Michael Landy

Works in the UK Government Art Collection

Works in the Tate collection

Known as one of the most thought-provoking artists of the ‘Sensation Generation’

‘What is he going to do now?’ has been the response of most people I have spoken to about Michael Landy since Break Down, his performance-cum-installation earlier this year at the old C&A building, the recently closed-down department store in the heart of London’s shopping district…

Landy famously destroyed all his possessions in his 2001 installation ‘Break Down’ and this major new work also raises issues around disposal, destruction, value and ownership. ‘Art Bin’ foregrounds the role of subjectivity in the attribution of value, as well as the significance of emotional attachments. Exposing the ultimate power and influence of both perceived and actual monetary value, the work also questions the relationship between ownership and authorship…

It’s clear that since that act of radical downsizing, Landy certainly hasn’t rediscovered a taste for home comforts. His East End studio is sparsely furnished: he pulls up a slatted wooden bench for our interview, while I perch on a hard chair, and apart from a table on which sits a laptop and two coffees, that’s it as far as luxury accoutrements go…