The Same for Everyone

Nathan Coley

15 View the Map

About the Artwork

Please note this artwork is no longer on display.

Originally commissioned as part of Aarhus 2017 – European Capital of Culture. Nathan Coley is interested in the idea of ‘public’ space, and his work explores the ways in which architecture becomes invested – and reinvested – with meaning. Across a range of media Coley investigates what the built environment reveals about the people it surrounds and how the social and individual response to it is in turn culturally conditioned. He is best known for a series of illuminated text works that take found phrases (never written by the artist) and by placing them in new contexts creates a powerful ambiguity of meaning. Here the phrase ‘The Same for Everyone’, which the artist first encountered on a hand-painted sign in Denmark, might be read as either a question, provocation, utopian proposal or a statement of protest.

Year: 2017

Copyright the artist. © Aarhus2017

Material

Illuminated text, scaffolding

Dimensions

Dimensions variable

Artist Biography

Nathan Coley

Nathan Coley (b.1967, Glasgow) lives and works in Glasgow. He has exhibited internationally and in 2007 was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. Important recent solo exhibitions include Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2017), New Art Centre, Salisbury (2016), House Festival, Brighton (2015), Pier Arts Centre, Orkney (2013), Kunstverein Freiburg (2013), Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2012) and ACCA, Melbourne (2011). Notable recent group exhibitions include Actions, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (2018), Aarhus 2017 – European Capital of Culture, Aarhus (2017), Glow, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2016), Daydreaming With Stanley Kubrick, Somerset House, London (2016), Bruges Triennial (2015), Generation: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland (2014), 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014) and the 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013). Coley’s work is included in many collections worldwide.