Louise Beer

Gathering Light

Beer lived in Aotearoa New Zealand until 2002 before moving to the UK. Beer now works between London, Margate and Aotearoa New Zealand. She studied a BA in Fine art at Middlesex University before her MA in Art and Science at Central Saint Martins.

Beer uses photography, installation, moving image and sound to explore humanity’s evolving understanding of Earth’s environments and the cosmos. She creates objects and experiences that reflect the incomprehensible nature of reality, from the ocean floor to the night sky. Beer’s experience of living under two types of night sky, the first in low level light polluted areas in Aotearoa, and the second in higher light polluted cities in the UK, has deeply informed her practice.

Beer has attended residencies and exhibited work all over the world. Her most recent residency was in June/ July 2022, in the Blue Mountains in Australia for the BigCi Environmental Art Award with Pale Blue Dot Collective. Beer has also attended residencies at the Arts Centre Christchurch Te Matatiki Toi Ora (2020), Delfina x Gaia Art Foundation (2020), North York Moors Dark Skies with a solo exhibition (2021), Amant Siena (2021) and CreaTures Art/Tech/Nature/Culture (2022). Her recent commissions and awards include ACE DYCP Grant (2021), Bodleian Library x Fusion Arts Commission (2021), Space Studios x ARUP Commission (2022), Curating Climate Commission Forestry England x Signal Film and Media (2022) and the Jean Harrison Commission (2022). She has recently been selected for the Photo Fringe 2022 OPEN Eco in Worthing.

Beer is a co-investigator on a Vera C. Rubin Observatory grant to develop an artist’s residency at Ōtehīwai Mount John Observatory, located in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, in Takapō, Aotearoa New Zealand. She has a strong collaborative practice and is a director of Lumen, super/collider and Pale Blue Dot Collective. She has co-created 8 residencies in the UK and Europe and co-curated over 80 exhibitions and 80 events focusing on astronomy and/ or the environment.

Past Exhibitions & Events

  • Exhibition
Now Closed
17 March to 21 May 2023