Monica Tolia is a London-based visual artist, performer & organiser. Their multidisciplinary practice culminates into sensory installations, performances & events drawing on communal ritual acts, animist & Taoist spiritual themes as decolonial approaches to inhabiting space together. Their research is based on how non-Western knowledge practices can inform collective-building, deep connections & healing amongst human and more-than-human worlds, contemplating critical questions with regard to influences of technology & political reality. Since 2021, they are co-founder of the ESEA diaspora collective ‘Have you eaten yet?’, organising performance-based events on the intersections of food, migration, art/activism & creating affectionate space.
CONTACT: MONICATOLIA89@GMAIL.COM
CV
Monica Tolia, b. 1989
Lives and works in London, UK
EDUCATION & TRAINING
2022 Constellations, alternative learning programme in social practice & public art run by Up Projects, Flattime House & Liverpool Biennial
2018 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES & TALKS
2022
DÉCALÉ 6, Space289 | London, UK
Resolution Festival 2022, The Place | London, UK
Have you eaten yet?' Collective & VFP presents Lunar New Year Festival, Deptford X & Deptford Lounge | London, UK
2021
Hidden Harts performance film screenings: '2m', hARTslane Gallery | London, UK
(Online) HARSH LIGHT series, Bloc Projects | Sheffield, UK & ONLINE
(Online) 'Between food, art & activism' for ESEA Heritage Month, BESEA Network | ONLINE
(Performance & exhibition) Have you eaten yet?, Deptford X Festival Commission | London, UK
2020
Ruderal Consciousness, hARTslane Gallery | London, UK
Return to the Body, Chalton Gallery | London, UK
2019
(Talk) 'Digital & the Body' Panel in 'Performance Design in the Digital Age' Symposium, V&A Museum | London UK
Conditions, Unit 50/51 Whitgift Centre | Croydon, UK
Performance: 'Ambient Reproduction' in Mass Hysteria presents: 'What'soverthefence cherries' | London, UK
Art Night 2019, Chalton Gallery | London, UK
Friday Lates: Art Schooled, V&A Museum | London, UK
Anamorphic Waves, Ugly Duck | London, UK
Performance: 'BioSonics' in UKYA City Takeover Festival, Nottingham Contemporary | Nottingham, UK
Diaspora Disco, Eastern Margins & Phantom Limb presents: Lunar New Year, The Yard | London, UK
Contingent Behaviours, Gossamer Fog | London, UK
2018
Open Studios, Conditions | Croydon, UK
(Talk) RIXC Open Fields 2018: Global Control, Int'l Conference on Art, Science, Technologies & Humanities, National Library of Latvia | Riga, LV
Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art Degree Show 2018, Goldsmiths, University of London | London, UK
(Talk) 'Art and Automation' stream, London Conference in Critical Thought 2018, University of Westminster, London, UK
(Talk) AVBODY: Symposium on the Audiovisual Body, The Research Centre for Performance Practices at University of Huddersfield, UK
Diffracta, Total Refreshment Centre | London, UK
Sonic Topologies, The Glove that Fits | London, UK
Sofia Underground Performance Art Festival: "what now/now what", Sofia Arsenal-Museum for Contemporary Art | Sofia, BG
Edited Arts presents: Radiophonic Festival, The Cause | London, UK
AWARDS & GRANTS
2022 | Shapes Lewisham (CEZ) Creative Happenings Grant
2021 | a-n Artists Bursaries 2021: Time Space Money
2021 | Trinity Laban Ignite Award
2020 | Arts Council England Emergency Support Grant for Artists
2019 | Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant for 'FUTURE PRESENT'
2019 | Santander Universities Prototyping Fund Grant
2018 | a-n Biennial Bursary Award - Berlin
RESIDENCIES
2020 | Deptford X: How to be together again, London, UK
2019 | Pavilion Dance Southwest, with Robert Bridger, Bournemouth, UK
2018 | Desktop Choreography, RECLAIM Digital Movement Research Residency, curated by Robert Bridger, London, UK
2018 | UK Young Artists Cornish Weekender, residency at Porthmeor Studios, St. Ives, UK
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
Contextual Essay by Mimi Chu, Deptford X. July 2021.
