Jack Catling is a UK-based artist, working across a range of media including performance, installation, sculpture and film. Since 2002, Inspired by the faultlines where reality, theatrical illusion, and suspension of disbelief grind against each other, Catling's work has been examining the awkward moments where these elements fray and what is produced from these collisions. Catling is interested in the way this intersects with Walter Benjamin’s notion of the “blue distance” that “never gives way to foreground or dissolves at our approach,”presenting these moments as a lens for bringing into question our acceptance of the world around us; an interrogation that necessitates a gradual reveal of the magical backstage layers of the world around us.
Jack Catling has been living and working in London for over 20 years, using the fabric of the city, its structures and its relationships with other spaces as a way of driving his artistic practice forward. He is also the founding member of the performance group Parlour Collective, a group project exploring space and memory across different unique locations worldwide, and the co-director of Cabaret Melancholique, a 20 year experiment in warped music hall. As a filmmaker Catling has produced a number of films, including the multi-award winning 'Scenes, Overheard' and 'Shifting Landscapes', that have participated in a large number of prestigious international film festivals. Catling’s fictional writing has also been published in various journals and publications.