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
- 2024, Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
- 2023, ‘Mapping the Ghost Houses of London’s Super Rich’, The Times / Sunday Times, UK
- 2023, Lumen Prize Finalist 3D / Interactive Award
- 2023, Film London Lodestar Award
- 2022, Circa x Dazed’s ‘Class of 2022’, London (Piccadilly Lights), Berlin (Limes, Kurfürstendamm), Seoul (COEX K-Pop Square), and Melbourne (Fed Square)
- 2022, The Green and Pleasant Land presented at Watermans in London
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
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