Silke Dettmers

London

Artist/ Sculptor/ Educator

Contact

Links

Vimeo

My practice is not tied to a specific medium. It often involves the use of manufactured objects or their re-making in a foreign material or scale. It is the mutability of objects that interests me. I enjoy the creation of paradoxes and disruption of known meanings.

Repetitive Form #4

IMG 6504 autocorr 300dpi 2 MB 1750696868

Repetitive Form #3

Repetitive Form #2

Repetitive Form #1

Means of Travel (2)

Untitled (Carpet)

Lines

Silence-Island

Drawings

Lockdown Drawings

The Possible and the Impossible

The 19th of July

Group exhibitions

forthcoming 2026 - Losing and Finding, Thameside Gallery, London
forthcoming 2025 - Mysterious Dialogue, Pictorem Gallery, London
2021 - I Didn't Lick It, Bruton Museum, Bruton
2021 - 10 Gram Challenge, Royal Society of Sculptors, London
2019 - Parallel Lines, Drawing and Sculpture, The Lightbox, Woking
2017 - Raw Materials: Wood, Nunnery Gallery, London
2015 - 20 Prints for 20 Years, Nunnery Gallery, London
2014 - Out of The Box, No Format Gallery, London
2014 - Mark Wallinger Presents, Bermondsey Project Space, London
2013 - Compulsion, St Clements Hospital/ Shuffle Festival, Mile End London
2012 - Bow Arts Open, Bermondsey Project Space, London
2012 - Territories, Galerie Windkracht 13, Den Helder, Netherlands
2011 - Signature, Hortensia Gallery, London
2009 - Faultline, Art in The Age of Anxiety, The Nunnery, London
2009 - London Artfair, London Artfair, London
2009 - Olympic Visions, The Nunnery, London
2009 - Workshop of Hereafter, Blyth Gallery, London
2008 - Art Projects, London Art Fair, London
2008 - Concrete Dreams, APT Gallery, London
2008 - Staff exhibition , Byam Shaw School of Art, London
2007 - Gallery Artists, Modern British Artists, London
2006 - The Wrong End of the Telescope, Three Colts Gallery, London
2004 - Outdoor Habitats, Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, London
2004 - Presence, Houseroom Contemporary Art, Bath
2004 - Through The City, The Nunnery, Bow, London
2003 - Connections, James Hockey Gallery, Farnham
2003 - Location, Location, Location, Albury Arts, Guildford
2003 - Plakativ ist (fast) Alles, Landesmuseum, Braunschweig, Germany
2002 - So O2, The Nunnery, Bow, London
2000 - Ark 2000, Dilston Grove, Southwark, London
1999 - All Trussed Up and Nowhere To Go, Norwich
1998 - The Workhaus, Biennal, Liverpool
1998 - Visual Philosophies, Axis website exhibition
1998 - Walk the Plank, The Ship, London
1998 - Whitechapel Open Studio, London
1997 - Seek and Tell, Apt Gallery, London
1996 - Open Show, Cafè Gallery, London
1996 - Whitechapel Open Studio, London
1983 - European Illustration, National Theatre, London
1983 - The City, AOI Gallery, London
1976 - Norddeutsches Theatertreffen, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
1974 - Plakate, Landesmuseum Braunschweig, Germany

Curated projects

2011 - Some Books Are to Be Tasted, Warehouse Art, Bogota, Colombia
2010 - Some Books Are to Be Tasted, Galeria Camelot, Krakow, Poland
2009 - Some Books Are to Be Tasted, George Rodger Gallery, Maidstone
2006 - The Wrong End of the Telescope, Three Colts Gallery, London
2000 - Zero-G; curation of exhibition, Dilston Grove, Cafe Gallery Projects, London
1998 - Walk the Plank; co- curation of exhibition , The Ship, London

Awards

2018 - a-n News Travel Bursary (Manifesta 12, Palermo, Italy)
2016 - Raw Materials/ Wood, Resident Artist, Bow Arts, London
2011 - UCA Travel award for ‘Some Books Are to be Tasted’, Bogota, Colombia
2007 - UCCA Research Cluster Grant, ‘Liquid Page’ Symposium’, Tate Britain
2005 - AHRC Small Grant for the Creative and Performing Arts
1999 - London Arts Board, Medium Scale Projects, Production Award
1999 - Arts Council of England, Research and Development Award

Publications

2020 - 'Silke Dettmers', in: 'Sperryn-Jones, J., 50 Women Sculptors', 2020, London, Aurora Metro
2018 - 'Notes on Data and Gardens', Notes on Data and Gardens or: Is it possible to be political and still love flowers? https://www.a-n.co.uk/reviews/notes-on-data-and-gardens/
2017 - 'In Conversation: Silke Dettmers and Karen Le Roy Harris', in: 'Raw Materials : Wood' catalogue, Nunnery Gallery, Bow
2016 - 'The Enemies of Wonder', co-authored with Mark Sanderson, in: 'Wonder in Contemporary Art Practice', ed. I. Brown, Routledge
2012 - 'Blue Fence', photograph published in: 'The Art of Dissent', eds. Powell, Marrero-Guillamon, Marshgate Press
2012 - Artists and Books in the Digital Age, Puntos magazine, Universidad Javeriana, Bogota Colombia
2009 - Faultline, Art in The Age of Anxiety, exhibition catalogue
2008 - Catalogue 2008; London Art Fair
2008 - Mark Barrow Fine Art; catalogue gallery artists
2008 - On the Necessity of Wonder; How to Explain an Artwork to a Committee. Essay. Journal of Visual Arts Practice 7.1, online: https://research.uca.ac.uk/815/1/dettmers_complete.pdf
2008 - The Liquid Page; conference brochure. Editor (with Mark Sanderson)
2007 - Cordon Blue; The Guardian, G2. 6 photographs; interview with Andy Beckett, online: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/sep/21/communities
2006 - The Wrong End of the Telescope; exhibition catalogue. Essay: Mark Sanderson
2004 - Through the City; exhibition catalogue
2002 - So 02; exhibition catalogue
2000 - Zero-; exhibition catalogue. editor. Essay: Claire Lofting
1998 - Kuenstler im East End; ntv Germany; broadcast 10 April 1998
1998 - Walk the Plank; exhibition catalogue
1997 - Seek and Tell; exhibition catalogue

Teaching

Current: The King's Foundation Diploma Year. Previous: University for the Creative Arts, UCA. Arts University Bournemouth, AUB, University for the Arts, UAL. Kensington and Chelsea College, KCC. Havering College. Watford School of Art. Academy of Fine Arts Katowice, ASP, Poland. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia.

Other

2013 - MRBS, member Royal British Society of Sculptors
2008 - The Liquid Page Symposium; conference organizer, Tate Britain, London

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Highlights: 14 - 20 April, 2025

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