“From drawing to film, object to installation and place to performance, Alex Julyan derails the pre-ordained meanings of things with an easy wit”
The Daily Bugle

Alex Julyan’s unconventional upbringing set her on a lifelong path of experimentation.
Whether in drawing, film, object, installation, writing or performance, her maverick approach places
her decisively outside of the mainstream.

Alex’s depth of knowledge, skill and experience is coupled with a passion for chance, risk
and spontaneous action. Her ambitious partnerships with musicians, dancers, architects
and scientists are testament to her curiosity and belief in public discourse. Everything she
makes is part of a fluid conversation between ideas, processes, places and people.

education + training

1980 - 1984 Chelsea School of Art  Fine Art Painting BA
1981 - 1984Chelsea School of Art  Foundation
2008 Punchdrunk Theatre  site sympathetic directing
2002 Theatre de Complicité  visual interpretation
2002 Arts Council  site specific projection

awards + residencies

2023New Forest National Park Artist in Residence
2019 Exeter University  Arts and Culture Fellowship
2017 Horniman Museum  Artquest Residency
2017 Wellcome Trust  Public Engagement Grant
2014 Wellcome Trust  Public Engagement Fellowship
1998 SPNM George Butterworth  Award for Innovative Work

events + performance commissions

2019 Merce Cunningham Company Centennial Florida State University  concept artist
world premier - stage projection and graphic piano score for dance
2019 Museum of Fine Arts Tallahassee, USA  performance
Dinner for One - durational event determined by chance
2016 The Francis Crick Institute, London  creative producer
whole building  event + official opening ceremony in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II
2016 Centre Pompidou, Metz  performance
Something about Nothing - durational live drawing determined by chance
2015 Wellcome Collection, London creative producer
VIP gala re-opening - whole building live music event
2015 Ulster Museum, Belfast  associate producer 
LaTe LaB an encounter with the elements - whole building event
2012
Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London  lead artist
Continuous Drawing - 4 hour drawing determined by chance
2012 English National Opera, London  visual director and co-producer 
John Cage centennial Musicircus - over 20 simultaneous performances on 4 floors of ENO
2011 Wellcome Collection, London  curator
get mOuthy! an interdisciplinary view of the mouth - whole building spectacle
2009 + 2010

Wellcome Collection, London  curator
Quacks & Cures exploring conventional and alternative medicine - whole building spectacle
2008 Dartington International Summer School  co-producer + designer
Apparitions - a night time promenade performance with over 100 performers
PRS Foundation & Scottish Arts Council commission
2005

Sonic Arts Network  artistic director
Beach Singularity by composer Trevor Wishart - live realisation on Scarborough Beach
2004 Barbican Arts Centre, London  visual director + collaborating artist
John Cage Musicircus - BBC Symphony Orchestra UnCaged Festival
live event with over 40 simultaneous performances over 3 floors of the Barbican Centre
2000Year of the Artist, Cambridge  co-producer
Bells of Remembrance - performance with veterans + orchestra of St John's, Smith Square
1998ISCM Festival commission, Manchester Town Hall  producer
Corridors of Power - site specific multi-media whole building event
Winner of the George Butterworth Award
1997 Barbican Centre, London  visual director + collaborating artist
John Cage Musicircus - BBC Symphony Orchestra Inventing America Festival 
live event with over 40 simultaneous performances over 3 floors of the Barbican Centre

site specific commissions + collaborations

2024University of Houston, Texas Architecture Department lead artist
Call and response - month-long installation and performance.
Collaboration with composer Stephen Montague
2024Music Summer School and Festival, Gresham lead artist
temporary installation and collaboration with composer Stephen Montague
2022Arts and Heritage Milton Keynes  selected artist
Walkabout - absurdist live interventions in a Milton Keynes neighbourhood
2021London Festival of Architecture solo project
Traffic Island Garden - public event featuring a unique pandemic garden 
2017 Poplar Pavilion, London  project lead 
publicly informed design, construction + live  programme
2011Musik im Park Festival, Baden am Stein, Germany  visual lead
rural installations
2010 Punchdrunk Theatre  design + installation
The Memory Distillery - NPA Promotional event
2005 Spitalfields Development Trust, London  selected artist
Unfastened Silence - Spitalfields Market conceptual signage
2003 BBC Proms  project lead
Memory Spaces - multi-media installation  supporting British premier of work by John Adams 
2002 The Wapping Project, London  lead artist
composition of impulses ii - multi-media installation
Society for the Promotion of New Music [SPNM]
2002Chelsea Physic Garden, London  selected artist
Received Wisdom - interactive sculpture
1999 Helix Arts, Newcastle  lead artist
Safe and Sound - St. Margaret’s Chapel, Sunderland, whole building transformation

collaboration with composer Cameron Sinclair

1999 Created Space, London  selected artist
Support System - temporary ceiling installation

selected solo exhibitions

2024SPUDworks, New Forest residency works
2019Railroad Square, Tallahassee, USA  resident artist showcase
2017 Martyrs GallerySussex  resident artist showcase
2003
Turner Contemporary, Margate  composition of impulses - ACE commission
2002
Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford  Made in England - sculptures
1998
PriceWaterhouseCoopers HQ, London  Ground Control - sculptures
1996 Holland Park Orangery, London  The Museum of Nonsense - installation

selected group exhibitions

2009 England & Co, London  Summer Show
Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, Northamptonshire  Flatpack Architecture
Leicester Artworks Collection  Held in the Hand
2007

Royal Academy, London  Summer Show
CGP Projects, London  Open
2005 Kaze Gallery, Tokyo Here-Now
2003 London Artfair 
2002 England & Co, London 
Oxo Gallery, London Two Schools of Thought
London Artfair 
Contemporary Art Society, London  ArtFutures
2001
London Artfair 
2000 Bluecoat Gallery . Liverpool . Ruskin Gallery . Cleveland Crafts Centre . Value Judgements
London Artfair 
Contemporary Art Society, London  ArtFutures
1999


