Claire Oboussier
Claire Oboussier was born in London in 1963 and brought up in Devon. She studied French at the University of Sussex, including a year in Paris, where in 1984 she met Vong Phaophanit while both were still students. Subsequently they established themselves in the UK, working alongside one another at Red Herring Studios in Brighton, where they made and exhibited work through studio exhibitions and artist-led initiatives. It was during this period that they began the formative creative dialogue that would become the foundation of their future collaborative practice.
During the early 1990s, Oboussier continued to develop a studio practice rooted in drawing, sculpture, text and conceptual enquiry while being awarded the Dyment and Thomas Scholarship for doctoral research in the arts and humanities at the University of Bristol. There she taught French feminist literature and critical theory, established an interdisciplinary critical theory seminar for faculty, and completed her doctoral thesis examining French critical theory in the visual field, with particular attention to the poetic and theoretical intersections of visual and verbal languages.
This period brought together studio practice, drawing, writing and doctoral research into an ecology in which each informed and sustained the others. Developing in continuous dialogue with Vong Phaophanit’s evolving practice, it shaped the thinking, material enquiry and critical language that would later find shared expression within their collaborative work.
Alongside this sustained studio practice, Oboussier wrote extensively on, and in dialogue with, Phaophanit’s work, contributed catalogue essays and publications, and served on the Executive Committee of MAKE, the pioneering magazine dedicated to women’s art practice, later becoming an editorial adviser.
The late 1990s marked an important development in Oboussier and Phaophanit’s creative partnership following their relocation to Berlin during Phaophanit’s DAAD Fellowship. This period gave rise to a shared studio practice and to their co-authored artist book Atopia, an early material expression of the collaboration. Around the same time they collaborated on the film All that’s solid melts into air (Karl Marx).
In the early 2000s, Oboussier and Phaophanit formally unified their practices, establishing the shared studio through which they continue to work. Their work is realised through sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, text, moving image and public commissions, and has been exhibited internationally in museums, biennales, galleries and public spaces.
C.V
Born: 1963, London.
Lives and works in London, UK.
Education
1990-1995
PhD, French critical theory in the visual field/Philosophy, University of Bristol, UK.
1991-1995
Dyment and Thomas Scholarship for Doctoral Research in the Arts and Humanities, University of Bristol, UK.
1981-1985
BA. Hons, French Literature/cultural theory in the School of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex, UK.
COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE WITH VONG PHAOPHANIT
COMMISSIONS AND INSTITUTIONAL PROJECTS
2025–26 Eidolon, Public commission, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore
2022 Borderless, Public commission, Cleveland Clinic HQ, London
2021 The Call of Things, Public commission, Fen Court, London
2018 In Other Words, Public commission, University of Cambridge, UK
2018 Gilding the Border, Public commission, Thailand Biennale
2015 IT IS AS IF, Block 336 Gallery (Wellcome Trust Commission)
2014 Line, Public commission, Walmar House, London
2013 Red Fringe, Public commission, Cambridge, UK
2012 Coronium, Public commission, Kilden Performing Arts Centre, Kristiansand, Norway
2012 Light Veils, Public commission, Cultural Olympiad / Weymouth Seafront, UK
2011 Mute Meadow, Public commission, Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland
2010 Light of Day, Public commission, St George’s Hospital, London, UK
2009 Light Curtain, Public commission, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull
2008 All that’s solid melts into air (Karl Marx), Tate Britain
2008 All the world is Two, Public commission, Bristol, UK
2007 Topography of Dreams, Public commission, Birmingham Festival of Art
2006 Life Lines, Public commission, Southend-on-Sea, UK
2005 Bay Windows, Temporary public commission, Herne Bay, UK
2004 Outhouse, Public commission, Liverpool Housing Action Trust / Guinness Trust, Liverpool, UK
2003 Pipe Dream, Public commission, City and Islington College, London
2003 Atopia, DAAD Publications project, Berlin
2000 SCAN, Jerwood Space / Hayward Gallery / London and European venues
GROUP SHOWS
2026 Small Wonders, Hayward Gallery Touring Exhibition, UK
2025 Tropic of Perception, Ames Yavuz Gallery, Singapore
2020 Unauthorised Medium, Framer Framed Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2019–20 Counter Acts, Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins, London
2019 Singapore Biennale, Singapore
2018 Thailand Biennale, Krabi, Thailand
2017 Diaspora Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Italy (mentors to artist Erika Tan)
2015 IT IS AS IF, Block 336 Gallery, London
2010 Outside In, SW1 Gallery, London
2008–09 The Tropics: Views from the Middle of the Globe, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin / Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
2005–06 The Animators touring exhibition, Angel Row Gallery / SPACEX / Ferens Art Gallery, UK
SELECTED LECTURES / SYMPOSIA / TEACHING
2018 Invited Professors, Department of Fine Art, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
2017 Invited Artists, Cambridge School of Art, Cambridge, UK
2017 Open Lecture at University of the Arts London Research Centre for Transnational Art
2016 Tate Britain, London: Now and Then Here and There: Black Artists and Modernism
2015 Open Lecture at City and Guilds of London Art School
2013 Oslo, Norway: Art in Public Space: A Critical Perspective
2012 Ontario College of Art and Design: The Making of Sense
2012 The Rosewell Lecture, Wimbledon, UK: What do artists have to give?
2012 Sussex University Art Lectures: The Making of Sense
2011 Imperial War Museum, London: Post-Conflict Culture: Derry ~ Londonderry
2009 Royal Society of Arts, London: The Place of Art
2009 Royal Academy, London: Sculpture and Architecture – The Contest to Control Space and Meaning
EARLY INDEPENDENT PRACTICE / DOCTORAL RESEARCH
WRITING, DRAWING AND CRITICAL PRACTICE
This period brought together studio practice, drawing, writing and doctoral research into an ecology in which each informed and sustained the others. It developed in continuous dialogue with Vong Phaophanit’s evolving practice, shaping the thinking, material enquiry and critical language that would later find shared expression within their formal collaborative practice.