'Future Present' - Monica Tolia Interview, Chrom Art Magazine. April 2019.
Ten Artists to Watch: MA & MFA Shows 2018, Elephant Magazine. 24 July 2018
Interview: Goldsmiths MFA 2018 'art in the spotlight'. June 2018.
Lives and works in London, UK
EDUCATION & TRAINING
2022 Constellations, alternative learning programme in social practice & public art run by Up Projects, Flattime House & Liverpool Biennial
2018 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES & TALKS
2022
DÉCALÉ 6, Space289 | London, UK
Resolution Festival 2022, The Place | London, UK
Have you eaten yet?' Collective & VFP presents Lunar New Year Festival, Deptford X & Deptford Lounge | London, UK
2021
Hidden Harts performance film screenings: '2m', hARTslane Gallery | London, UK
(Online) HARSH LIGHT series, Bloc Projects | Sheffield, UK & ONLINE
(Online) 'Between food, art & activism' for ESEA Heritage Month, BESEA Network | ONLINE
(Performance & exhibition) Have you eaten yet?, Deptford X Festival Commission | London, UK
2020
Ruderal Consciousness, hARTslane Gallery | London, UK
Return to the Body, Chalton Gallery | London, UK
2019
(Talk) 'Digital & the Body' Panel in 'Performance Design in the Digital Age' Symposium, V&A Museum | London UK
Conditions, Unit 50/51 Whitgift Centre | Croydon, UK
Performance: 'Ambient Reproduction' in Mass Hysteria presents: 'What'soverthefence cherries' | London, UK
Art Night 2019, Chalton Gallery | London, UK
Friday Lates: Art Schooled, V&A Museum | London, UK
Anamorphic Waves, Ugly Duck | London, UK
Performance: 'BioSonics' in UKYA City Takeover Festival, Nottingham Contemporary | Nottingham, UK
Diaspora Disco, Eastern Margins & Phantom Limb presents: Lunar New Year, The Yard | London, UK
Contingent Behaviours, Gossamer Fog | London, UK
2018
Open Studios, Conditions | Croydon, UK
(Talk) RIXC Open Fields 2018: Global Control, Int'l Conference on Art, Science, Technologies & Humanities, National Library of Latvia | Riga, LV
Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art Degree Show 2018, Goldsmiths, University of London | London, UK
(Talk) 'Art and Automation' stream, London Conference in Critical Thought 2018, University of Westminster, London, UK
(Talk) AVBODY: Symposium on the Audiovisual Body, The Research Centre for Performance Practices at University of Huddersfield, UK
Diffracta, Total Refreshment Centre | London, UK
Sonic Topologies, The Glove that Fits | London, UK
Sofia Underground Performance Art Festival: "what now/now what", Sofia Arsenal-Museum for Contemporary Art | Sofia, BG
Edited Arts presents: Radiophonic Festival, The Cause | London, UK
AWARDS & GRANTS
2022 | Shapes Lewisham (CEZ) Creative Happenings Grant
2021 | a-n Artists Bursaries 2021: Time Space Money
2021 | Trinity Laban Ignite Award
2020 | Arts Council England Emergency Support Grant for Artists
2019 | Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant for 'FUTURE PRESENT'
2019 | Santander Universities Prototyping Fund Grant
2018 | a-n Biennial Bursary Award - Berlin
RESIDENCIES
2020 | Deptford X: How to be together again, London, UK
2019 | Pavilion Dance Southwest, with Robert Bridger, Bournemouth, UK
2018 | Desktop Choreography, RECLAIM Digital Movement Research Residency, curated by Robert Bridger, London, UK
2018 | UK Young Artists Cornish Weekender, residency at Porthmeor Studios, St. Ives, UK
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
Contextual Essay by Mimi Chu, Deptford X. July 2021.
'Future Present' - Monica Tolia Interview, Chrom Art Magazine. April 2019.
Ten Artists to Watch: MA & MFA Shows 2018, Elephant Magazine. 24 July 2018
Interview: Goldsmiths MFA 2018 'art in the spotlight'. June 2018.