Neil Hillier

Artist Statement

Museums and art galleries have much in common - both are concerned with the presentation of artefacts and in engaging the viewer in a perceptual process that involves both content and appearance. The levels of engagement of content can range from a passive absorption of organised knowledge, to a more open-ended interactive collusion between viewer and curator or artist. Similarly, appearance can range from that of a rarefied functional objectivity, where presentation is subsumed into the current canons of categorisation and cataloguing, to a more aesthetic and contemplative concern for phenomenological and sensory qualities. While it could be argued that traditionally, the curation of museum objects has been dominated by received categorised knowledge, it is at the borders and ambiguities of these dichotomous processes that an increasing number of artists have placed their practice. Such a placement both challenges and develops notions of museology and of art. Hillier is one such artist, whose background from working as an arts and museums manager adds knowledge and experience that enables him to manipulate and articulate our perception of presented objects with insight and creative fluency. As an artist working directly in museums and with their collections, he has both a practical and researched understanding of the ideological practices that determine the meanings of displayed objects. His work inevitably poses questions and raises issues that have implications for both curator and artist, and for both museum and gallery practice. Hillier's work demonstrates a committed and assiduous process, within which he carefully researches his subject to an extent that the actual making or placement of objects represents the outcome of a long and considered enquiry. In this process of research Hillier is also committed to working with others, including the curators and staff of the museums, (and in the case of his work The House, with the police), in a way that ensures his work as a collaborative endeavour engages and reaches the very institutional practices he is scrutinising. When much of contemporary art practice can be superficial and gestural, his work deserves the increasing attention and recognition it is currently achieving. Doug Sandle Reader in Visual Studies, The Leeds School of Art, Architecture and Design, Leeds Metropolitan University. Board Member Arts council England, Yorkshire

In addition to Neil's own arts practice he is a highly creative thinker who intuitively sees the bigger picture and is able to initiate and develop cultural projects that deliver economic regeneration and social change. His experience of managing museums, archives and archaeology services enables him to engage fully with the heritage sector. Working alongside town planners, developers, conservation officers and regeneration professionals. Neil has helped to deliver many innovative change programmes.