About
isthisit? is a platform for contemporary art, exhibiting over 800 artists since its creation in May 2016, founded by its director, artist, curator and writer Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online, it operates as a gallery producing exhibitions showcasing emerging to mid-career artists, hosting a roster of guest curators experimenting with the medium of the internet to interrogate a variety of concepts. The website also hosts residencies, where artists are given a web page to create new work that exists on the internet as a piece of net art. Offline, it has held exhibitions nationally and internationally and is the publisher of isthisit?, a book series focusing on a number of broad themes from contemporary modes of surveillance to fake news and video game culture.
In its early days, isthisit? was an incredibly active platform, producing weekly online exhibitions and working with countless artists. More recently we have slowed down our production times for exhibitions, choosing to focus on longer term collaborations, alongside working with artists if/when funding is available.
Since its creation, offline exhibitions have been held at Annka Kultys Gallery, [Senne], The Art Station, arebyte Gallery, Chelsea College of Arts, Harlesden High Street, State of the Art Berlin, The Muse Gallery, CBS Gallery, Serf, A217 Gallery and The Take Courage Gallery. These are venues that we have either been invited to curate a show for, or have submitted a proposal to. If you're interested in us curating an exhibition at your gallery or project space, email us, we're always looking for physical spaces to collaborate with.
We have shown and collaborated with a range of individuals, from art students to internationally recognised artists, from Harun Faroki to Jillian Mayer, Molly Soda to Eva and Franco Mattes. The predominantly online nature of the platform allows us to work with artists from around the world.
Our online shows are curated by a number of guest curators, who are either invited to participate in the platform or have emailed us with a proposal for an online show. We are open to all types of art, although we are predominantly interested in artworks or curatorial proposes with a technological focus, tackling subjects surrounding artificial intelligence to digital avatars.
The residencies feature artists working within these tech inspired areas, being given a number of blank web pages on the website over the course of a 25 day period to create a new piece of net art, as well as access to the isthisit? Instagram account. This can manifest as a digital diary, a finalised piece of work or anything the individual wishes to create. We encourage artists to email us with a proposal if this interests them.
The book series has covered a number of broad themes, from contemporary modes of surveillance to the culture surrounding video games.
You can sign up to our mailing list by clicking here.
Press
The Zone, written by Remote Reviews. Online at www.instagram.com/remote_reviews, 13 May 2020.
Click that! Five really good online exhibitions, written by Anna Meinecke. Online at galleytalk.net, 11 May 2020.
Office Space & The Corporate Gothic, written by Remote Reviews. Online at www.instagram.com/remote_reviews, 26 April 2020.
ISTHISIT? : A platform for post-internet art online before pandemic and art crisis, interview by Eleonora Angiolini w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at www.rotundamagazine.com, 16 April 2020.
Predominantly Online, written by Paula Thomaka. Online at www.pw-magazine.com, 1 April 2020.
No more dreary viewing rooms - How to make a good online exhibition, interview by Anna Meinecke w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at galleytalk.net, 26 March 2020.
Quarantine Art # 1, written by Anna Meinecke. Online at galleytalk.net, 17 March 2020.
Tom Milnes interviews Bob Bicknell-Knight, interview by Tom Milnes w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at Modern Art Oxford, 26 April 2019.
Trust Is The Ultimate Currency. Online at Tique | art paper, 8 April 2019.
Trust is the Ultimate Currency @ Harlesden High Street, written by Yasmine Rix. Online at Kunst Review, 8 April 2019.
Artipoeus Episode 62 - Rosebud, produced and written by Susie Kahlich. Online at Singe Network, 24 March 2019.
The latest issue of isthisit? seeks to answer why the news has become untrustworthy, written by Jyni Ong. Online at It's Nice That, 13 March 2019.
Trust Is The Ultimate Currency at Harlesden High Street / London. Online at Daily Lazy, 8 March 2019.
Trust Is The Ultimate Currency at Harlesden High Street. Online at O FLUXO, 27 February 2019.
‘Trust Is The Ultimate Currency’, a Group Show Curated by Bob Bicknell-Knight at Harlesden High Street, London. Online at TZVETNIK, 25 February 2019.
‘Terms and Conditions May Apply’, a Group Show at Annka Kultys Gallery, London. Online at TZVETNIK, 10 August 2018.
Duty Free group exhibition curated by Bob Bicknell-Knight // isthisit?. Online at earth sciences, 26 June 2018.
