Beth Dillon (b. 1987, in Sydney, Australia) is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.
She creates performances, video and installation environments that explore contemporary experiences of place and identity. Using handicraft techniques and found, recycled or self-made materials, she embeds personal narratives within wider issues of mobility and tourism, mothering, the politics of ‘work’ and human/non-human entanglements. Her work is often characterised by a ‘slapstick sensibility’ in which humour becomes a tool of communication, critique and resistance. Previous projects have developed through breastmilk bioplastic and baby poo brick experiments, cross-border walks, email correspondence with long-distance lovers, undercover investigations, dietary experiments, public space interventions, and night club performances.
Since 2013, Dillon has collaborated with Australian artists Lachlan Herd and Kieran Bryant as 110% collective. Together, they develop large-scale performance installations for festivals and art spaces, and explore forms of long-distance collaboration through experiments with scores and correspondence. Previous projects include lush oases for the care and comfort of the public; mobile training camps for a collective alpine expedition; synchronized swimming performances in public pools; porous and parasitic monuments in clay, foam and steel; and care stations for the yeast organisms in a fermenting mass of dough.
Dillon’s solo and collaborative projects have been exhibited in international festivals, galleries and museums including la Cantonale Berne Jura, Festival Baz’art (Geneva), DAF (Geneva), Underbelly Arts Festival (Sydney), Soft Centre Festival (Sydney), Liveworks Festival (Sydney), Next Wave Festival (Melbourne), Project Space Festival (Berlin), Month of Performance Art (Berlin), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, c3 Contemporary Art Space (Melbourne), Blindside ARI (Melbourne), Firstdraft Gallery (Sydney), Cement Fondue (Sydney) and Bus Projects (Melbourne). She has completed numerous residencies including: Embassy of Foreign Artists (Geneva), Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), ARE Holland (Enschede, NE) and Listhus Skammdegi AIR (Olafsjordur, IS). Dillon holds a Master of Fine Arts Research (1st Class) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (1st Class Honours, University Medal Distinction) from the University of New South Wales.
Dillon currently directs and curates artist-run-space, espace libre (Biel/Bienne), in collaboration with Vera Trachsel.