The British Council announced on 24 June that Steve McQueen has been selected to represent Britain at the 53rd Venice Biennale. McQueen will present a solo exhibition in the British Pavilion to be shown from June to November 2009.
Pioneering filmmaker
Born in London in 1969, McQueen works predominantly in film and is considered one of Britain’s most influential artists. He was awarded the first ICA Futures Award in 1996, the Turner Prize in 1999 and an OBE in 2002. His work is represented in museum collections throughout the world and he has shown widely in important group and solo exhibitions. These include Documenta X and XI, the 50th and 52nd Venice Biennales, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Museu Serralves, Oporto, Fondazione Prada, Milan, and the Renaissance Society, Chicago.
As Official War Artist to Iraq, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum in 2003, McQueen generated international media attention with one of his rare non-film works Queen and Country. His first feature film Hunger, commissioned by Channel 4/Film 4, won both the Camera d’Or and an International Film Critics Federation Prize at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, in addition to the inaugural Sydney Film Prize, for best film at the Sydney Film Festival.
70 years of commissioning artists
The British Council has commissioned artists to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale since 1938, creating an opportunity to celebrate the best of emerging and established British artistic talent. Artists selected over the years include Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Bridget Riley, Anish Kapoor, Mark Wallinger, Paul Nash, Gilbert & George, and most recently Tracey Emin in 2007, among many more.
For more information on the British Pavilion visit our Arts webpages.
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