Niki Russell
Past Artist In Residence
November 9-22, 2015

Niki Russell is an artist, curator, and writer.

As an artist he has presented work in the UK and internationally with the art collective Reactor, whose recent projects include The Gold Ones at xero, kline & coma (London, UK), Log!c ?stem at Flux Factory (New York, USA) and Dummy Button for KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin, Germany), Double Take Triple Give at MoBY (Bat Yam, Israel), Big Lizard’s Big Idea at Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt, Germany), and Munkanon at Donau Festival (Krems, Austria). Reactor also curates the events series Reactor Halls at Primary, presenting live projects with artists including Juneau Projects, Plastique Fantastique, and Benedict Drew.

As a curator, he has organised a number of projects independently, including the exhibition Not ready yet (2011) at the Exchange Building in Nottingham and Tall tales and wayward narratives at Nottingham Contemporary (2015). He also played a key role in instigating Sideshow–the Nottingham wide artist-led initiative to present exhibitions and projects alongside two iterations of the British Art Show (2006/10).

Russell previously worked as Curator at Radar, Loughborough University, commissioning projects by Ruth Ewan, Future Farmers, and Nils Norman and curating programs including Folk Variations, with Serena Korda, Sally OʼReilly, Olivia Plender & Patrick Staff, and Tris Vonna-Michel, and This is not a performance or a performance! with Robin Deacon, Janice Kerbel, Pil and Galia Kollectiv, Ruth Proctor, and Jennet Thomas.

He co-founded the artist-led space Primary, where he currently works as Curator. Since 2014, the program has developed a unique position focused on the processes involved in artistic production, including significant new commissions by Jonathan Baldock, Edwin Burdis, Shana Moulton, Sonya Dyer, and Rana Hamadeh, and events with Tensta Konsthall, Wysing Arts Centre, Gasworks, and Eastside Projects. Primary has recently hosted Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2015 in Nottingham for the first time.