Hermione Spriggs is an artist, researcher and exhibition-maker exploring practical methods for perspective-exchange. Her collaborative project the Anthropology of Other Animals (“AoOA”) doggedly attempts to elicit extraordinary effects from unpromising materials and explores the hidden links between “craft” and “being crafty.” Originally from Yorkshire, Spriggs holds an MFA in Visual Art from UC San Diego. She is a fellow of Mildred’s Lane, a member of the Social Morphologies Research Unit, and an honorary trustee of the Milcom Memorial Reading Room and Attentional Library. Hermione is currently undertaking practice-based PhD research between the UCL Department of Anthropology and Slade School of Fine Art (link), and is curator and contributing editor for the exhibition and publication project "Five Heads: Art, Anthropology and Mongol Futurism" (UCL/ Sternberg Press/ Arts Catalyst/ greengrassi & Corvi-Mora).
The Anthropology of Other Animals (“AoOA”) explores the possibility of making art for humans and other species of animal through the creation of multisensory lures, decoys and traps. "AoOA” is also a sound produced by both humans and animals at moments of capture and release.“AoOA” is more broadly engaged in topographic translations between species, perspectives and scales, and has recently been instrumental in defining the curatorial strategy for an exchange between anthropologists at University College London and artists in Mongolia (view here).
Hermione Spriggs b. York, UK 1987
Practice-based PhD in Anthropology and Art Practice, UCL department of Anthropology / Slade School of Art (LAHP), Sept 2018–
MFA in Visual Arts, UC San Diego (2014)
BSc Anthropology, University College London (2010)
contact: hermione.spriggs@gmail.com
2020
Politics of Attention II, Two day Symposium organised by Graham Burnett and Stevie Knauss
The Portal Will Open, Multimedia Anthropology Lab residency and exhibition, Slade Research Centre, UCL (May 2020)
2019
Sanctuary and Resistance in the Attentional Economy, Workshop organised with Graham Burnett and Adam Jasper, Arts Catalyst (1st Nov 2019)
Translating Futures, Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, with the Multimedia Anthropology Lab (24th September 2019), link
Morphologies of Invisible Agents, Space Studios, London (26th April – 18th May 2019)
All the rain Promises and More... Exhibition and published text, Arusha Gallery/ Edinburgh Art Festival (Aug/Sept 2019) link
Air Matters, Waterman's Art Centre, London (10th Oct 2019 – 4th Jan 2020)
Multimedia Anthropology Now, online exhibition and panel discussion, UCL Department of Anthropology (Feb 22 –)
2018
Five Heads (Tavan Tolgoi): Art, Anthropology and Mongol Futurism, greengrassi & Corvi-Mora, London (Curator, Aug-Sept 2018)
ASA18: Sociality, matter, and the imagination: re-creating Anthropology, Oxford University (Sept 20-21, 2018)
Granada Institute for Visual Anthropology, Visual Research Network International Residency Conference, Manchester (Sept 26-27, 2018)
The Infrastructure of Fortune: Extraction and Resistance workshop, Arts Catalyst London (Oct 10, 2018)
33rd Bienal de São Paulo, PRACTICAL SYMPOSIUM OF ATTENTION (November 2018)
New Subjectivities in Mongolian Futures, conversation event and publication Launch, Arts Catalyst, London (5 Sept 2018)
Art House Jersey, ‘Encounters’ residency, organised by Helena Hunter as part of DIY 2018 (Aug 2018)
East Side Projects, Expanded Studio Residency & Performance with Laura Cooper (July 2018)
Art, Materiality and Representation, Royal Anthropological Institute Biennale conference, British Museum/ SOAS, London
Stories in the Making, Exhibition at the Royal Anthropological Institute/ SOAS, London
2017
Material Mortality, The Destruction of Royal Gardens screening at Artists' Television Access, San Fransisco
ART public UB 2017, 'Five Heads' presentation, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
The Political Animal, The Showroom, London
Spectacular Reading, The Destruction of Royal Gardens screening at Dispersed Holdings, New York
Third House, AoOA exhibition with Laura Cooper and Heini Nieminen, Titanik Gallery, Turku, Finland.
