(b.1968, Wakefield, UK)


Martin Creed says that his art is concerned with 'nothing in particular'. Using real objects - doorbells, metronomes, ceramic tiles and items of furniture - and materials such as masking tape, elastoplast, Blu-tack and balloons, he transforms apparently meaningless details into significant matter. By focusing on the insignificant, his interventions seem to shift our attention to the invisible structures which shape our experiences. Everything he makes, from interventional objects to writing, songs and interviews, is assigned a work number - for example, his 2001 Turner Prize-winning intervention is Work # 227: The lights going on and off.

Music plays an important part in Creed's life and art. He formed his own band in 1994, and in 2009, he wrote and choreographed Work # 1020, a live performance of his own music, with ballet, words and film. He has recently created an orchestral piece for the London Sinfonietta, and has devised Work # 1197: All the bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes for the launch of the 2012 Olympic Games.