The work of Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen is occupied with broad meanings of material and production. The London-based duo works across objects, installation, video, and photography to explore processes of production as cultural, ethical, and political conventions. Their joint practice experiments with the use of design as a medium, and with reconfiguring systems and organisms in order to question the context in which these same systems and organisms operate.
Recent exhibitions have taken place at FotoMuseum Winterthur, Zurich (2015), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2015), FACT, Liverpool, England (2013), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2013), the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012 and 2011), the National Museum of China, Beijing (2011), the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York (2010), Arts Catalyst, London (2010), the Natural History Museum of Vienna (2011), and Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Hasselt, Belgium (2011), among others. The duo lectures frequently, recently giving talks at ICA London (2015), the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2013), Tsinghua University, Beijing (2011), Tate Britain, London (2009), and FACT, Liverpool (2008). Cohen and Van Balen are the recipients of several awards and commissions, including the Wellcome Trust Arts Awards (2013, 2011, and 2009), the Science Museum’s Emerging Artist Commission (2012), First Prize at VIDA 14.0 Art & Artificial Life Competition (2012), and an award of distinction at Prix Ars Electronica (2011).