Inhabiting the Woods: new research and creative practice in the Caledonian pinewoods, workshop contribution, organised through ‘Knowing From the Inside’ at the Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen
In Other Tongues, performance + workshop contribution for Dartington College creative summit, Devon
2016
Skaftfell Center for Visual Art with The George Walker Geology Center Breiddalsvik, Iceland ‘The Viscous Shape’, supported by Arts Council England (Sept. 2016 - Nov 2016)
Museum of Jurassic Technology, ESTAR(SER) joint exhibition & symposium, Los Angeles
Communal Knowledge, ‘DIY Decoy’ workshops and performance at The Showroom, London
Closer To The Veg, public installation and lecture at Fitzroy Park Allotments, London
Smear Garden, Eastern Curve Garden, London
Itasca, Bindery Projects, St Paul MN (Artforum Critic’s Picks)
Aesthetica Art Prize, St Mary’s, York
2015
Global Committee, ‘Eyes as Sieves’, Brooklyn, NY
Point B, ‘The Thing Is All Around Itself’, film screening/performance, New York
TIME BODY SPACE OBJECTS 4, ‘They were sunbeams. They were perilous cliffs. They were prophets. They were cannibals’, Island Arts Initiative, Spectacle Island, Massachusetts
‘Fluid States – Performances of Unknowing', Museum of Contemporary Art, Panama City
‘San Diego Keeps Her Promise: Balboa Park at 100”, San Diego Art Institute, CA
Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Official Selection, “The Thing Is All Around Itself’, York UK
Walking, Talking and Social Practice, artist talk and workshops, Mildred’s Lane, Narrowsburg, PA
2014
The Thing Is All Around Itself, live cinema performance with Curtis Tamm, Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City
BOX HAS SIX SIDES, Bizkaia Aretoa. Sala Chillida Aretoa, Bilbao, Spain
Land Art Mongolia Third International Biennial, Orkhon Valley/ National Museum of Art, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
The Thing Is All Around Itself, Hermione Spriggs Graduate Thesis Show, UC San Diego, CA
Collective Affinities, MFA Graduate Exhibition, University Art Gallery UC San Diego, CA
UCSD Department of Literature New Writing Series, ‘A Trap for Oneself’ performed by Bruna Mori
Spheres of Glass, ‘Those That Through The Ear Become An Atlas’, Cinematic Trap Set with Curtis Tamm, Science Materials and Engineering Gallery, UC San Diego, CA
Those That From A Distance Look Like Flies, Performance Lecture for the Lorquin Entomological Society, Bioquip supply warehouse, Los Angeles CA,
Those That At Close Range Resemble Islands, Two person exhibition at the Art|Sci Gallery, UCLA Nanosystems institute, Los Angeles CA
2013
Capturing and Releasing the Vapors, Betalevel, Los Angeles CA
Bring Your Own Beamer, lecture performance, San Diego Museum of Art, CA
Alternative Visions, Sustainable Futures, ‘Telling the Bees’, Boston University 808 Gallery, MA
Dual: A Drawing Show in Two and Three Dimensions, ESPS, San Diego CA
Psychopomp: an eschatological Guide to the Future, Ship in the Woods, San Diego CA
2012
San Diego Contemporary Art Fair, ‘FAIR is FAIR’, Site-specific installation, performance and lecture series with Kate Clark and Emily Grenader, Balboa Park, CA
A Model Splattered (2), Explosive Time performance program, Space 4 Art, San Diego CA
2011
Decalcomania, National Railway Museum, York
Field Exchange, two-person exhibition, Bar Lane Studios, York
2010
Renovating Walden with Mark Dion, J. Morgan Puett and SMFA, Tufts Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Unsplit Peak Problem, RCA Sculpture department, London
Committee Involvement
Steering committee, 51-zero 2019 Festival 'A new language of art' (Rochester, Kent, Oct/Nov 2019)
Art Catalyst advisory Committee
Grants and Awards
UCL Graduate Research Scholarship for Cross Disciplinary Training (2019-2020)
London Arts and Humanities Partnership / AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (Sept 2018 - 2021)
Arts Council England International Development Fund Grant, ‘The Viscous Shape’, (Awarded Feb 2016)
UCIRA Major Grant, ‘Malaise, a Trap for Atlantis’, University California Institute for Research in the Arts (Awarded May 2013)
Russell Foundation Grant, ‘Malaise, a Trap for Atlantis’, (Awarded February 2013)
UCIRA Planning and Implementation grant ‘Slab City Generative Fieldwork’, University California Institute for Research in the Arts (Awarded February 2012)
University of California San Diego International Fellowship, visual arts MFA (2011-2014)
Daryll Forde prize, UCL Anthropology Department (2010)
University College London Dean’s List, for outstanding results from the faculty of Social Sciences (2010)
BSc Anthropology, University College London (2010)
Residencies
Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France, An Estar(Ser) Gathering (July 8-13, 2019)
Art House Jersey, ‘Encounters’ residency, organised by Helena Hunter as part of DIY 2018 (Aug 2018)
