Billy Bultheel and James Richards – Workers in Song

Billy Bultheel and James Richards – Workers in Song

Developed in collaboration with three other European institutions, Workers in Song is an immersive audiovisual installation that takes a different form with each presentation. The result of a collaboration between the composer Billy Bultheel (b. 1987, Brussels) and visual artist James Richards (b. 1983, Cardiff), it comprises music, archival images, and spoken words. The installation is haunted by the traditions of occult photography and spectral music, as well as daily pleasures such as drugs, online connections, or even Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (1827). On several occasions throughout the exhibition, Workers in Song will be activated by a live musical performance.

Biographies

Billy Bultheel (b. 1987, Brussels) is a composer who incorporates his music into large-scale performance installations. His work Athens Songs I-IV was recently exhibited at the 7th Athens Biennial (2021). His work UNTER KAMMERMUSIK has been presented at the Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz (2021) and the Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2021). His work The Minutes of Olomouc was shown at the PAF Olomouc – Festival of Film Animation and Contemporary Art (2020). In 2019, he held two important performances in Berlin: Spat from My Mouth: Piano Concerto at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art and When Doves Cry at the Schinkel Pavilion. He lives and works in Brussels and Berlin.

James Richards (b. 1983, Cardiff) has recently held solo exhibitions at Haus Mödrath – Räume für Kunst, Kerpen (2021); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2020); Malmö Konsthall (2019); Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2018) and Secession, Vienna (2018). His work has also been presented in significant surveys at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2023); Camden Arts Center, London (2020); V-A-C Foundation, Venice (2019); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2018); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2018); Tate Britain, London (2018); W...