Carey Young (born 1970) is a visual artist whose work is often inspired by law, politics and economics. The tools, language and architectures of these fields act as material for her videos, text works, performances and photographs, often developing from the professional cultures she explores. In her early video works, she donned attire appropriate to the business and legal worlds, enacting scenarios which examine and question each institution's power to shape society and individual identity. Since 2002, Young developed a large body of work addressing and critiquing law in relation to ideas of site, gender and performance. Young teaches at the Slade School of Fine Art in London where she is an Associate Professor in Fine Art.

Early life and education

Born in Lusaka in Zambia in 1970, Young grew up in Manchester, England and studied at Manchester Polytechnic, the University of Brighton and photography at the Royal College of Art in London. She has dual US/UK citizenship and lives and works in London, UK.

Exhibitions and themes

Young's work has been exhibited at museums and galleries all over the world. Highlights include solo exhibitions at Modern Art Oxford, Dallas Museum of Art, Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, The Power Plant, The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and inclusion in group exhibitions at Centre Pompidou, Tate Britain, the Whitechapel Art Gallery, the Hayward Gallery, Secession, Kunstverein München, Mass MOCA, MoMA PS1, Jeu de Paume and the Venice, Moscow, Taipei, Tirana and Busan biennials. Young's work is included in the public collections of the Centre Pompidou, Arts Council England, Dallas Museum of Art, and Tate. She is represented by Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Young's projects often center on ideas of the body, language, rhetoric, and systems of power. Since 2002, her work has shifted into an interest in law and the legal imagination. 'Disclaimer', a 2003 exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute examined legal disclaimers as a form of negative space. In 2005, she showed 'Consideration', a series of works exploring the connections between contract law and performance art at Paula Cooper Gallery in New York as part of the PERFORMA05 Biennial. RoseLee Goldberg described the works in this show as "dealing with the overwhelming power of the law." This is seen again in 'Declared Void' (2005) which explores the relationship between the law and the constitutional identity of individuals. Her 2013 exhibition "Legal Fictions" at Migros Museum in Zurich was described by Mousse Magazine as featuring:"'law-based works [that] address the monolithic power of the legal system. The artist examines law as a conceptual and abstract space in which power, rights, and authority are played out through varying forms of performance and language. With the drafting assistance of legal advisers, her works often take the form of experimental but functional legal instruments such as contracts, and also employ media such as video, installation, and text.'" Her 2017 video installation 'Palais de Justice', at Paula Cooper Gallery was described by critic Jeffrey Kastner as: “quietly stunning … vividly proposes a juridical world as it might otherwise be, a form of the Law that may someday be possible.” Johanna Fateman, Artforum, described the work as: "a transfixing (...) speculative fiction", a "tantalising (...) novel mockup of a post-patriarchal legal system." Laura Cumming, of The Observer, said "Young’s profound and involving examination of the law has continued through film, photography and installation art for more than 20 years. (...) The laws that govern our rights, our agency and even our movements in this world are, for Young, 'a form of choreography'."

Selected solo exhibitions

2023 Modern Art Oxford 2019 La Loge, Brussels; Towner, Eastbourne 2017 Palais de Justice, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York; The New Architecture, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas 2013 Legal Fictions, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; Let the World Speak for Itself, Le Quartier Centre d'Art Contemporain, Quimper 2010 Memento Park, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (and tour to Cornerhouse, Manchester and MiMA, Middlesbrough); Contracting Universe, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York 2009 Carey Young: Uncertain Contracts, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Speech Acts, Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis; Counter Offer, The Power Plant, Toronto 2008 Mutual Release, Thomas Dane, London 2007 If/Then, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York; Speechcraft, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (performance); Consideration, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis 2006 Image Transfer, Umea Art Academy, Umea, curated by Maria Lind 2005 Consideration, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York (part of Performa05 Biennial); The Representative, solo presentation, IBID Projects booth, Zoo Art Fair, London; Disclaimer, IBID Projects, London Carey Young, Trafo Gallery, Budapest. 2004 Disclaimer, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds; Participant Observer, participative workshop on art and economics, IASPIS, Stockholm; Carey Young, Index, Stockholm; Viral Marketing, (The Revolution is Us! & Getting Things Done When You're Not in Charge), Kunstverein München 2003 Optimum Performance, A Short History of Performance - Part II, Whitechapel Gallery, London; Carey Young, IBID Projects, Vilnius; Viral Marketing, Kunstverein Munich; 2001 - 2002 Business as Usual, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, Angel Row, Nottingham; Firstsite, Colchester (curated and organised by Film & Video Umbrella) 2001 My Megastore, site-specific works at Virgin Megastore, London; Carey Young, Video Project Space, Wilkinson Gallery, London 2000 Nothing Ventured, fig-1, London (exh. cat.)

Other publications

Young's work has been included in numerous publications and a number of videos and audio recordings.

Selected periodicals

Web articles

Books

Videos about the artist