ABOUT EXHIBITIONS

I work with textiles, images, and archives, reflecting on collectivity, loss, and ways of seeing images.

Woven cloth can be seen as analogous to social connections. Threads collaborate to form a flexible surface that offers shelter and a sense of belonging, no matter how different they are from one another. My work reflects on these tender, collective forces. They are gossamer works, requiring care and attention to maintain their integrity. Their strength lies in their vulnerability.

An image’s meaning is unstable, depending on context, much like the threads in a weave rely on each other. My images are fragmented, floating on fabric. They don’t appear as singular entities, but are deeply enmeshed with their surroundings. They invite you to see beyond their surfaces, responding to even the softest air currents.

I work slowly, sifting through a vast image collection or pulling threads one by one from a piece of cloth. Undoing is central to my practice, be that the pattern of a weave or the organisation of an archive. I undo in order to expose an underlying structure.

fabienne.hess (at) gmx.ch
Instagram: fabienne_hess
b. Switzerland, based in London

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
A Weave Has A Collaborative Strucutre, Gallery North, Newcastle upon Tyne
2023
Softly Swaying, The Swiss Church, London
The Algorithmic Pedestal, in collaboration with Oxford Internet Institute, J/M Gallery, London
2021
Habitat Series, muf architecture/art (among other, informal locations), London
2015
Hits and Misses (from the archive), Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
I Need, Trust Me, Help Me, La Balsa Arte, Bogotá, Colombia
2014
Replica Sentiments, French Riviera, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Recycled Extractions; From Bin to Pin, Mr. Green, Zürich
2023
La Fin, Part 1, French Riviera, London
2022
Territories of Waste, Tinguely Museum, Basel
2020
MK Calling, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes
2019
Mother Mercury, Art Night, London
2018
Watery, Fluid, Cloud Cuckoo Land, London
2017
Entre Amis, French Riviera, London
Entre Nos, La Balsa Arte, Medellín, Colombia
Between Poles and Tides, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
2016
Alienamientos, La Balsa Arte, Bogotá, Colombia
Latent Surfaces, Like A Little Disaster, Polignano a Mare
TenderPixels.CorruptedFiles, Birch Contemporary, Toronto
2015
Inner Landscapes of Time, Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam
Grand Magasin Deux, French Riviera, London
2014
The C(h)roma Show, Croma Store, Bangalore, India
DAK’ART, Dakar Biennale for Contemporary Art, Dakar
Riff/t, Baltic Center of Contemporary Art, Newcastle upon Tyne
Open Day, Lugar a Dudas, Cali, Colombia
Excerpts from the Bastard Series
, XVIIX.com, online
2013
Grand Magasin, French Riviera, London
Jungkunst, Halle 52, Winterthur, Switzerland
We are Here, SPACE, London
2012
The Show House, 9a and 11 Lever Street, London
Off Sight, British Film Institute, London
RCA Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London
Paradise, Salone Internzionale del Mobile, Milan
SELECTED SCREENINGS / TALKS
2022
How to Look at Image Collections? (Artist Talk), Oxford Internet Institute, online
2021
Collaboration and Connection, Artangel, online
2015
VIIDEO, Evelyn Yard, London
LUX looking, mediated (touring programme); OUTPOST, Norwich and Objectif Vidéo, Nice, France
Artist Talk, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
Blackbox Festival, Seattle
2014
LUX looking mediated (touring programme); Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Quays Culture’s Mobile Cinema, Salford, Art Licks Weekend, London and Arnolfini, Bristol
Open Data Ecologies, Delfina Foundation, London
RIFF/T Closing, Baltic Center of Contemporary Art, Newcastle
2013
The Digital Subconscious, SPACE, London
Sturtevant Study Day, Serpentine Galleries, London
PUBLICATIONS / REVIEWS
2024
edition fink, Dataset of Loss, artist book
2023
The Digial Human, BBC podcast and review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Wallpaper, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Artnet News, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Surface Magazine, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Apollo Magazine, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Forbes, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
New Scientist, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
2022
Kunstart, Vermüllung des Planeten, review Territories of Waste
2021
Kunstmarkt.com, Aus den Auguen aus dem Sinn?, review Territories of Waste
2017
The Herald, review Between Poles and Tides
Common Editions, artist book Zebras, Blanks and Blobs
2016
Artoronto, review TenderPixels.CorruptedFiles
Limn Magazine, The Total Archive, portfolio feature, issue 6
2015
This is Tomorrow, review Hits and Misses
The Independent, Young Female Artists are leading the Pack, review Hits and Misses
A–N (The Artists Information company), review Hits and Misses
Red Hook Journal, Everything is Moving, review Bastard Series
BOMB Magazine, Trust me, portfolio feature
2014
This is tomorrow, review LUX Looking Mediated
The Modern Painter, review Replica Sentiments, September issue
AQNB, review Replica Sentiments
Dazed Digital, review Replica Sentiments
Wax Magazine, Things, Not Water, portfolio feature, issue 5
2013
The Creator Project/Vice, Artist Turns E-Waste Into Colorful Fabric, portfolio feature
Wallpaper, The Graduate Directory, portfolio feature, January issue
Gestalten, Culture Identities, portfolio feature
2012
étapes magazine, Spécial diplôme, portfolio feature, issue 209
Royal College of Art, Useless; New Writing in Art and Design, portfolio feature
COMMISSIONS
2018
Circle Signals, BBC Broadcasting House London, commissioned by the BBC
2017
Zebras Blanks and Blobs (Windows), Argyle House Edinburgh, commissioned by the University of Edinburgh
2014
The Least Important, commissioned by LUX Artist Moving Image
Collective Vomit, commissioned Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
RESIDENCIES
2024
La Società delle Api, Grasse, France. Fixed Constant Blazing, curated by artist Jen Lewandowska
2014
Lugar a Dudas, Cali, Colombia. Funded by the British Council and Arts Council England
2013
SPACE, London. Funded by Arts Council England and Bloomberg
PRIZES/GRANTS
2023
London College of Communication, Research Grant for artist book Dataset of Loss
Burgauer Stiftung, Project Grant for artist book Dataset of Loss
UCL East, seed funding for knowledge exchange between researchers, artists and communities
2020
Artangel, Thinking Time. Supported by the Freelands Foundation. With thanks to the Artists for Artangel Fund and Guardian Angels
MK Gallery, Judges Award for work Gap Patricles
TEACHING

Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, London College of Communication and Central Saint Martins.

SCHOOLS
2012
Master of Arts, Royal College of Art, London
2004
Diploma in graphic design, Berufsschule für Gestaltung, Zürich