Michael Day
Michael Day is an artist who works with drawing, moving image, digital media, print, and sound. His recent work is informed by the persistence of meritocracy in the popular imagination, despite its ineffectiveness as an organising concept for the improvement of equity in society. After completing a doctoral study that focused on asymmetrical power dynamics in online settings, he began to develop an interest in his own autobiography and class background. This has led to the production of an ongoing body of work-in-progress that explores the architectural legacy of the area he grew up in, and in a critique of the widespread, insistent belief in meritocracy in the art world, set against the harsh reality of working conditions for many artists.
Previously based in Cardiff, South Wales, he has exhibited and screened work in venues across the UK and in Europe, Mexico and the USA. He has collaborated with performance artist and NESTA fellow Eddie Ladd on a number of occasions, most recently on the touring show Cof Y Corff, commissioned and premiered at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
His curatorial practice began with his participation in the Sheffield-based HAG (Host Artist’s Group), co-developing and producing HAG exhibitions and screening programmes for four years until February 2008. During this time, he worked on HAG projects including Host 4: Cinema, a screening and DVD of short video works, Host 6: Beauty, a print project for the Sheffield Pavilion 2007, premiered at the Venice Biennale and Documenta XII, and Host 8: Observatory for the Art Sheffield 08: Yes / No / Other Options* citywide event.
In 2014, he was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Bursary to undertake Ph.D. study. His research is concerned with experiences of distractibility that are said to have emerged alongside the recent widespread adoption of digital communications technologies. Should compulsive engagement with digital media best be seen as ‘information overload’, or as a desirable retreat into enjoyable technological distraction? How might the way digital systems are understood—as data streams or cloud processes—impact on the way we attend to them, or how they algorithmically attend to us?
He is currently a fractional Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Staffordshire University.
Education
2014–2018, Sheffield Hallam University, PhD
2003–06, Sheffield Hallam University, MA in Fine Art (with Distinction)
1993–96, Newport School of Art and Design, BA (Hons) Interactive Arts
Selected Exhibitions
2024
Cor_alis _Choralis, Festival of the Mind, Sheffield.
2023
Tees Show, Rogue Artist’s Studios, Manchester.
2019
Computer Vision Art Gallery, International Conference on Computer Vision, Seoul, South Korea.
2018
Title, formatted in sentence case (Not Title Case and NOT ALL CAPS), hints at an interesting issue and/or methodology, doesn’t spill onto a third line (ideally) and isn’t hot pink, Sheffield Institute of Arts, Sheffield.
2017
Affect & Social Media Conference #3 Exhibition, University of East London, London.
TALKEX17, Rotherham Open Arts Renaissance, St Ann’s Building, Rotherham.
2016
Testing, Testing, SIA Gallery, Sheffield.
Northern Light, SIA Gallery, Sheffield.
Concrete Utopia, Bloc Projects, Sheffield.
2015
Sluice__2015, Oxo Tower Wharf, London.
London Art Book Fair, Whitechapel Gallery, London.
Manchester Artist’s Book Fair, Holden Gallery, Manchester.
Terminus, The Scottish Queen, Sheffield.
Pages International Artists Book Fair, The Tetley, Leeds.
2014
In The City, Hanover Project, Preston.
Sheffield Bazaar, Festival of the Mind, Castle House, Sheffield.
Possession (2), Lanchester Gallery Projects, Coventry.
Deadpan Exchange VIII, Casa Mauud, Mexico City.
2013
Majestic Studios Launch Event, Stoke-On-Trent.
Video Festival, Hanover Project, Preston.
Possession (1), Bangkok Arts & Cultural Centre, Thailand.
Residencies
Impact Residency, Jelly, Reading, February-March 2025.
Digital Cumbria Residency, Signal Films, Barrow-in-Furness, June–August 2012.
Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder, Trondheim, November–December 2011.
Digital Media Lab Residency, Hull, October 2010.
PVA LabCulture Residency, Burton Bradstock, Dorset, October 2009.
Publications
Nov 2016, Testing, Testing: Dialogue (Book, co-edited, ISBN 978-1-84387-402-7)
Aug 2016, Testing, Testing: Prologue (Book, co-edited, ISBN 978-1-84387-399-0)
Aug 2015, Airplane Mode, in The Good Reader (Book, ISBN 978-1-910551-51)
Dec 2014, In The City (Book, ISBN 978-0-99303-621-7)
May 2013, It Was Never Going To Be Straightforward (Book, ISBN 978-0-95649-521-1)
Aug 2011, CNCPTN (Journal, ISSN 2047-8739)
Jun 2008, Transmission: Host, Artwords Press (Book, ISBN: 978-1-906441-10-4)
Jun 2007, The Sheffield Pavilion 2007, Cornerhouse Publications (Book and DVD, ISBN: 978-1-899926-86-0)
Curated Projects
Sep 2012, The View From Here, Signal Films, Barrow-in-Furness (Exhibition, 19 artists).
2011 – 2012: Founder member of Furlough.
Nov 2012, The Red Headed League (Publication, 13 artists).
Jun 2011, Off Duty at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, Manchester (Exhibition, 4 artists).
2003 – 2008: Member of HAG (Host Artists’ Group).
Feb 2008, Host 8: Observatory (Collaborative installation, 21 artists).
Aug 2007, Host 7: Home Disco (Screening and DVD, 18 artists).
May 2007, Host 6: Beauty (Publication, 16 artists).
Nov 2004, Host 5: Incidentals (Exhibition, 5 artists).
Sep 2004, Host 4: Cinema (Screening, 36 artists).
Feb 2004, Host 3: Slow Wave Sleep (Offsite project, 5 artists).
Awards & Commissions
Making Ways Research & Development Grant, 2018.
Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship, Sheffield Hallam University, 2014.
Lightworks Animation Commission, 2012.
Arts Council England Grants for the Arts Award, 2011.
British Council Grant, 2007.
Staffordshire University Research Award, 2007.
Artist’s Talks, Performances, and Symposium Presentations
Nov 2023, Beginnings, DTA Research Seminar Series, Staffordshire University.
Sep 2016, Testing, Testing Symposium, Sheffield Institute of Arts, Sheffield.
Feb 2016, Artist’s Talk, Rotherham Open Artists Renaissance, Rotherham.
Mar 2015, Method Conference, Sheffield Institute of Arts, Sheffield.
Feb 2013, Artist’s Talk, Nordland Kunst og Filmfagskole, Kabelvåg.
Nov 2011, Artist’s Talk, Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder, Trondheim.
Feb 2008, Transmission, Site Gallery, SHU and Showroom Cinema (as Host Artists’ Group).
Relevant Employment
2007–date, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, fractional, currently 0.7FTE, Staffordshire University.
2019, Hourly Paid Lecturer, MA Digital Arts, De Montfort University.
2017–19, Making Ways Artist Panel, Sheffield Culture Consortium.
2015–16, Hourly Paid Lecturer, MA Fine Art, Sheffield Hallam University.
1997–2007, Lecturer in New Media, University of Glamorgan.
