Phil Coy

Born April 1971 in Gloucester, England, he grew up in the Forest of Dean, Birmingham and Norfolk. He holds a BA from Liverpool John Moores University (1993), a Post Diplôme from écoles des beaux arts à Nantes[3] (1995) and an MA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (2000).[4]

His early internet sourced video "Eleven Seconds of Paradise"[5] (2000) was made prior to the launch of Google images using AltaVista and included in the Hayward Gallery touring exhibition Incommunicado[6][7][8](2003-4) and Dan Graham's Waterloo Sunset Pavillion, Hayward Gallery[9] (2002-2003). Incommunicado's curator Margot Heller described Eleven seconds of paradise as

"a succinct comment on the negative impact of communication technologies, and as such its efficacy and relevance have increased in the short space of time since it was made."[10]

Coy began using Earth observation data from satellites as source material in 2000 prior to the launch of Google Earth (2004) when satellite navigation became the ubiquitous cultural phenomenon it is today. His 'pixel replacements' such as A walk in the park (2000),[11][12] Trinidad Triptych [Red square][13] (2004) and Black spot[14][15] (2005), reproduced pixels from satellite images to scale, and installed and photographed them in the place they represented on the earth. The works combined techniques of digital imaging, minimalism and land art to produce a form of augmented reality. Coy later followed Elizabeth Price as Leverhulme Artist in Residence[16] at the Rutherford Appleton Space Laboratory (2016-17), where he researched the technologies, processes and materials behind digital satellite imaging. The resulting fulldome film and virtual reality installation Substance[17] [18]toured to FACT Liverpool[19] (2017), The Royal Observatory Planetarium,[20] South London Gallery[21] (2018), York Art Gallery.[22][23]

The newsreader and reporter Julia Somerville starred in his film Façade (2010),[24] which casts London's glass architecture as a transparent subject rendered slowly opaque by the language it engenders[25] It premiered at Whitstable Biennial[26] and Artprojx Cinema New York.[27] Façade (2010) and Wordland (2008)[28] are held in the BFI Artists Moving Image Collection.

He was the inaugural artist in residence at Brunel University (2018-19)[29] where he devised the imprint youarehere![30] with author and academic Will Self. The project is explored in the essay amidst the susurration of motorways[31] by artist/writer/curator Richard Grayson.

• Eleven seconds of paradise (2000)
• Omega (2004)
• Wordland (2008)
• Façade (2010)
• Krapp’s Shultz (2012)
• Sons of unless and children of almost (2014)
• as far as i know [afaik] (2015)
• Who goes there? (2016)
• Avoiding Green (2017)
• Substance (2018)

• 2016 - Your right to continued existence.[32][33] Islington North, under the 'Cally Bridge' on the Caledonian Road, London, adjacent to the London Overground, Caledonian Road & Barnsbury railway station.
• 2013 - Razzle Dazzle Boogie Woogie.[34][35] Installed opposite Lewisham station, 1400 backlit coloured glass panels create a digital camouflage over the facade of Lewisham's Glass Mill leisure Centre. The work is visible from the mainline railway between Kent, East Sussex and London Bridge, particularly after dark when it is backlit and animated by the sounds of Lewisham.

• official website
• Phil Coy at British Council
• Phil Coy at BFI
• Phil Coy at Film London
• Phil Coy at South London Gallery