David Shrigley
The Catalyst
Ideas with a spark, energy, range and the ability to start things.
David Shrigley operates as The Catalyst by deploying art as deliberate provocation, converting aphorisms into physical propositions designed to ignite conversation rather than resolve it, whether pulping Da Vinci Codes into 1984s or pricing rope at £1,000,000. His Sidmouth School of Art follows the same logic, injecting creativity into communities that do not share his politics and letting the reaction do the work. He stages conditions for transformation instead of directing outcomes.
“It isn't a crossword puzzle to which there is one solution. You're saying, well, how about this? What about this? What does this mean? And then the conversation you subsequently have about it is the work in progress.”
“To make a project which was free, which was for people to engage with the arts for the benefit of their health and well-being, was a political gesture. That was me demonstrating my politics in a positive way, probably for the first time in my life.”
“Just being angry doesn't change anything. It's only if you actually do something — the only thing that most people do that is in any way relevant a lot of the time is just to vote.”
Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy: “Artist David Shrigley: I stopped watching the news when Trump won”
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