‘Duty Free’, a Group Show Curated by Bob Bicknell-Knight at Chelsea College of Arts, London. Online at TZVETNIK, 20 June 2018.
In conversation with… Bob Bicknell-Knight, interview by Elliott Burns w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at Curating the Contemporary, 14 June 2018.
isthisit? explore digital death and the rise of artificial intelligence in group show I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that at arebyte. Online at AQNB, 24 April 2018.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that’, a Group Show at Arebyte, London. Online at TZVETNIK, 19 April 2018.
I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that curated by isthisit? at arebyte Gallery, London. Online at earth sciences, 10 April 2018.
Interview with Bob Bicknell-Knight, interview by Marilyn Roxie w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at VIDEO HOOK-UPS, 15 January 2018.
Caras del Futuro. Rachel Lamot, written by Mit Borrás. Online at Neo2, 8 January 2018.
Bob Bicknell-Knight, interview by David McLeavy w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at Young Artists in Conversation, 10 October 2017.
International Artist-Run Spaces | Cosa ci suggeriscono gli italiani pt. 1. Online at ATP Diary, 5 September 2017.
Enter The Picture - Interview with Bob Bicknell-Knight, interview by Kristina Pulejkova w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at Enter the Picture, 17 August 2017.
The power of the meme in isthisit?’s magazine launch group show. Online at AQNB, 7 August 2017.
People like us, written by Kevin Hunt. Online at a-n, 26 May 2017.
New Artist-Led Hot 100 launched at Assembly Liverpool. Online at a-n, 26 May 2017.
Captured, hoarded and forgotten in Stored in the Depths at IsThisIt?. Online at AQNB, 2 May.
Tabitha Steinberg interviews artist, Bob Bicknell-Knight, interview by Tabitha Steinberg w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online at FAD, 3 April 2017.
Exhibitions, Films & Food Not To Be Missed This March. Online at Something Curated, 1 March 2017.
REAL TASTY CRISPS. Online at Artist and Friends, 3 November 2016.
Artists and Writers
Clerk 37, Nadim Abbas, Rosie Abbey, Carl Abrahamsson, Larry Achiampong, Ololade Adeniyi, Dan Adeyemi, AES+F, Marie Aimee, Bora Akincitürk, Bora Akinciturk, Berk Çakmakçı, Amanda Ali,Morehshin Allahyari, Emii Alrai, Levan Amashukeli, Madeleine Andersson, Gretchen Andrew, Jessica Andrews, Phoebe Angel, Razvan Anghelache, Jade Annaw, [ANTI]MATERIA, Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, Christopher Aque, Sandra Araújo, Jon Arbuckle, Adonis Archontides, Paulo Arraiano, Miro Arva, Louise Ashcroft, AVD, LaTurbo Avedon, Marija Avramovic, Daniela Azahlner, Mel Azevedo, Gazira Babeli, Rosie Back, Stephan Backes, Henry Badrick, Marion Balac, Iain Ball, Hattie Ball, Zuza Banasinska, Simeon Banner, Perry Bard, Peter Barnard, Aram Bartholl, Diann Bauer, Chris Bayley, Amanda Beech, ABOVE & BELOW, Joseph Bernard, Raúl Berrueco, Michael Berto, Veronika Krenn & Davide Bevilacqua, Vitaly Bezpalov, Olly Bharat, Bob Bicknell-Knight, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Matteo Bittanti, Lydia Blakeley, Lydia Blakely, David Blandy, Marc Blazel, Anne de Boer, Anne De Boer, Iona Bone, Anne de Boer and Eloïse Bonneviot, Katharina Joy Book, Lee Bootee, Anderson Borba, Mit Borrás, Lee Boötes, Calum Bowden, Alice Bradnack, Meg Brain, Connor Brazier, Uma Breakdown, James Bridle, Hazel Brill, Jack Brindley, Gert Webb Brown, Ror Brown, Joseph Buckley, Sebastian Burger, Emile Burgoyne, Riley Burks, Elliott Burns, John Butler, Donald S Butler, Alan Butler, Arvida Byström, Abbie Cairns, Samuel Capps, Silvia Carderelli-Gronau, Carl Caruana, Emily Godden & Audit Chaos, Dom Chastney, Wenjing Chen, Ian Cheng, Soo Hyun Cho, James Choucino, Toby Christian, Joshua Citarella, William Noel Clark, Ami Clarke, Amanda Claudine, Amber Clausner, Shamus Clisset, Shannon Cochrane, Patrick Colhoun, Istanbul Queer Art Collective, Julia Collington, Max Colson, Emma Connolly, Irina Contreras, Kirsten Cooke, Robert Cooper, Kate Cooper, Lucia Coppola, Petra Cortright, Joseph Cotgrave, Joachim Coucke, Nina Coulson, Mélanie Courtinat, Juan Covelli, Lucy Cowling, Tash Cox, Natasha Cox, Thomson and Craighead, Sarah Crew, Charlotte Cullen, Romain Curnier, Brendan Curtis, William Dalton, Zandi Dandizette, Meghan Graydon Darby, Louis D'Arcy-Reed, Marcel Darienzo, D'arcy Darilmaz, Corentin Darré, Rado Daskalov, Bug Davidson, Stacey Davidson, Claire Davies, Alyssa Davis, Kez Dearmer, Stine Deja, Joseph DeLappe, Débora Delmar, Pierre Depaz, Sandrine Deumier, Todd Deutsch, Caitlin Dick, Zachary Dietrich, Sian Fann & Susi Disorder, Dominic Dispirito, Elliot Dodd, Valentin Dommanget, Ollie Dook, Harm van den Dorpel, Silvia Dal Dosso, Rose Sinclair Doyle, Henry Driver, DRIVE-THRU, Iyas D-Toth, Matthew Duhamel, Constant Dullaart, Amy Dunwoody, Pippa Eason, Rachael Rosen Ltd Ed, Hannah Edward, Geraint Edwards, Jemma Egan, Adem Elahel, Caroline Elbaor, Naomi Ellis, Taylor Ellis, Karl Erickson, Tim Etchells, Lara Joy Evans, Claire L.Evans, Claire L. Evans, Dominic Ewan, Julia Faber, Raphael Fabre, Liam Fallon, Sian Fan, Cara Farnan, Harun Faroki, Sofie Fatouretchi, Nathaniel Faulkner, Cédric Fauq, Olga Fedorova, Chen Feng, Lisa Fetva, Jack Fisher, Craig Fisher, Naomi Fitzsimmons, Johanna Flato, Juliet Fleming, fleuryfontaine, Ed Florance, Fleury Fontaine, Liv Fontaine, Sarah-Joy Ford, Ed Fornieles, Devon Forrester-Jones, Ilya Fox, Keaton Fox, Fragmentin, Jenny Francis, Daniel Franco, Erma Fiend (Emily Friend), Second Front, Gaia Fugazza, Lolita G, Freya Gabie, Beverley Gadsden, Sofia Gallarate, Tom Galle, Ben Galyas, Allan Gardner, Giorgio Garippa, Lettice Gatacre, Chloe Gatrell, Roxman Gatt, Clare Gatto, Dakota Gearhart, Travis Geertruida, Luca George, Maudie Gibbons, Elliot Warren Gibbons, Georgia Gibson, Gertrūda Gilytė, Bryant Girsch, Lucas Glenn, Rebecca Glover, Patrick Goddard, Ventral is Golden, Alan Goodrich, Rebecca Gould, Matt Greenwood, Aylwin Greenwood-Lambert, Victoria Grenier, Adrien Grigorescu, Thomas Grogan, Benjamin Grosser, Ben Grosser, Nex (Claudio Guarnieri), Kara Gut, Franziska Von Guten, MSHR (Birch Cooper and Brenna Murphy) Susi Gutiérrez, Jennyfer Haddad, Jon Haddock, Rebecca K. Halliwell-Sutton, Joe Hamilton, Helen Hamilton, Michelle Hannah, Katrin Hanusch, Harakirina, Alexander Harding, Richard Hards, Pakui Hardware, Callum Harper, Samantha Harvey, Eleanor Haswell, Eloise Hawser, Corey Hayman, Luna Mae Heflin, Saemundur Thor Helgason, Holly Hendry, Duncan Herd, Marius Hermansen, Roc Herms, Elliot Hewgill, Luca Heydt, Realf Heygate, Eleanor Hill, Ann Hirsch, Scarlett Hirst, Elvira Højberg, Tulani Hlalo, Thomas Hämén, Timothy Hodkinson, Andy Holden, Gordon Holden, Joey Holder, Max Hollands, Ashley Holmes, Lois Hopwood, Tilman Hornig, Louis Hothothot, Sophie Hoyle, Daniel Hüttler, Jamie Hudson, John Hui, tissue.hunter, Teresa Hunyadi, Will Hurt, Sam Hutchinson, AGF HYDRA, Alif Ibrahim, IKO, Stelios Ilchouk, Bex Ilsley, Bertie Irons, James Irwin, Jason Isolini, Johnny Izatt-Lowry, Joseph Jackson, Melanie Jackson, Valentýna Janů, Mathias Jansson, Shira Jeczmien, Joe Jefford, Benji Jeffrey, Jamie Jenkinson, Perce Jerrom, Claire Jervert, Ernst Yohji Jäger, Sid & Jim, Sid and Jim, Jameson Johnson, Amy Jones, Ayesha Tan Jones, Gabriel Junqueira, Susie Kahlich, Tamara Kametani, John Kannenberg, Ronnie Karfiol, Ada Karlbauer, Amanda Karlsson, Matthew Keff, Daniel Keller, Martin Kellett, Frances Kelly, Will Kendrick, Jake Kent, Botond Keresztesi, Saffa Khan, Polina Khatsenka, Andrea Khora, Wednesday Kim, Dawoon Kim, Hun Kyu Kim, Caitlin Merrett King, Ellen King, Solomon King, Jeff Ko, Tom Kobialka, Tomasz Kobialka, Izabela Koczanowska, Bartosz Kolata, Pil & Galia Kollectiv, Vanessa Kowalski, Jan Krombholz, Lisa Kuglitsch, Burkut Kum, Vishal Kumaraswamy, Kasem Kydd, Tom Lambe, Natalie Lambert, Rachel Lamot, Thomas Liu Le Lann, Fabiola Larios, Abi Laurel, Thea Lazar, Brianna Leatherbury, Grace Lee, Lawrence Lek, Ciara Lenihan, Lewdjaw, Women Artists of the North East Library, Lu Lin, Kate Frances Lingard, Thomas van Linge, Suzanne Van der Lingen, Hanne Lippard, Malcolm Litson, Gweni Llwyd, Victoria Lucas, Lucy Ludlow, Jonas Lund, Isa Magalhaes, Laila Majid, Irina Makarova, Kumbirai Makumbe, Ian Malhotra, Ayesha Malik, Mike Mandel, Gerhard Mantz, Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, Benna Gaean Maris, Gabríel Markan, Tessa Mars, Will Marshall, Saskia Martindale, Reuben Martindale, Lilli Mathod, Eva and Franco Mattes, Eva & Franco Mattes, Jillian Mayer, Conall McAteer, Emma McCarthy, Aaron McCarthy, Campbell Mcconnell, Tom McGinn, Corie Denby McGowan, Emma McNamara, Cassie McQuater, Sarah Derat & Rachel McRae, Andrew McSweeney, Beth Mellett, Martina Menegon, Seren Metcalfe, Agata Mickiewicz, Manuel Minch, Heleen Mineur, Renata Minoldo, Erin Mitchell, Eden Mitsenmacher, Bruno Mokross, Jonathan Monaghan, Jake Moore, Ped.Moreira, Paula Morison, Emily Morton, Gabriel S Moses, Ellen Moss, Motsonian, Santiago Muedano, Emily Mulenga, Jake Mullins, Marie Munk, Galina Munroe, Brenna Murphy, Luke Nairn, Maureen Nappi, Joas Nebe, Michaela Nettell, Su Nicholls, Darren Nixon, Andy Nizinskyj, Gabrielle Noel, Avery Noyes, Hannah Nussbaum, Rosa-Maria Nuutinen, Rosa Nuutinen, Camilla Edstrom Odemark, Chloe Patricia O'Neill, David OReilly, James Owens, Hollie Page, Tom Galle and Trevor Paglen, Olivier Pagy, Karanjit Panesar, Eva Papamargariti, Will Pardoe, Sean Roy Parker, Nicola Parker, Ana Pastor, Yuri Pattison, Oliver Payne, Alastair Peat, Alejandra Morote Peralta, Charlotte-Maëva Perret, Larry B & Suzannah Pettigrew, Elsa Philippe, Ella Phillips, Laura Phillips, Brad Phillips, Everest Pipkin, Dani Ploeger, Sheyda Porter, Maisie Florence Post, Claire Potter, Duncan Poulton, Ellie Power, Liv Preston, Laurence Price, Chris Priestman, Christopher Priestman, Ralph Pritchard, Evelyn Privitera, Off Site Project, Lewis Prosser, PucciSethCnxion, Kristina Pulejkova, Michael Pybus, Pete Jiadong Qiang, Agostino Quaranta, Aidan Qvinn, Dead Mall Radio, Penny Rafferty, Tom Railton, Adam Ralph, Jack Ratcliffe, Ben Redmond, Ben Richards, Charles Richardson, Jack Rientoul, Anil Rinat, Dooyong Ro, Tyler Robarge, Bia Rodrigues, Julio Rodriguez, Sophie Rogers, Jason Rohrer, Roberto Ronzani, Camilla Roriz, Jamie Rose, Katy Roseland, Amina Ross, Clara Rosso, Alice Rout, Amber Hanson Rowe, Elinor Rowlands, Jakob Rowlinson, Dennis Rudolph, Sara Sadik, Var Sahakyan, Gaby Sahhar, Moises Sanabria, Olive Sanderson, Ben Sang, Deirdre Sargent, Adam Saunders, Alida Sayer, Patrick Schabus, Aaron Scheer, Lukas Schmeck, Stefan Schwarzer, Erica Scourti, Rustan Söderling, Col Self, Anastasia Semenoff, Natalya Serkova, Claire Serres, Tai Shani, Kent Sheely, Pat Shiu, Letta Shtohryn, Nicolas Sassoon & Rick Silva, Nora Silva, Emily Simpson, Karl Sims, Lotte Rose Kjær Skau, Natalia Skobeeva, Christina Smiros, Georgie Roxby Smith, Luke Smith, Tamsin Snow, Molly Soda, Hazel Soper, Isabelle Southwood, Bobby Spangler, Alexandra Ehrlich Speiser, Holly Standen, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Joscha Steffens, Tabitha Steinberg, Miyö Van Stenis, Ruiz Stephinson, Emma Stern, Tom Stockley, Tea Strazicic, Marta Strazicic, Aidan Strudwick, Linda Stupart, Fred Le Sueur, Jamie Sutcliffe, Olia Svetlanova, Petra Szeman, Petra Szemán, Pilvi Takala, Lynton Talbot, Sevgi Tan, Jonny Tanna, Lucy Taylor, Owen Thackeray, Karl Sims Owen Thackeray, Charlie Godet Thomas, Jack Thurland, Viktor Timofeev, Katie Tindle, Fag Tips, Alex Tobin, Robby Toles, Tim & Tom, Eva Tomopoulou, Cansu Topaloglu, Itamar Toren, Felix Treadwell, Theo Triantafyllidis, Rebecca Tritschler, Sam Twidale, Thomas Tyler, Georgina Tyson, Girls Unawares™, Ben Urban, A. P. Vague, Lucy Vann, Elia Vargas, Gideon Vass, Aaron Vergult, Puck Verkade, Karl Russell Vickers, Owen Gwynne Vince, Klara Vincent-Novotna, Laura de Vogel, Dan Vogt, Bea Vorster, Addie Wagenknecht, Phett Waivv, Wade Wallerstein, Theadora Walsh, Lottie Walsh, Jennifer Walton, Natalie Wardle, Benjamin Warner, Jaimie Warren, Frank Wasser, Brent Watanabe, Alice Watkins, Laura Weaver, Louise Webb, Emily Webb, Marissa Wedenig, Roland Wegerer, Theresa Weisheit, Willem Weisman, Carly Whitaker, Richard Whitby, Joseph Whitmore, Helena Kate Whittingham, Hanae Wilke, Hannah Willcocks, Tobias Williams, Lois Williams, Trystan Williams, Neale Willis, Lewk Wilmshurst, Stephanie Wilson, Dean Winkler, Eugen Wist, Isobel Wohl, Emily Woolley, Qiteng Wu, Michael Wynne, Xim Xom, George Yarker, Qianfu Ye, Funa Ye, Enad Yenrac, Thomas Yeomans, Müge Yıldız, Jiyoung Yoo, Yorkson Yorkson, Kit Young, Jess Young, Lihua Yu, Laura Yuile, Jaf Yusuf, Daniela Zahlner, Chantal Zakari, Malte Zander, Mathew Zefeldt, Sijing Zhang, Jun Zhang, Xindi Zhou, Philipp Zöhrer, Fengyi Zhu and Agnieszka Zimolag.