Uriel Orlow was born into a Jewish family in Zurich, Switzerland in 1973. He studied in London at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design and the Slade School of Fine Art, London, then at the University of Geneva, completing a PhD in Fine Art in 2002. His multidisciplinary practice is research-based and process-oriented and encompasses film, photography, drawing and sound. His art is concerned with residues of colonialism, spatial manifestations of memory, blind spots of representation and plants as political actors.
Artist and art teacher, Uriel Orlow was born into a Jewish family in Zurich, Switzerland in 1973. He studied in London at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design and the Slade School of Fine Art, followed by the University of Geneva, where he completed a PhD in Fine Art in 2002. From the 2000s onwards, Orlow's work has been shown in London at numerous venues including the ICA, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Wiener Library, BFI, Tate Britain and Tate Modern; in August 2006 he featured in a solo show at Ben Uri as part of a series of short single artist displays presented over a fortnight; other exhibitors included Rachel Garfield and Oreet Ashery. He has also participated in exhibitions, film festivals and biennials throughout Europe (including 54th Venice Biennale in 2011), and internationally at Bétonsalon, Fondation Ricard, Maison Populaire and Palais de Tokyo in Paris; as well as in Alexandria, Berlin, Cairo, Chicago, Dublin, Geneva, Istanbul, Marseilles, Mexico City, New York, Ramallah, San Sebastian, Toronto, Vancouver and Zurich. In 2022 Orlow was a featured artist in the touring survey exhibition British Art Show 9.
Orlow's multidisciplinary practice is research-based and process-oriented and encompasses film, photography, drawing and sound. Orlow is best known for single screen film works, lecture performances and multi-media installations that focus on specific locations and micro-histories, bringing different image-regimes and narrative modes into correspondence. His art is concerned with residues of colonialism, spatial manifestations of memory (often in relation to the Holocaust), blind spots of representation and plants as political actors. Orlow was shortlisted for the Jarman award in 2013 and is recipient of the annual art-award of the City of Zurich (2015), three Swiss Art Awards at Art Basel (2015), Sharjah Biennial prize (2017). He has taught at art education institutions including Goldsmiths, London; Central Saint Martins, London; and the University of the Arts Geneva. He has been visiting professor at the Royal College of Art and is Reader (Associate Professor and Senior Researcher) at University of Westminster, London and lecturer at ZHdK, University of the Arts, Zurich. His solo exhibitions in England include Spike Island, Bristol (2013), John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2015) and The Showroom, London (2016). A major monograph of his work, Theatrum Botanicum, was published by Sternberg Press in 2018.
Uriel Orlow currently lives and works between London, England and Lisbon, Portugal. His work is represented in UK public collections including Ben Uri Collection and the Arts Council Collection.
Uriel Orlow in the Ben Uri collection
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Uriel Orlow]
Publications related to [Uriel Orlow] in the Ben Uri Library