BIOGRAPHY

Max Colson’s documentary practice records hidden architectures and landscapes that relate to the UK’s national story. He works across photography and moving image.

His work often blurs the lines between traditional documentary photography techniques and opportunities afforded by new technologies such as 3D scanning and photorealistic computer graphics. By combining traditional photographic processes with technologies from what is becoming known as the ‘expanded photographic field’, his work often contravenes current parameters of traditional photographic documentation. The main outputs of his work are short films, images, and exhibitions.

Max has had solo presentations at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Arebyte, Werkleitz Centre for Media Art, and VITRINE. His work has also been presented by galleries and institutions such as The Photographer’s Gallery, Fotomuseum Winterthur, C/O Berlin, SPACE, and the Nooderlicht Photography Festival. His films have been shown in numerous film festivals such as Sheffield Doc Fest and the B3 Moving Image Biennale.

His work has been recognised through awards, fellowships, and shortlists in the visual arts. In 2023 he was selected for the Film London 2023 Lodestar award for emerging film-makers. In 2022 he was selected as one of Circa x Dazed’s Class of 2022 emerging film-makers. In 2019 he was selected for the Film London FLAMIN Fellowship. In 2017 his film Construction Lines was awarded the Tenderflix Artist Video Prize. His work has also been a finalist in the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology.

 

e: maxdfcolson [ at ] gmail.com | m: +447 81 78 77 639

 

2022 – 2024 Highlights

 

EDUCATION

2013, MA Documentary Photography & Photojournalism, London College of Communication (Grade: Distinction)
2007, BA English Literature, University College London

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021, The Island, VITRINE (London/Basel)

2019, Werkleitz Centre for Media Art, Germany

2017, The Green and Pleasant Land, Arebyte, London

2015, Virtual Control, Royal Institute of British Architects, London

 

SELECTED FILM FESTIVALS AND ONE-OFF SCREENINGS

2021

Shortwaves Film Festival, Poland

 

2020

The Photographer’s Gallery x Fotomuseum Winterthur, ‘Screen Walks’

The Eccentric City, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (screening program curated by Nadim Samman of Kunstwerke Berlin)

Watermans, London (screening of Construction Lines)

Go Short film festival, Nijmegen (screening of The Green and Pleasant Land)

 

2019

Vitrine gallery, UK (part of a series of screenings curated by William Noel Clarke)

Picturing the City, Royal Academy, UK

DOK Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, Germany 

Cairo Video Festival, Egypt

Milano Design Film Festival, Italy

Concrete Revolution (with Xialou Guo), Bertha DocHouse London, UK (curated by UCL Urban Laboratory)

Arebyte on Screen, UK

6×6 Project, Set Dalston, UK

Shortwaves Festival, Poland

 

2018

World Architecture Festival, Amsterdam (screening Construction Lines)

Rendered Cities, Apex Art, New York (screening Construction Lines)

Sheffield Doc Fest, Sheffield (screening The Green and Pleasant Land)

Hamburg International Short Film Festival, Germany (screening Construction Lines)

61st International Leizig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, Germany (screening The Green and Pleasant Land)

Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York (screening The Green and Pleasant Land)

Chicago Underground Film Festival, USA (screening Construction Lines)

 

2017

Tenderflix Shortlist Screening, RCA London (screening Construction Lines)

Kassel Dokfest, Germany (screening Construction Lines)

Architecture Film Festival London (screening Construction Lines)

Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands (screening Construction Lines)

Milano Film Festival, Italy (screening Construction Lines)

 

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

2024

Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, UK

‘Rolodex Propaganda’, KARST Gallery, UK

 

2023

‘Lumen Prize Shortlisted Artists 2023’, Annka Kultys gallery, UK

‘Rolodex Propaganda’, Online, UK

 

2022

Circa x Dazed’s ‘Class of 2022’, London (Piccadilly Lights), Berlin (Limes, Kurfürstendamm), Seoul (COEX K-Pop Square), and Melbourne (Fed Square)

‘Cities of the Future Living Together’,  Istituzione Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, Venice (screening Construction Lines)

Watermans, London (screening The Green and Pleasant Land)

‘Levels of Life: Photography, Imaging and the Vertical Perspective’ , London College of Communication in collaboration x The Photographers Gallery, London (screening London Knowledge)

 

2020

Visions in the Nunnery, The Nunnery Gallery, London (screening London Knowledge)

Plat(t)form 2020, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (portfolio presentation)

 

2019

Brighton Digital Festival, UK (Group Exhibition)

 

2018

SPACE Art + Technology Programme Showcase, SPACE, London

London Creative Network Showcase, SPACE, London

Habitarium, La Condition Publique, France

 

2017

Life 2.0, The Wrong – New Digital Art Biennale

A Place for you to Dream, Republic Gallery, London [exhibiting with Felicity Hammond, Laura Yuile, and Katy Connor]