GROUP SHOWS
1988 Maze, Red Herring Studios, Brighton
1987 Fleeting Monuments: Scaffolding Art Project, Brighton Festival / National Arts Council, UK
1986 Red Herring Studios ’86, Brighton Festival, UK
SELECTED WRITINGS AND PUBLICATIONS
2002 ‘Vong Phaophanit’ in 20th Century British Sculpture, Henry Moore Institute Publications, Leeds
2001 ‘Vong Phaophanit’ in Transmission: Speaking and Listening, Sheffield Hallam University
1999 ‘In between’, The Centre for Drawing, Wimbledon School of Art Publications, London
1998 ‘To truly see something we must forget its name’, The Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery
1998 Beyond the Future, Queensland Art Gallery
1997 Atopia, South Bank Publications, London
1995 Ash and Silk Wall, Public Art Development Trust Publications, London
1990 What Falls to the Ground but Can’t Be Eaten, Chisenhale Gallery, London
FELLOWSHIPS / TEACHING / CONFERENCES
1994 Doctoral research (PhD awarded 1994), University of Bristol, UK
1993 Chair: International Symposium, University of Bristol, UK: Roland Barthes and the Visual World
1992–1994 Teaching in French Feminist Literature and Critical Theory, University of Bristol, UK
1991–1994 Dyment and Thomas Fellowship for Women in Arts research, University of Bristol, UK
1992 Founded the Interdisciplinary Critical Theory Seminar for Faculty, University of Bristol, UK
1992 Speaker: Hélène Cixous and Visual Thinking, Nottingham University, UK
PANELS
2023 Jury Member, Art360 Foundation, London, UK
2006 Panel member, Birmingham City Hospital UK new art commissions
2002 Editorial advisor, MAKE magazine, London, UK
1998–2002 Member of Executive Committee, MAKE magazine, London, UK
Publications / Catalogue Essays
2016
ArtAsiaPacific Almanac 2016
Catherine Wilon
(http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/Almanac2016/Laos)
2015
Art Monthly: Issue 387 (June 2015) – ‘Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier: IT IS AS IF’
David Barrett
(http://www.artmonthly.co.uk/magazine/site/issue/june-2015)
(https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/42845/page/32)
2012
Mute Meadow
http://forecastpublicart.org/public-art-review/current-projects/2012/11/mute-meadow-2/
2010
Exploring Site-specific Art: Issues of Space and Internationalism
Judith Rugg, I.B. Taurus, 2010
(ISBN: 9781848850644)
Art and Asia Pacific Almanac, Volume 5
ArtAsiaPacific Publishing LLC, 2010
2009
The Quiet In The Land (Publication)
France Morin and John Alan Farmer
The Quiet In The Land Inc. 2009
http://www.thequietintheland.org/
2008
The Tropics: Views from the Middle of the Globe
Goethe-institut / Kerber Art. Berlin, Germany.
2007
Thermocline of art: new Asian waves
Peter Weibel, Gregor Jansen, Museum für Neue Kunst (Karlsruhe, Germany)
ZKM, Center for Art and Media
2006
Sparks – Make it real
InSite Arts Ltd.
(ISBN: 0-9547300-3-8)
The Animators
Angela Kingston
Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, 2006
(ISBN: 0-905634-76-4)
2003
Atopia
Vong Phaophanit & Claire Oboussier
DAAD Publications, Berlin, Germany.
Sculpture in 20th Century Britain: A guide to sculptors in the Leeds collections
Volume 2 of Sculpture in 20th Century Britain
Penelope Curtis
Henry Moore Institute
‘Vong Phaophanit’ in ’20th Century British Sculpture’
Henry Moore Institute Publications, Leeds, UK.
2002
‘Vong Phaophanit’ in ‘Transmission: Speaking and Listening’
Sheffield Hallam University.
2001
In between
Wimbledon School of Art Publications, London, UK.
1999
To truly see something we must forget its name
The Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
Queensland Art Gallery Publications, Australia.
Beyond the future: the third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
(ISBN: 1876509668)
1998
Atopia
South Bank Publications, London, UK.
1997
Ash and Silk Wall
Public Art Development Trust Publications, London, UK.
1995
Synaesthesia
WIF Publications.
From Light
Chambers Publications, Bristol, UK.
Things are the secret folds of my flesh
De Appel Publications, Amsterdam, Holland.
1994
Synaesthetic Writing
Nottingham French Studies, vol 33, no.2, (Autumn).
1990
What falls to the ground but can’t be eaten
Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK.