Phil Collins’s film he who laughs last laughs longest is shot over the summer of 2006 at an event organised by the artist to find the person who could laugh continuously for the longest duration. he who laughs last laughs longest focuses on participants struggle to sustain their laughter for a cash–prize.
About the artist
Phil Collins (b.1970) is an artist currently based in Glasgow.
Collins’ concern with people, place and community is central to his practice as a video-maker and photographer. His artistic engagement with socially and politically conflicted situations is often mediated through forms of entertainment and performance that belie the gravity of the issues addressed. Such a dynamic is exemplified by Collins’ they shoot horses (2004) in which he staged an eight–hour disco–marathon with a group of young people in Ramallah.
Recent solo exhibitions include ‘they shoot horses’, Tate Britain, London (2006–7), Neue Kunsthalle St. Gallen, St. Gallen and ‘the return of the real’, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (both 2006) and ‘yeah….. you, baby you’, Milton Keynes Gallery, (2005). Recent group shows include British Art Show 6, touring venues UK (2005–6), and the Istanbul Biennial, ‘Universal Experience: Art, Life and the Tourist’s Eye’, Hayward Gallery, London & Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and ‘Populism’, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (all 2005) Forthcoming solo exhibitions include ‘New Work: Phil Collins’, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2006) and Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst’, Münster (2007). Phil Collins has been nominated for the Turner Prize 2006 showing at Tate Britain, London, October 2006.
