Ben Caro (b. 1998, London) is an interdisciplinary artist who works at the intersection of sculpture and photography. His practice is archaeological in approach, delving into object-histories and excavating time layers via analogue photographic processes. Utilising processes which are obsolescent in commercial and consumer photography, including polaroid film, Ben proposes that the analogue is vital to future ways of seeing — that through it can come new forms of knowledge. Throughout his research led practice, Ben mines and intervenes into pre-existing artefacts — from his personal collection, including postcards of anthropomorphic landforms and 35mm nitrate film, and from the fabric of the city of Edinburgh — including marble fragments from Martin Creed’s Work No. 1059 to investigate and destabilise notions of chronological time. In his work Ben uses metaphorical connections to form playful analogous links between objects and sculptural forms. He often explores objects and ideas which rest silent or overlooked, inviting his audience into a process that he describes as ‘close-looking’. Recently, he has been examining support structures — both theoretical and physical — exploring the role they play in sustaining fragile artefacts as well as dominant social beliefs. He is currently working on a new multi-channel slide projection that explores the realtionship between women, colour and emotion in silent cinema with his collaborator Kat Cutler-MacKenzie.
Contact: bencaro@hotmail.co.uk
Education
September 2016 - June 2021
MA Fine Art (Hons), The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
August 2018 - January 2019
Erasmus Exchange, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, Tallinn
Exhibitions
2023
Tab Lab, House of haeg (Lisbon, Portugal), Cámera Escura
Hidden Door Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland), Hidden Door 2023
Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh, Scotland), RSA New Contemporaries 2023
gr_und (Berlin, Germany), Bodies of Love
2022
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (Edinburgh, Scotland), Residents ‘22
2021
Edinburgh Futures Institute (Edinburgh, Scotland), Challenges for The Future of Health
Alte Münze (Berlin, Germany), Corona Culture: What the Fuck is Happening?!
FORMER Project Space (Brussels, Belgium), ohm
2020
Sculpture Court, Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh, Scotland), MAFA F*CKERS
Tent Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland), Ceremonial
2019
Talbot Rice Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland), Trading Zone
Three Colt Gallery (London, England), Limehouse Open Salon
2018
Old Eka Gallery (Tallinn, Estonia), Fibrous
Vent Space (Tallinn, Estonia), Disassemble/Avamine
REM Space (Istanbul, Turkey), Cachée
Checkpoint (Edinburgh, Scotland), The Curtain Club
The Sundeck (Margate, England), POW Thanet!: International Women’s Week
2017
The Old Hairdressers (Glasgow, Scotland), SyNERGy: What should we call the exhibition?
2014
Royal Academy of Arts (London, England), Summer Exhibition
Grants and Awards
2023
The Richard and Siobhán Coward Foundation Grants for Analogue Photography (Scotland)
Visual Artists and Craft Makers Award, Creative Scotland
2022
Copper Leg Art Residency (Estonia)
Visual Artists and Craft Makers Award, Creative Scotland
2021
ESW/ECA Graduate Residency 2021 (Scotland)
Graduate Studio Award at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (Scotland)
RSA New Contemporaries 2023 (Scotland)
TSDAP New Graduates Catalogue: 2021 Edition
2020
The Astaire Prize (shortlisted) (Scotland)
Baldwin Brown Travelling Scholarship
2019
Student Experience Grant (Scotland)
Residencies
2022
Edinburgh Film and Video Arts Residency (Scotland)
Copper Leg Art Residency (Estonia)
2021
ESW/ECA Graduate Residency 2021 (Scotland)
Talks and Conferences
2023
Shaper/Caper (Dundee)
Sustainability in the wider sense (collaborative talk with Kat Cutler-MacKenzie)
Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh)
meeting the third person for the first time (collaborative talk with Kat Cutler-MacKenzie)
2022
Red Eye Hot House (Newcastle)
Staging a Gaze (collaborative talk with Kat Cutler-MacKenzie)
Edinburgh Film and Video Arts (Edinburgh)
Artist Talk: Staging a Gaze with Ben Caro and Kat Cutler-MacKenzie (collaborative talk with Kat Cutler-MacKenzie)
2021
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (Edinburgh)
‘Artists’ Talk — Brewis, Caro, Cutler-MacKenzie, Matthews, Wrang-Rasmussen’
2020
Emerging Perspectives Conference, Association for Art History (Edinburgh)
Locked in The Cabinet of Curiosities: Curation, Power and Identity in the National Museum of Scotland (collaborative paper with Kat Cutler-MacKenzie, cancelled due to covid-19)
Interview with Kat Cutler-MacKenzie for Decorating Dissidence, 2021: https://decoratingdissidence.com/2021/02/08/ben-caro-interview