Josh Wirz (pronounced 'vee-ur-tz')
(he/him)British / Swiss
based in Glasgow
joshwirz@gmail.com instagram newsletterperformance / artist-moving-image / film / installation / image-making
In my largely collaborative practice, I create work that deals with the politics of social media content algorithms, digital vulnerability, and the creative potential of 'going live' online. Furthermore, I explore the ecological impact of a society addicted to digital media and creatively speculate on sustainable alternatives. Active across multiple mediums, with a primary focus on video, performance, and installation, my work is characterised by its absurdity, oversaturation, awkwardness, and proximity to failure.
Described as 'vulnerable yet heroic', a 'morbid curiosity', and 'an intense, slightly worrying, and very beautiful experience', my intention is to create work that is critical, honest, vulnerable, playful, experimental, and direct.
In 2023, I co-edited the 5th issue of Permeable Barrier 'Lurking'; enjoyed a funded residency at Performance Art Forum in France; and co-developed a workshop that was held at the University of Cambridge. In 2022, I performed at IAC Malmö’s international festival, Public Emersion, and my collaborative project 'Plug Fair / Through a glass, darkly' was awarded the 'Most Innovative in Performance' award at the Stockholm Fringe Festival 2020.
2024 'I'm here, soft and haptic', 'Filibuster' & 'Xaromantor', Touch Glass, Lewisham Art House, London UK
2024 'A person frowning at a Salami’, Tales Unexpected, Secret Garden Party, Cambridgeshire UK
2024 'Xaromantor', Performance Machines, IB Art London, London UK
2024 'Filibuster', Shell International Sharehoulders Conference / Performance at Glasgow Sculpture Studios, London / Glasgow UK
2024 'Xaromantor', Bits & Bytes, New Glasgow Society, Glasgow UK
2024 'Xaromantor', Gradient Descent, Gossomar Fog, London UK
2024 'Medusa', Runt of the Litter, Oslo House, London UK
2024 This is my favourite colour!, SWATCHEDxcool, New Glasgow Society, Glasgow UK
2024 23/01/24, A Sense of Urgency, Boardroom Committeeroom, Glasgow UK
2023 'Fixed', Hybrid Mirrors, The Wrong Biennale (online)
2023 ‘A person frowning at a Salami’, Good Vibrations Society, Surry UK
2023 ‘Medusa’, Volume four, Permeable Barrier (Online)
2022 'Plug Fair / Through a glass, darkly.’, Public Emersion, Inter Arts Center, Malmö SE
2021 'Cumfort Glassea’, Vision Magazine, eyeglasses.com (online)
2021 'Not seeing, the crime for cameras’, Vision Magazine, eyeglasses.com (online)
2021 'Plug Fair / Through a glass, darkly.’, Lahti Fringe Festival, Lahti FI
2020 'Plug Fair / Through a glass, darkly.’, Stockholm Fringe Festival, Stockholme SW
2019 ‘Gendered toilet graffiti’, Volume one, Permeable Barrier (Online)
2019 ‘A person frowning at a Salami’, Gisa Crack, AMP Gallery, London UK
2019 ‘Gendered toilet graffiti’, BF Film Festival IX, GRAFT, Lancaster UK
2019 ‘A person frowning at a Salami’, Mellifluous Elephant, Donna Laura Gallery, Lisbon PT
2018 'If Civilisation’, Bar Bados Project Space, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh UK
2018 '10 ideas’, '10 Ideas’, Touch me, Bloomsbury Theatre Blackbox, London UK
2018 ‘Two People frowning at a Salami’, Live Arc, Chalten Gallery, London UK
2018 'The accumulative worth of an apple’, Elmer Art Space, London UK
2018 ‘Moshing’, im sorry i was late, SETSETSET Gallery Dalston, London UK
2017 ‘Follow hare’, Have you seen this woman?, Chalton Gallery, London UK
2017 'Plug Fair / Through a glass, darkly.’, Bristo Square Promanade, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh UK
2017 ‘Eloise’, I conversed with the spiritual sun that I saw them (curated w / Eom Jeongwon), Primrose Hill Park, London UK
2015 'Turmeric land’, You Have Got My Bone, Old Foyles Building, London UK
2015 'Panda ball’, Above the chamber, Menier Gallery, London UK
2015 'Slug ships’, I love the water, Gallery of HFBK, Hamburg GE
2023 (co-edited) Lurking, Volume five, Permeable Barrier (Online)
2023 Immersive Days #2 Public Immersion, Christine Antaya, IAC Malmö
2023 'Archiving the Algorithm', (Workshop), Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK 2023 'Algorithmic Armour', (Workshop), Good Vibrations Society, Surrey UK
2018 'Build Your Own Avatar', (Workshop Series), Focal Point Gallery, Southend UK
2023 Performance Art Forum PAF, Rennes FR
2019 Mellifluous Elephant, Donna Laura Gallery, Lisbon PT
2017 FAR A FIELD, Slade School of Fine Art, London UK
2015 Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg GE
2020 Most Innovative in Performance, Stockholm Fringe Festival, Stockholm SW (won)
2018 Kaitak Centre, Hong Kong HK, (shortlisted)
2017 Red Mansion Art Prize, Beijing CHN, (shortlisted)
2018 MA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), London UK
2015 BA Fine Art, Goldsmiths (University of London), London UK
2012 Foundation in Art and Design, Leeds College of Art, Leeds UK