Josh Wirz (pronounced 'vee-ur-tz')
(he/him)British / Swiss
based in Glasgow
joshwirz@gmail.com instagram newsletterinterdisciplinary artist
My practice deals with the politics of social media content algorithms, the creative potential of 'going live' online and the semiotics of greenwashing. I explore the ecological impact of a society addicted to digital media and creatively speculate on sustainable alternatives.
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 absurd, oversaturated, direct and employs a creative misuse of technology.
Recent achievements include exhibitions at New Glasgow Society, Boardroom Committeeroom, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Gossamer Fog and Lewisham Art House; participation in the Public Emersion Festival at IAC Malmö; Disrupting the Shell Annual General meeting; teaching a workshop at the University of Cambridge; co-edited the 5th issue of Permeable Barrier 'Lurking'; and winning the Most Innovative in Performance award at the 2020 Stockholm Fringe Festival.
Collaborative Research Project - 'My Algorithm and Me'
Medusa
, Viddy Horrowshow, TACO, (03/05/25) London UK
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 2025
'LIVE @ White Cart Water', Refractive Artist Commision (Paisley Eco Pixels), Paisley UK
2025
'Whatsapp', Midnight, Strangefield, Glasgow UK
2025
'Filibuster', ehfm.live, Online 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 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 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
‘A person frowning at a Salami’, Gisa Crack, AMP Gallery, London 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 2024
'Filibuster disruption at the Shell Annual Sharehoulders Conference', Biscuit, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh UK 2024
'Medusa', Runt of the Litter, Oslo House, London UK 2023
‘Medusa’, Volume four, Permeable Barrier (Online) 2019
‘Gendered toilet graffiti’, BF Film Festival IX, GRAFT, Lancaster UK 2019
‘Gendered toilet graffiti’, Volume one, Permeable Barrier (Online) 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) Education
Exhibitions
Screenings
Residencies
Awards
Publications
2023 Immersive Days #2 Public Immersion, Christine Antaya, IAC Malmö
2025 'Artist talk', Refractive Collective, Paisley UK
2025 'Frenemy (My Algorithm and Me): bringing research into technologically mediated inequalities into practice', Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK
2023 'Archiving the Algorithm', 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