Phil Collins: Mixtape #1

Ulster Presents and Outburst Queer Arts Festival mark the 175th Anniversary of the Belfast School of Art in a collaboration with one of its most acclaimed graduates, featuring two major works - Mixtape #1 and they shoot horses.

This long-term collaboration with Outburst Arts on a new project, which foregrounds questions about queer love and the violent histories of British colonialism, begins by looking back. The Ulster University Art Gallery will host the UK and Ireland premiere of Mixtape #1, an unorthodox overview of Collins’ work in moving image over twenty five years. Drawing its title and concept from the ‘mixtape’ – a devotional form of music compilation – this genre-bending compendium brings together a heady blend of episodes, excerpts, ‘wild’ footage, and ephemeral scenes from his extensive filmography. The mixtape pulls into focus interactions between form and feeling, and underlines proximities between giver and receiver. Such connections have long characterised Collins’ practice and are revealed here as a sustained mode of production.

BIOGRAPHY

Phil Collins is a visual artist, filmmaker, community organiser, and educator who lives in Berlin and Wuppertal. He is internationally renowned for a socially engaged practice that addresses the intersections of art, politics and popular culture. Across geographies, ethnicities, languages, genders, sexualities, and social classes, Collins’ approach is guided by an ethos of connection and a sustained engagement with the local context.