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This is the first commission within a wider programme of public art, permanent and temporary, for the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East development.

The Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East campus will be bringing together researchers, students, communities and industry to create and share knowledge for the long-term benefit of people and planet. Its state-of-the-art facilities will support collaborative, experiential and ground-breaking research, learning and innovation.

Pool Street West has been designed to encourage innovative academic programming, as well as a range of events and activities. Performances, exhibitions, workshops and lectures will contribute to a lively and creative learning atmosphere. With two towers for student accommodation, the building will also feature retail and food and drink spaces to cater to both the public and Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø students and staff.

Emma was selected through a competitive interview process, due to her interest in how art can forge meaningful relationships with its viewers.

Her fresh approach to working with communities and the academic community at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East will unfold over the next two years as she develops ideas for the building. Emma will also work with the project architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands to integrate her work into the building.

Emma lives and works in London; she received her MA in Fine Art from Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø’s Slade School of Fine Arts in 2004 and completed her PhD in Fine Art at Kingston University in 2013.

Emma won the 2016 Max Mara Art Prize for Women in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery. In 2015, she was awarded a Paul Hamlyn Foundation award for visual art. Emma is currently a lecturer at the Slade.

Emma Hart said: "I am incredibly excited to have been appointed for this commission. Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East’s commitment to widening participation along with the transformative research and experimental making that will take place in the building will be an inspiration – rippling through many aspects of my art making. It is a huge honour to be able to think about how an artwork can contribute to Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East’s learning environment, and I can’t wait to get started."

Prof Paola Lettieri, Director of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East, said: "We are delighted to have appointed Emma for this important permanent work of art, as her way of working already embodies our values at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East, such as collaboration, inclusivity, diversity, and dialogue. This will be key to the successful integration of the artwork into the public realm of the new campus, and I am looking forward to seeing what Emma creates out of her engagement with the local community, staff and students at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø and other key stakeholders."

Kieren Reed, Director of the Slade School of Fine Art, said: "We are delighted that Emma Hart has been selected to be the first artist appointed to work with the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East Project team to develop an artwork for one of its new buildings, as a lecturer at Slade School of Fine Art. We anticipate the benefit to the teaching and student experience that Emma can bring from her work on the new campus will be invaluable."  

The public artist appointment was led by Head of Public Art Sam Wilkinson, with the participation of the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø East Public Art Committee, and in collaboration with the public art programming at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø Culture. It explores mechanisms to empower artists to stimulate interdisciplinary relationships and to play a part in critical discourse and contribute to the wider understanding of the work of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø, its place in London and the global challenges that Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø research addresses.

Biography

Emma Hart lives and works in London. Emma won the 2016 Max Mara Art Prize for Women in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery. In 2015, she was awarded a Paul Hamlyn Foundation award for visual art. Emma is currently a lecturer at the Slade.

Her work is held by public collections including the Arts Council Collection, the Government Art Collection, British Council Collection and The Grundy Art Gallery Collection.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Banger, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (2018); Mamma Mia! Whitechapel Gallery and the Collezione Maramotti, Italy (2017); Commercial Breakz, Frieze Art Fair, London (2017); Love Life with Jonathan Baldock, Peer, London, The Grundy Gallery, Blackpool and De Le Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (2016-7); Giving It All That, Folkestone Triennial (2014); Dirty Looks, Camden Arts Centre (2013). 

Recent group exhibitions include: Further Thoughts on Earthy Materials, Kunsthaus Hamburg, DE; In My Shoes, Arts Council Touring Exhibition, Yorkshire Sculpture Park;  An ear, severed, listens, Chert, Berlin, Germany (2017); Sticky Intimacy, Chapter, Cardiff, UK (2016); Only the Lonely, La Galerie CAC Noisy Le Sec, France (2015);  Dear Luxembourg, Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg (2015); Hey I'm Mr. Poetic, Wysing Arts Centre (2014). 

Hart received an MA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2004 and completed her PhD in Fine Art at Kingston University in 2013. Hart is a lecturer at the Slade School of Fine Art, London.