Michael Armitage was born in 1984 in Nairobi, Kenya. He works between Nairobi and London where from 2003 until 2010 he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Royal Academy Schools. Within the last year, Armitage has participated in the 58th Venice Biennale and had solo exhibitions at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Museum of Modern Art, New York in collaboration with the Studio Museum Harlem and the Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Recent solo exhibitions include ‘Another’s Tongue’ at White Cube Online, and ‘Paradise Edict’ at Haus der Kunst, Munich (until 14 February 2021), which includes a collaborative project with the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, a non-profit Foundation that Armitage is developing with the Director, Ayako Bertolli. Whilst in Germany, he was awarded the 6th Ruth Baumgarte Art Award. He currently features in 'Everyday Heroes', an outdoor exhibition across the Southbank Centre and Hayward Gallery that celebrates the contributions that key workers and frontline staff have made during the pandemic. Michael Armitage is represented by White Cube.
Ralph Rugoff has been the Director of the Hayward Gallery of London since 2006. Opened in 1968, the Hayward Gallery is considered one of the most leading public art galleries in the United Kingdom; it is part of the Southbank Centre, Europe’s largest arts centre that receives major funding by the Arts Council of England. Rugoff was the Artistic Director of the XIII Biennale de Lyon in 2015 titled La vie moderne. In 2019, Rugoff was Curator of the Venice Biennale 58th International Art Exhibition titled 'May You Live in Interesting Times'.
Pictured at the top: Michael Armitage Portrait, 2020, © White Cube (Theo Christelis)