Royal Academy, London  Summer Show
Hidden Art, London  Open
Contemporary Art Society, London  ArtFutures featured artist
1998 Whitechapel Gallery, London . Whitechapel Open
100 Park Lane, London  Art at 100
1997 Towner Gallery, Sussex Open
1985 - 1995 Riverside Studios . Groucho Club . Royal Overseas League South London Gallery 
London Contemporary Art Fair . Southern Arts Touring Exhibitions 
Whitechapel Open . Cable & Wireless collection

film

2018Hand to Mouth  on vimeo
a trilogy of personal narratives about objects in 7 languages
2013 Kisser  on vimeo
100 memories of a first kiss with music by Stephen Montague
2012 Clapping Twins  on vimeo
 a story of absurdist actions, chance and disruption 

books
2018 Chain Reaction [pub Lost & Found Press] 
devised, commissioner + edit 
essays and interviews about the built environment
2013 John Cage Was [pub Wesleyan] by James Klosty
commissioned text
2013 Pamphlets [pub Artquest] 
edit + after-forward
anonymous essays on aspects of the art world 
2009 Lost in Translation [pub Lost & Found Press] by Alex Julyan & Bill Gilonis 
collaborative between London + Zurich project exploring perception, language and chance

other writing
2018 - 2019Reporting from the Front  essays from Tallahassee
2015 Wellcome Trust Researcher Spotlight Blog  commissioned article
artist profile and research in focus
2010 + 2011 Southwark Council  evaluation report
Silver Views - seniors open exhibition by Lucy Wilson + Alex Julyan
2008 Tate Modern  
Finding Louise Bourgeois -  seniors project by Michèle Fuirer + Alex Julyan
2008 CGP London  evaluation report
FutureBluePerfect - exhibition project by Lucy Wilson + Alex Julyan
2007 The Natural House  evaluation report
Clay Build Architecture - multi-site project by Ania Bas 

in conversation
2018 Wellcome Collection, London  on collaboration
with choreographer Léa Tirabasso, neuropsychologist Sebastian Crutch 
and architect Yeoryia Manopoulou
2018 Horniman Museum Residency  with Artquest  listen here     and here
2017 Countercurrents  with surgeon Professor Roger Kneebone . listen

presentations
2011Artquest Real World series  professionalism in the arts  listen
2010 Artquest Self Assembly series  on rates of pay
2009 Yo Opera! conference, Utrecht, Holland drawing as performance
2008 RESEO conference, Bregenz, Austria on visual arts in opera education
2004 ENGAGE conference, London  an artist educator's perspective

consultation projects
2023Orleans House Gallery, London public engagement consultation
2022Ethox Centre Oxford University + University of Copenhagen  consultant artist
Critical Bestiaries -  developing ethical  and human learning in Artificial Intelligence
2018 Wellcome Collection, London consultant curator
Living with Buildings exhibition - live programme 
2016 Wellcome Trust, London  peer review
award application for Wellcome Trust Centres 
2014Wellcome Trust  partnerships manager 
Clover Project - digital games and science partnerships
2014 Wellcome Collection Raw Minds  project lead + curator
Curious Journeys - inaugural exhibition
2013 Higgins Art Gallery and Museum, Bedford  co-curator
A Sense of Place - inaugural community exhibition
2012Wellcome Collection Youth Programme  design consultation
architectural consultation project for Wellcome Trust and Wilkinson Eyre
2010 + 2011 CG Projects, London  co-curator 
Silver Views - senior artist's open exhibition

public art

2002 - 2007 Trees for Cities  Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel, London
Barking + Dagenham Council  Old Dagenham Park, London
Islington Council  Highbury Corner, London

1984-1988 Thomas Tallis School, London
Greenwich Hospital, London
Southampton General Hospital
Isleworth Hospital

teaching

2008-2017
guest 
graduate teaching
Trinity Laban Conservatoire  visual collaboration + Co-Lab project
Royal College of Art 
developing public engagement
Central St Martin's College of Art  
the art of listening 
1987 - 1999
Winchester School of Art  graduate lecturer
fine art, textile design, textile art
1986
residential teaching
Kaachwa School, Uttar Pradesh, India

core learning teams + development

2003-2012 British Library core team  programme development + facilitation
schools, adult + exhibition programme
2004-2008 Tate Modern core team programme development + facilitation
learning and interpretation - schools + community programme 
1998-2007 V & A core team  programme development
RIBA / V&A  pilot programme development
1997 - 2017
gallery + museum education
Autism London . Barbican Art Gallery . CGP. Chisenhale Gallery . Creative Partnerships
De La Warr Pavilion . ENGAGE  . Look Ahead Housing & Care . National Portrait Gallery 
Royal British Legion . Serpentine Gallery . Science Museum . Southbank Centre . South London Gallery . Turner Contemporary . Towner Gallery . Wellcome Collection . Whitechapel Gallery

interdisciplinary projects

Royal Opera House
Orchestra of St. John’s
BBC PromsBBC Symphony Orchestra
Glyndebourne Opera
Towner Gallery
Will Alsop Architects

design

backdrop, costume, set designPaul Smith (1984-1987)
LIFT FESTIVAL
Frankfurt Music Messe
MTV
BBC2 TV Picture This
BBC1 TV Carluccio
PriceWaterhouse corporate film
Glyndebourne Youth Opera
Barbican Arts Centre
Dartington International Summer School

Illustration

Telegraph Magazines
Radio Times
New Scientist
Discovery Channel
Royal Mail
British Diabetic Association
Holland Park Opera