Undead: Popular Culture in Britain Beyond the Bauhaus at Nottingham Contemporary.

Stephen Willats, born in 1943, is a British artist who lives and works in London.

Willats studied on the influential 'Ground Course' at Ealing School of Art from 1962 to 1963. Since the 1960s, his projects have centred on the relationships between individuals in society, often focusing on aspects of cognitive behaviour, the ways people encounter one another, how they reach agreement, and how they respond to their environment. Willats combines his theoretical knowledge of cybernetics, learning theory, and interactive, self-organising systems with a desire to operate in the fabric of everyday reality. Taking place anywhere from institutional galleries to tennis clubs and inner-city housing estates, his projects challenge the notion of art as a passive activity, transforming it into an agent of social change.

Willats is editor and publisher of Control Magazine. From 1972 - 1973 he was Director of the Centre of Behavioural Art, Gallery House, London, and from 1979-1980 he was the D.A.A.D. Fellowship artist in West Berlin. He was convenor of the symposium, Art Creating Society at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford in 1990. Stephen Willats Printed Archive was established at Victoria and Albert Museum in 1991.

He has presented solo shows at Victoria Miro, South London Gallery, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, and Modern Art Oxford among others. In 2019 his work was included in Undead: Popular Culture in Britain Beyond the Bauhaus at Nottingham Contemporary.

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