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MARGUERITE HUMEAU
Born 1986, France
Lives in London
Works in London and Geneva
www.margueritehumeau.com
Biography
Marguerite Humeau has presented her work in the most prestigious institutions, including the
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Serpentine Gallery, the Hayward Gallery, Mudac,
De la Warr Pavilion, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She was initially noticed through her
diploma project at the Royal College of Art entitled Proposal for Resuscitating Prehistoric Creatures: an
odyssey with a quest to resuscitate the sound and create an opera of prehistoric creatures.
Her work has been recognised internationally through various talks, awards and publications, such as
Design Indaba in Cape Town, Monocle, TAR, I-D, Blueprint, Monocle, WMMNA, Bldgblog, Design
Week, NPR, France Culture, Libération, and Le Monde.
Her work has also been acquired by the MoMA New York for their permanent collection.
Statement
Marguerite Humeau’s work stages the crossing of great distances in time and space, transitions
between animal and mineral, and encounters between personal desires and natural forces.
Humeau weaves factual events into speculative narratives, therefore enabling unknown, invisible,
unreachable, extinct or synthetic forms of life to erupt in grandiose splendour.
Combining prehistory, occult biology and science fiction in a disconcerting spectacle – the works
resuscitate the past, conflate subterranean and subcutaneous, all the while updating the quest genre
for the information age.
Collections
MoMA, New York
Solo shows
2014
– Horizons, curated by Anja Henckel and Nadim Samman, Berlin Art Week Jury Selection, Import
Projects, Berlin, GE
– The Things? — A Trip to Europa/ Design Blockbusters for Outer Space Creatures, Trailer Exhibition,
curated by Alexandra Midal, Design Project Room, HEAD, Geneva, Switzerland
Selected group shows
2015
– Rare Earth, curated by Boris Ondreicka & Nadim Samman, TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art
Contemporary – Augarten, Vienna (upcoming)
2014
– Extinction Marathon, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (upcoming)
– Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary exhibition, London, UK (upcoming)
– The Things? — Part 2, London Design Festival, Victoria and Albert Museum, Sculpture Gallery,
London, UK (upcoming)
– The House in the Sky, Artists Reflect on Concrete Utopias, curated by Chelsea Pettit, the Hayward
Gallery, London, UK
– The Opera of Prehistoric Creatures, live performance at V&A Friday Late, Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, UK
– A Collection of Ideas, curated by Paola Antonelli, MoMA, New York, US
– TAR Magazine, The Things?, Collector's Edition Box Set (Digital Version), designed for TAR, curated
by Alexandra Midal
– The Prehistory of the Image, Artefact festival, curated by Hicham Khalidi, Leuven, BE
– The Things?, Soundtrack for a Ghost Film, Screening and Live performance, Victoria and Albert
Museum, Sculpture Gallery, London, UK
– Mastering Design, MUDAC, Lausanne, CH
2013
– The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things, curated by Mark Leckey, the Hayward Gallery Touring
Programme, The Bluecoat in Liverpool, Nottingham Contemporary, De la Warr Pavilion, UK
2012
– Politique Fiction, curated by Alexandra Midal, Cité du Design, Saint Etienne, FR
2011
– Talk to Me, curated by Paola Antonelli, MoMA, New York, US
– RCA Show 2011, Royal College of Art, London, UK
– New Talents event, curated by Vanessa Carlos, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
Selected awards
– RCDAV research grant, HEAD – Genève, CH
– Arts Council England, Grant for the Arts, London, UK
– Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Award, London, UK
Selected talks
October 2014: The Alchemical Paradigm, TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Croatia
July 2014: Hyper HD Mystery Zone, Revolving Stars and Shaky Grounds symposium, Dresden, DE
May 2014: Hyper HD Mystery Zone, ETH, Architecture Department, Zurich, CH
January 2014: Victoria and Albert Museum, Sculpture Gallery, London, UK
January 2014: Design Interactions, Royal College of Art, London, UK
April 2013: Radio interview, Monocle 24, London, UK
March 2013: Design Indaba, Cape Town, SA
January 2013: CCRMA, Stanford University, US
July 2012: Radio interview, La Vignette, France Culture, Paris, FR
May 2012: Central Saint Martins School, London, UK
April 2012: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
September 2011: London Design Week, The Gopher Hole, London, UK
Education
2009—2011: MA Design Interactions, Royal College of Art, London, UK (Distinction)
2007—2009: BA, Design Academy Eindhoven, Eindhoven, NL
2004—2007: BTS Textile Design, ENSAAMA, Paris, FR
Selected press
2014
– Nowness: Avant-Premiere Cleopatra 'That Goddess' Recital / 'Subverting the Queen of the Nile at
the Serpentine Marathon
– Berlin Art Link: 'Twisted decor, intermittent flashes of light, a life-sized, blow-up fighter jet, and a
whole lot of black and white' – Finissage at Import Projects
– Castor und Pollux : Communication with Strangers (in German)
– Niche Berlin: Marguerite Humeau / Interview with Nadim Samman and Anja Henckel
– AQNB: Berlin art week highlights: marguerite humeau + kate cooper
– Berlin Art Link: From Prehistoric Mammals to Alien Life Forms: Marguerite Humeau at Import
Projects
– Interview Magazine: Top 6 Berlin Art Week Special
– Glamcult magazine
– Design Indaba, Communicating with Aliens
– TAR magazine, Official Contributor, Futurity Issue XI, Collector's Edition Box Set and Director's Cut,
16 pages of images and a film script
– Etapes, Featuring in Fiction and Anticipation, Issue 218, a story by Alexandra Midal
– Numéro Magazine, Le temps retrouvé by Yves Mirande
2013
– TAR magazine, Epopée, a 20-page story designed for TAR Magazine, curated by Alexandra Midal
– Bldgblog, The Extinction Orchestra by Geoff Manaugh
– 'We Make Money Not Art', Interview with Regine Debatty
– Edge, 2013: What should we be worried about? by Hans Ulrich Obrist
– Arts Hebdo, 'Quand un mammouth élargit le débat'
2012
– Arts Magazine, Portrait/ Marguerite Humeau, Ingénieur de l'incertain by François Quintin
– Le Monde, featured in Le design, outil de contestation
– Usbek et Rica, Réveiller les morts
– Azure Magazine, Prehistoric Opera
– I-D Magazine, Ice-Age Orchestra
– NPR Interview
– Online: Dezeen, Designboom, Designweek, Libération, The Huffington Post, Wired UK, Arts
Thread, Fastcodesign, Blueprint Magazine, The Daily, Core77, Fiellblog
Selected publications
Monographs and artist books
- The Things?, Epistolary Novel, 2013
- The Things?, Programme for performances, 2013
- The Opera of Prehistoric Creatures, Libretto, 2013
- Back, Here Below, Formidable (Proposal for Resuscitating Prehistoric Creatures), 2012
Catalogues of group exhibitions
– TAR magazine contributor, April 2013 and April 2014
– The Prehistory of the Image, Exhibition Catalogue, curated by Hicham Khalidi, 2014
– Mastering Design, Exhibition Catalogue, MUDAC, 2013
– The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things, the Hayward Gallery Touring Programme, curated by
Mark Leckey, Exhibition Leaflet, Lucy from The Opera of Prehistoric Creatures part of the 10 Exhibition
Highlights, 2013
– Politique Fiction, Exhibition Catalogue, curated by Alexandra Midal, 2012
– Talk to Me, MoMA, Digital Exhibition Catalogue, curated by Paola Antonelli, 2011
– RCA Show 2011, Royal College of Art, Exhibition Catalogue, 2011