Over the last decade, Ed Atkins (b. 1982, Oxford, UK) has explored the dwindling gap between representation and experience, expressing the latter through metaphor by underscoring the pathos of the former. Atkins’ wager is that if reality can be de-realised by computer-generated technologies, artificial intelligence, algorithmic scripting, etc., (not to mention words, crayons, and songs, etc.) it might also be rediscovered by these means. Much of Atkins’ work — animation, prose, drawings, performance and sound — might be productively thought of as convoluted and melancholic self-portraiture. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at: Tank, Shanghai (2022); New Museum, New York (2021); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz (2019); K21, Düsseldorf (2019); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2017); Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2017); DHC/ART, Montréal (2017); Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin (2016); The Kitchen, New York (2016); Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (2016); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2015); Serpentine North Gallery, London (2014). Atkins’ work featured in the 56th and 58th editions of La Biennale di Venezia; the 13th Biennale de Lyon; and Performa 13 and 19. In 2016 Fitzcarraldo published ‘A Primer for Cadavers’, an anthology of Atkins’ texts, and in 2019 ‘Old Food’, while in 2021 Koenig Books published a book of Atkins’ drawings for children. In 2025, Atkins will present his largest solo show to date at Tate Britain.