Phil Collins (1970, Runcorn, UK) is a visual artist based in Glasgow. His work examines the emotional core of portraiture and the photographic image, and often describes communities ordinarily excised from our understanding of contemporary situations. His practice often elicits a convocation of individuals, and is process-, or better still, event-oriented.

el mundo no escuchará is a karaoke project produced in 2004 for Smiths fans in Bogotá, Colombia. Whilst karaoke has a fundamentally democratic function, its musical content is conventionally the deplorable, lack-lustre chirp of the mainstream. For el mundo no escuchará the eponymous 1987 compilation The World Won’t Listen, was re-recorded in its entirety, note for note, in an insane attempt to construct a platform to give voice to the otherwise largely ignored.

Collins has produced one other version of the Smiths Karaoke in Instanbul (dünya dinlemiyor, 2005), and will complete the trilogy later this year in Jakarta.
 
He has had solo exhibitions at the Tate Britain; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Milton Keynes Gallery; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; Espacio La Rebeca, Bogotá; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent; Neue Kunsthalle St. Gallen; Sala Rekalde, Bilbao; and the Wrong Gallery, New York. Shortlisted for the 2006 Turner Prize, he will participate in the corresponding exhibition opening October 3, 2006, at Tate Britain.

The Or Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Gaming Commission, the Province of BC through the BC Arts Council, the City of Vancouver, and all our members and volunteers.

Additional support for this exhibition was provided by the British Council. Special thanks to the Vancouver Art Gallery.