Duncan Mountford

I was born and raised in Liverpool, UK, in a working-class family. Liverpool is a port city, a city that is independent and with a disregard for authority couple with a sense of sceptical humour. It has numerous public museums, galleries, and libraries, and a strong tradition of auto-didacticism.
I studied BA (hons) Fine Art in Liverpool and Coventry, and worked as a community artist in Coventry before moving back to Liverpool and joining the Arena Studio group. I returned to full-time education to study MA at Winchester School of Art, and was then awarded a scholarship to pursue PhD research at Nottingham Trent University. During this time, in addition to exhibiting widely, I worked in various roles in museums and galleries, including Tate Liverpool. This engagement with the totality of the art-world, from gallery education to technician work, is reflected in my skeptical stance towards the means and methods of exhibitions.
I currently live and work in London and Taipei, and regard my teaching as a continuation of a wider engagement with issues of knowledge and history/memory.
There are two broad themes central to my work. The first is a method of work that draws on contemporary theories of installation, museum display,...

1998 – 2003 PhD Fine Art by Theory and Practice; The Investigation of the Museum as a Site of Control, Memory and Loss by Expression in Installation and Sculptural Form, Nottingham Trent University, UK. Awarded January 2004
1993 – 1994 M.A. Sculpture, Winchester School of Art, UK
1973 – 1976 B.A. (hons) Fine Art, Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, UK
1972 – 1973 Foundation Course, Liverpool Polytechnic, UK

Selected solo exhibitions
2017 Space Station, SeeArt, Taipei, Taiwan. Curator K. Wang.
2017 Make it up as I go along, Common Art Space, Hsinchu, Taiwan
2015 The Chamber of Uncanny Objects, Museum of Archives, National Taiwan University (produced with student collaborators as part of residency/public art project). Organised by Shalom Arts Consulting and NTU
2015 A Cabinet of Curiosities, National Taiwan University (produced with student collaborators as part of residency/public art project)
2013 Daci Village Project, Guantian, Tainan, Taiwan. Curated by J.J. Gong
2011 Study Void, Ox Warehouse, Macau. Curated by S.C. Lei.
2010 The Problem of Knowledge 2, Residency Exhibition, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan.
2009 Institute; Plan 9, Bristol, UK. Supported by Arts Council England.
2008 Through a Glass Uncertainly; solo exhibition, The Gallery, Dartington College of Arts. UK
2007 A Sense of Wonder and the Problem of Knowledge; Ginza Art Lab, Tokyo and Koiwa Project Space, Tokyo, Japan. With support from British Council
2005 Mnemosyne; solo exhibition, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, UK. Curated by C. Kennedy, Supported by Arts Council England.
2001 The Archive of Lost Knowledge;...