 

2016

BoTu: Back and Forth, Showroom MAMA, Netherlands

 

2015

Data Rush, Noorderlicht Gallery, Netherlands [exhibiting with Mari Bastashevski, Mark Curran, James Bridle, amongst others… ]

The Deleted World (curated by After), 5th Base Gallery, London

 

2014

Brighton Photo Fringe OPEN14, Victoria Gardens and Regency Townhouse, Brighton

My Secret Life, C/O Berlin, Germany

Cities Methodologies, Slade Research Centre, London

 

SELECTED AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, BURSARIES

2023

Lumen Prize Finalist 3D / Interactive Award

Film London 2023 Lodestar Award

 

2022

Circa x Dazed’s ‘Class of 2022’

 

2021

The C/O Berlin Talent Award Shortlist

 

2020

Jarman Award, Nominated

Arts Council England, Emergency Response Fund (COVID-19 support)

 

2019

Film London FLAMIN Fellowship Programme, Participant

A-N Artist Information Company Bursary, Recipient

Lumen Prize 2019, UK, Shortlisted

Loop Discover Award 2019, Spain, Shortlisted

 

2018

SPACE Art + Technology Residency, Selected

London Creative Network / SPACE Artist Development Programme, Selected

BFI Short Film Support Grant, Selected

 

2017

Tenderflix Artist Video Prize, Winner

Best Fiction Short, Architecture Film Festival London, Winner

Arebyte Gallery Residency Programme, Selected

 

2016

Showroom MAMA Artist Development Residency Programme, Netherlands, Selected

 

2015

Artquest / The Photographer’s Gallery, Peer Forum Award, Recipient

 

2014

Leverhulme Artist in Residence, Bartlett School of Architecture, London

 

2013

Magenta Flash Forward Emerging Photographers Competition, Shortlisted

C/O Berlin: ‘My Secret Life’ International Open competition, Shortlisted

 

SELECTED PRESS / PUBLICATIONS

2024

Unthinking Photography: Offshore Capital, The Photographer’s Gallery, UK

 

2023

‘Mapping the Ghost Houses of London’s Super Rich’, The Times / Sunday Times, UK

‘Shining a Light on Offshore London’, London in Bits, UK

Neural, IT

British Journal of Photography, UK

 

2019

‘Capital Culture’, Unseen Magazine #6, Netherlands

‘Max Colson satirises post-Brexit UK in a 3D-modelled animation‘, It’s Nice That, UK

 

2018

Anthology Book featuring Construction Lines, ‘Spots in Shots: Narrating the Built Environment in Short Film’ by Dr. Mélanie van der Hoorn (published by Nai010 Publishers)

Interview, SPACE Art and Technology Artist In Residence Interview (online)

 

2017

Essay, ‘The Green and Pleasant Land’ (commissioned for The Green and Pleasant Land exhibition at Arebyte gallery, written by Tom Jeffreys)

Article, Digicult, ‘Crude Golden Age: A Comment About the Green and Pleasant Land by Max Colson’ (online – article by Filippo Lorenzin)

Article, 2017 Hackney Citizen, ‘East End Exhibitions – Five of the Best for December 2017’ (print and online)

 

2016

Anthology Book featuring various projects, Engaged Urbanism: Cities and Methodologies, (book, edited by Prof. Ger Duijzings and Dr. Ben Campkin, published by I.B. Tauris)

Article, Vice, ‘An Artful Deconstruction of London’s Gentrification Problem’ (online)

Article, Space Magazine (Korea), ‘Art and Its Permutation into Urban Space’ (print – article by Jeong Hye Kim) snippets here

 

2015

Article, POSTmatter (online – written by Louise Benson)

Article, It’s Nice That, ‘Photographer Max Colson Captures Plant Life in the UK’s Most Secure Places’ (online)

Article, Architecture Today (print – review of Virtual Control exhibition by Anna Minton)

Icon magazine (print)

Article, Fast Company Design, ‘An Artists’ Series Exposes the Sneaky Classism of Architectural Renderings’ (online)

Article, It’s Nice That, ‘On the Digital Composite Images Used to Market Luxury Builds’ (online)

Interview, World Photography Organisation(online – interview by Matthew Oxley)

 

2014

Article, Urban Pamphleteer: Design and Trust (online and print)

Article, Super Massive BlackHole magazine (online)

 

2013

Anthology Book, Magenta Flash Forward 2013: Emerging Photographers from Canada, the UK and the USA (print)

Interview, Hotshoe International(online – interview by Matthew Oxley)

 

COLLECTIONS

 

2019 British Film Institute Archive

 

TEACHING

2015 to current date, Associate Lecturer, MA Graphic Communication Design, Central Saint Martins

2017 to current date, Academic Support Lecturer, Graphic Communication Design department, Central Saint Martins