East Side Projects, Expanded Studio Residency & Performance with Laura Cooper (July 2018)
Grizedale Arts, Resident volunteer (Nov 2016), Coniston, UK
Skaftfell Center for Visual Art, Artist in Residence (Nov 2016), Seydisfjordur, Iceland
Breiddalsettur Geology Center, Artist in Residence (Oct 2016), Breiddalsvik, Iceland
York St John’s University, Print Room residency (June 2016), York UK
Global Committee NY, Artist in residence (October 2015), Brooklyn, NY
Santozeum, Artist in residence with Curtis Tamm (May 2015), Santorini, Greece
SOMA Mexico, Summer program with Curtis Tamm (July-August 2014), Mexico City
Grizedale Arts, Resident volunteer (Oct 2010), Coniston, UK
Mildred’s Lane, Artist in residence (July-August 2010), Beach Lake, PA
Publication
Hermione Spriggs (Ed.) 'http://www.sternberg-press.com/index.php?pageId=1845&l=en&bookId=739&sort=, Sternberg Press, 2018
Hermione Spriggs ‘Drawing into Being the trap as a diagram for practical exchange between art and anthropology,’ Journal of Material Culture, Special Issue ‘Traps and Trapping’, 24(4), Corsin Jimenez, Nahum-Claudel & Willerslev (Eds), (2019)
Hermione Spriggs, 'WTF WTF !?' published online in Form IV, Thing 005: Nausea, 2016
Hermione Spriggs, ‘UURGA (irregular loop), Drawing figure-ground reversals in art and anthropology’, Journal of Material Culture, Vol 21:4, pp 405-428 (2016)
Hermione Spriggs 'A Gap in the Fill' published online by Situations UK on publicartnow.com, 2015
Hermione Spriggs (Contributing Ed.) ‘A New Methodology for an Anthropology of Things’, The Fox Vol IV, 2013
Hermione Spriggs & Greg Barton, ‘Architecture and Trapping’, 30:60:90 Architecture Journal, David Hayes (Ed.), Princeton University Press, 2013
Hermione Spriggs, ‘SEA-MICE (MOUSE) – Aphrodita aculeata’, published online in The Culture of Preservation, AHRC, UCL (2012)
Conference Participation
Politics of Attention II, Two day Symposium organised by Graham Burnett and Stevie Knauss (August 2020)
COLLEEX (Collaboratory for Ethnographic Experimentation) Second Workshop, 'The use-ful-less-ness of the experiment', Cieszyn, Poland (4-6 July 2019)
Association of Social Anthropologists 2019, 'Multimedia Anthropology Lab: experimental engagements with the Anthropocene', convened with Raffaella Fryer-Moreira
ART public UB 2017, presentation (‘Five Heads’), Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (September 29 – October 05 2017)
Inhabiting the Woods: new research and creative practice in the Caledonian pinewoods, workshop contribution, organized through ‘Knowing From the Inside’ at the Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen (September 2017)
In Other Tongues, workshop contribution for Dartington College creative summit, Devon (June 7-9 2017)
Traps: Technological mediations of human-animal encounter, paper presentation, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Cambridge University (Sept 27-28, 2016)
Museum of Jurassic Technology, ESTAR(SER) symposium, Los Angeles, (August 2017)
European Association of Social Anthropology Conference 2016 paper and film presentation for panel ‘Anthropological Traps’ (Convenors Alberto Corsin Jimenez + Rane Willerslev), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, (July 4-7, 2016)
audibleVISIONS conference, performance lecture and discussion at Goldsmiths University dept of Music + Audiovisual research unit, London, (May 12th 2016)
Performance Studies International Conference, performance presentation as part of PSI #21, ‘Aural Lighthouses’, Santozeum, Santorini, Greece, May (16-23, 2015)
4th International Illustration Symposium: Science, Imagination & the Illustration of Knowledge: poster presentation at Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford UK (7-8th November 2013)
Something from Nothing: Audacious Speculations in Art, Science & Entrepreneurialism, performance presentation at California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, San Diego, CA, (April 12th 2013)
Teaching
Waterman's Art Centre, London AoOA workshop (November 2019)
The Showroom, London, Photography workshop + creation of new public artwork with teens (August 2017)
Dartington College, Devon, Workshop for ‘In Other Tongues’ Creative Summit (June 2017)
The Showroom, London, ‘DIY Decoy’ workshops as part of Communal Knowledge community program (2016-17)
Mildred’s Lane, Pennsylvania ‘Walking, Talking and Social Practice’, artist talk and workshop (2015)
UC San Diego, Sixth College Writing Program, Teaching Assistant with Professor Teddy Cruz (2014)
UC San Diego Centre for Humanities research group ‘Something from Nothing: Fearless Speculations in Art, Science and Activism’, syllabus creation for the Sixth College Culture, Art and Technology program (2012–2013)
UC San Diego Department of Art History, Teaching Assistant (2012)
UC San Diego Department of Visual Arts, Teaching Assistant (2011-12)