For a' that: Michael Clark in conversation

Saturday 17 May, 4 - 5.30pm, Hunterian Art Gallery Lecture Theatre

A radical presence in contemporary culture, the choreographer and artist Michael Clark reflects on 40 years of dance making and artistic collaborations, in conversation with Dr Dominic Paterson.

This event is presented in collaboration with: Tramway, Dance International Glasgow, THE WORK ROOM, Thinking Culture, and the Hunterian.

Michael Clark

Michael Clark was born in Scotland and after initial training in Highland dancing in Aberdeen, went on to study at the Royal Ballet School (1975 -1979). After performing with Rambert, he began making his own work, becoming resident choreographer at Riverside Studios and launching Micahel Clark & Company in 1984. The company was an immediate success and toured internationally. During this time Clark collaborated with fashion designers Bodymap, artists Leigh Bowery and Trojan, as well as The Fall, Laibach, and Wire. His work has been marked by a mix of technical rigour & experimentation, intense & fine-tuned choreography intersecting with elements of punk, Dada, high / low culture.

In 2005 Clark became an Artistic Associate of the Barbican Centre, London, and embarked on the Stravinsky Project, a three-year project to produce a trilogy of works to dance scores by Igor Stravinsky: O, Mmm… and I Do. In June 2009 Clark premiered 'come, been and gone' at La Biennale di Venezia. This work, to the music of David Bowie, toured nationally & internationally, including the legendary Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury.

Clark has also undertaken several large-scale projects in non-theatre spaces including museums and galleries. In 2010 the company spent the summer in residence at Tate Modern, London in preparation for a new, large-scale performance commission for the Turbine Hall. The production premiered in June 2011, and in 2012 Michael Clark presented WHO’S ZOO? a specially commissioned piece for the Whitney Biennial in New York as well as The Barrowlands Projectin Glasgow, part of the Olympics 2012 Festival.

Cosmic Dancer, a retrospective exhibition of Clark's work to date was shown at the Barbican Gallery (2020/21) before going on to the V&A in Dundee (2022). Clark was appointed Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy of Art in 2024.

Dominic Paterson

Dr Dominic Paterson is Senior Lecturer in History of Art and Curator of Contemporary Art at the University of Glasgow. He has written widely on contemporary art and curated exhibitions including Jimmy Robert: Tobacco Flower (2021), Flesh Arranges Itself Differently (2022, with Roberts Institute of Art), Elizabeth Price: UNDERFOOT (2022), The Trembling Museum (2023, co-curated with Manthia Diawara and Terri Geis), and Cathy Wilkes (2024).

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