Luke Turner (b.1982, Manchester, UK) is an artist and writer based in London. His projects and participatory performances explore the operations and oscillations of art, utilising empathy, emotion and social interaction to foster new forms of communality across digital and physical networks. His research also examines online extremism, and in 2023 he won a precedent-setting High Court victory against two far-right conspiracy theorists in a case concerning antisemitism and online abuse, in what has been dubbed “the free speech trial of our age”.
Turner’s practice grew from his pioneering work on the early web in the late ’90s with The Void. He went on to co-edit the aesthetics and culture website Notes on Metamodernism, and in 2011 he authored the Metamodernist Manifesto. He has shared a collaborative practice with Finnish artist Nastja Säde Rönkkö since 2008, and is co-curator of HOAX, a radical platform for creative works that incorporate text.
Turner has exhibited and performed internationally at venues including Kiasma, Helsinki; Sydney Opera House, Australia; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; FACT, Liverpool; Museum of the Moving Image, New York; Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź; Wellcome Collection, London; South by Southwest, Texas; Le Lieu Unique, Nantes; and Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado. His work has been screened at festivals such as Manchester International Film Festival, UK; Helsinki International Film Festival, Finland; American Documentary Film Festival, California; and Ivy Film Festival, Rhode Island.
Education
2010
Royal College of Art, MA Fine Art
2008
Central Saint Martins, BA Fine Art
Selected Projects & Performances
2025
Cross-examination, Beaconsfield, London in Manifesto for Sustainable Experimentation
2018-2021
HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US, le lieu unique, Nantes / Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
2017
#ALONETOGETHER, Kiasma, Helsinki
HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US, Museum of the Moving Image, New York / FACT, Liverpool
2016
#ANDINTHEEND, Sydney Opera House, Australia
#TAKEMEANYWHERE, BMoCA / The Finnish Institute in London
Rönkkö & Turner, Solo exhibition, CSU Pueblo, Colorado
2015
#TOUCHMYSOUL, FACT, Liverpool
#ALLMYMOVIES, Angelika Film Center, New York
#INTRODUCTIONS, collaboration with CSM BA Fine Art, London
#FOLLOWMYHEART, SXSW, Austin, Texas
2014
#METAMARATHON, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
#STARTCREATING, Los Angeles
#IAMSORRY, Los Angeles
2011
Annunciations, Solo exhibition, London
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Milk, Wellcome Collection, London
2018
Peer-to-Peer. Collective Practices in New Art, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, Poland
2017
Miroir Miroir, Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland
2016
Everything Else, Nga Taonga Sound & Vision, Auckland, New Zealand
2015
Follow, FACT, Liverpool
This New Feeling, curated by Central St Martins Culture, Criticism and Curation, London
Apparently Yours, Lonelyfingers, Düsseldorf
#IRL, Art15 Olympia, London
2014
Menagerie, or Artwork Not About Love, Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Detroit
Unseen 2014, Presented by South Kiosk, Amsterdam
opti-ME*, Auto Italia South East, London
Out of Office, Arcade, Cardiff
Post, La Scatola Gallery, Online residency
2013
Contemporary Visions, Beers Contemporary, London
Feminism in London Conference, University of London (screening)
Art Stays 11, Festival of Contemporary Art, Slovenia
An Undelivered Postcard From The Edge Of The World, Jotta, London
2012
Discussing Metamodernism, Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin
2011
2010
Purdy Hicks Gallery, Bankside, London
The Albion, Battersea, London
RCA Secret, Gulbenkian Gallery, RCA, London
Art For Youth, Royal College of Art, London
Show One, Royal College of Art, London
The Trouble With Women, Menier Gallery, London
Interim Show, Royal College of Art, London
2009
Let’s Go Home, S-KAI, Hamburg, Germany
Systems & Patterns III, Westbourne Studios, London
Interim Show, Royal College of Art, London
2008
Collect4 Photography, Empire Gallery, Vyner Street, London
Systems & Patterns, The Whitechapel Gallery, London
XHIBIT 08, The Arts Gallery, London
Degree Show 2008, Central St Martins, London
2007
Misguided Souls, Covent Garden Film Studios, London
As-Da!, Da! Gallery, Tottenham Court Road, London
2006
Art Below Zero, Westbourne Studios, London
Direction, Lethaby Gallery, London
2005
Downriver, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
Art Below Zero, Westbourne Studios, London
2004
Breeze Blocks & Blu-tack, Chancery Lane, London
Lectures / Teaching
California Institute of the Arts
Royal College of Art
Central Saint Martins
University of Oslo
Brown University
Colorado State University–Pueblo
Newcastle University
Liverpool Hope University
Swansea College of Art
The Oxford Union
Oxford Brookes School of Arts
Radboud University Nijmegen
London College of Fashion
Camberwell College of Arts
University of Westminster