Luke Fowler

Film work

He creates cinematic collages that have often been linked to the British Free Cinema movement of the 1950s,^[6] as well as traditions within American and British experimental cinema. He has collaborated or been in dialogue with the filmmakers: Lis Rhodes,^[7] Cerith Wyn Evans,^[8] Peter Todd,^[9] William Raban,^[10] Robert Beavers,^[11] and Peter Hutton.^[12] His para-documentary films have explored counter cultural figures including Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing,^[13] English composer Cornelius Cardew,^[14] Marxist-Historian E. P. Thompson and Scottish film-poet Margaret Tait (Being in a place).^[15] In 2018, Fowler created Mum’s Cards, a short 16 mm film exploring the archival index cards accumulated by his mother, sociologist Bridget Fowler, reflecting on memory, intellectual life, and the material traces of knowledge.^[16] In 2022, Fowler directed Being in a Place – A Portrait of Margaret Tait, an experimental documentary drawing on archival footage, recordings, notebooks, and correspondence to explore the life, work, and poetic approach to cinema of Scottish filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait, with attention to her relationship to the Orkney landscape. The film premiered in the Forum section of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.^[17]

Films on Sound and installations

Fowler’s work frequently engages with sound, the politics of music, and the communities in which music is produced and circulated. This interest is evident in his portraits of musicians and composers including Brunhild Ferrari, Patrick Cowley, Christian Wolff, and Martin Bartlett,^[18][19] as well as in films and installations that address place (The Room, Being Blue, Enceindre, Tenement Films, On Weaving) and acoustic phenomena (Ridges on the Horizontal Plane and Composition for Flutter Screen, both made in collaboration with Toshiya Tsunoda^[20]).^[21]

Musical projects

Fowler formed the duo Lied Music with John W. Fail, performing live music concrete^[22] The duo collaborated and performed live with Mark Vernon and Barry Burns, releasing two LPs.^[23][24][25] Since 2010, he has collaborated regularly with Richard Youngs,^[26] resulting in the box set Research Musics En-Of 50 and the avant-disco group AMOR, which released two 12″ records, an LP, and an EP on Nightschool Records.^[27][28]

Collaborations

Fowler has worked with a number of collaborators, including Sue Tompkins (Be Dear Crazy Loud, 2003; Country Grammar, 2017),^[29] David Grubbs (J’ai pensé sans parole),^[30] Ryoko Akama (installation and performance at Hamburg papiripar festival 2025),^[27] David Toop,^[31] Lionel Marchetti (soundtracks for Being In A Place 2022 and No Interior 2023),^[32] Corin Sworn (On Weaving, 2025),^[33] Margaret Salmon (To The Editor…, 2014),^[34] Marcus Schmickler,^[35] Eric La Casa,^[36] George Clark and Peter Hutton,^[37] Mark Fell,^[38] Lee Patterson,^[39] Toshiya Tsunoda,^[40] and Richard Youngs.^[41] He collaborated with guitarist Keith Rowe and film maker and curator Peter Todd on the live sound and film work The Room.^[42]

Solo

• 2022: Being in a Place, The Modern Institute, 3 Aird's Lane, Glasgow^[44]
• 2021: From Here a Home Was Imagined, CCA, Glasgow^[45]
• 2021: A Certain Predilection for Things Out of the Ordinary, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid^[19]
• 2019: Passages, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington^[46]
• 2018: Sightings: Luke Fowler, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas^[47]
• 2017: Gone Reflections, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore^[48]
• 2015: Outside The Sound, Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge^[49]
• 2013: Common Sense, La Casa Encendida, Madrid^[50]
• 2011: Luke Fowler, Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York^[51]
• 2010: No 5, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen^[18]

• 2009: retrospective exhibition, Serpentine Gallery^[52]
• 2006: The Nine Monads Of David Bell, Villa Concordia, Bamberg^[53]

Group

• 2023: Luke Fowler (SCOT) & Kasper Akhøj (DK), Stereo Exchange, Frederiksberg^[54]
• 2022: Citational Choices, La Trobe Art Institute, Bendigo^[18]
• 2020: Miraculous Noise, Viborg Kunsthal, Viborg^[18]
• 2018: Wilderness, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt^[55]
• 2011: British Art Show 7, Hayward Gallery, London^[56]
• 2012: he was shortlisted for the Turner Prize, for solo exhibition at Inverleith House in Edinburgh,^[57] which showcased his new film exploring the life and work of Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing.^[6]