"....renowned for her concise humour and profoundly understated visual language. Her works are brilliantly inventive,
full of razor-sharp intelligence, dry wit, and visual acuity.
Palazzo Diedo - Breuggreun Arts & Culture
Ceal Floyer - Unfinished
At Palazzo Diedo - Berggruen Arts & Culture - an exhibition of works by the late acclaimed British artist
Ceal Floyer - Unfinished - until November 22 - curated by - Ann Gallagher and
Jonathan Watkins. Comprising of video, photography, sound, readymades and sculptural pieces, Floyer’s work often
employs humour derived from shifting points of view, puns, double-takes and an idiosyncratic
reordering of everyday phenomena. It conveys simultaneously the vital possibility of creativity in
any situation and a hint of absurdity.
Half Empty / Half Full - 1999
two identical photographs - always exhibited together - yet never seen together - of a glass half-filled with water - refers to the expression that defines
two identical photographs - always exhibited together - yet never seen together - of a glass half-filled with water - refers to the expression that defines
optimism and pessimism.
Ceal Floyer -1968-2025- spent parts of her childhood in Sydney and Rabat before settling in England. She studied at Goldsmiths College - London gaining early recognition during the rise of the - YBAs - Young British Artists. She was included in 1995 in the General Release exhibition in the Great Britain Pavilion - at the Venice Biennale, where she presented - Unfinished - 1995 - a looped video of someone twiddling their thumbs. The current exhibition takes its title from this work, bringing the work back to Venice after more than thirty years.
Ceal Floyer
"It's kind of typical of Ceal. There is something very cold about it,
very conceptual and radical.
And there's also something very funny and warm."
Thomas Demand
who helped Ceal realise the piece
644 - is the final work Ceal Floyer realised before her death. It is a colour photograph, depicting sheep grazing in a hilly landscape. A number from 1 to 644, in a simple font, is superimposed on each, reminding us of the counting we were encouraged to do as children slipping into sleep.
644 - 2025
A spotlight is placed face-down on a desk, restricting the light around the edges of the lamp.
Available Light - Table - 1998
Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper - Photo © Tony Prikryl - © Ceal Floyer / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026 A common black bucket is placed on the floor. The MP3 player and loudspeaker placed inside it are readily apparent, as the white cable leading to an electric socket. The MP3 player plays repetitive sound suggestive of dripping water.
Bucket - 1999
The artist is perhaps most famous for her Monochrome Till
Receipt - White - 1998. This work, listing white items bought from a supermarket, conflates
everyday experience in the real world with the idea of modernist abstraction taken to its extreme. The document of the exclusively white products purchased locally shortly before presentation of the work, exists in 10 unique country-specific versions.
Monochrome Till Receipt - White - Italian Version - 1998
Mario Codognato
Director - Berggruen Arts & Culture
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