Lecturer in Visual Communication
Keith Sargent is an artist and filmmaker, serving as a Lecturer in Visual Communication at UCA Canterbury. He is known for his collaborative work with Lindsay Seers on large-scale exhibitions/installations globally, multimedia projects, blending VR, CGI, and sound to explore quantum theory and metaphysical thought. Their work can be found in the Tate and the Artangel Collections. Keith’s films have been showcased at over 100 international film festivals, winning many international awards.
Bio
Visual communicator is the role that I have occupied throughout my entire art education, my teaching posts, my invited artist talks, workshops and the back catalogue of international shows at renowned venues. The complexity of the projects means journeying into the unknown: there are places which there are no manuals or at least people are reluctant to share their secrets. An example of this is Virtual Reality, when Care(less) was produced (2018), there was very little knowledge of how a 360 degree film could be made. The films already out there were just fun rides in a space that made you feel slightly nauseous. Care(less) had to be made without prior knowledge and that certain blindness is what made the end result so emotionally powerful (when it was first shown in Fabrica (Brighton) people asked for time out, to contemplate, to regain their bearings, have some tea and sympathy). The subject matter was emotive: dying, invisibility of the elderly and the failing care system. If it raised concerns/issues to even a few then this piece had a value beyond the artistic/technical achievement. Care(less) 2 addresses the phenomenon of hallucination and embodied viewing in relation to our current social and economic constructs regarding attitudes to the elderly and social care in Britain. In its form it is concerned with the hallucinatory condition of Virtual Reality, which feels closer to how the mind itself works rather than how this is conveyed in the more historic single point of view film mediums. Alongside the medium itself the work questions the dubious cultural conventions/constructs we live by and their incoherence.
As an editing method it follows the fragmentation of consciousness as opposed to the usual narrative constructs derived from literature/main stream cinema. Care(less) 2 steps back into what underpins identity politics to address its true substrate - human consciousness itself.
Keith has a depth of industry design experience: having worked on diverse projects, from small-scale interventions to the interior branding of an entire four story HQ for Cadbury or designing the 48th D&AD annual: Everything is Made. As a book publisher Keith makes, designs and commissions books, working with artists, photographers, illustrators and writers, having produced 30 titles that have been sold worldwide. Press for Fashion Forever covered 324 column inches, with a six page article in the Sunday Times magazine.
His films have been commissioned for commercial projects with clients such as Sony Ericsson, Cadbury, Canonical (Ubuntu), LG, Vodafone, Sony, Energy Saving Trust, Siemens Mobile, MTV, Artangel and the D&AD.
His films have been shown in London, Bristol, Bath, Berlin, Moscow, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Iran, Lebanon, Oslo, Barcelona, Madrid, Vancouver, Toronto, Hollywood, Skopje, Lisbon, Budapest, Cannes, Paris, New York, Czech Republic, Romania, Prague, Rome, Köln, Macedonia, Sweden, Australia, Mumbai, Istanbul, Kolkata, Athens, Russia, Malta, Earth. Three films are shown on the pay per view Canadian/American Art Film Channel: Wildsounds.
He has exhibited in London, Margate, Berlin, Southend, Belfast, Lebanon, Oslo, Arbroath, Knole House, Brighton, Bath, Dunkerque, Bristol, Lincoln, Birmingham, Sharjah(UAE).
He works in collaboration with artist Lindsay Seers on large scale commissions and exhibitions throughout the world. Seers & Sargent began working together in 2012 when Sargent was commissioned to develop digital animations and publications for Seers. Over the intervening years this continued and developed into a collaborative practice. The artists have developed a language of blending objects, environments, light, sound, VR and CGI to contemplate quantum theory in a search for truths. Their work references human, animal and plant life with an ultimate desire for a new philosophy of metaphysical thought that can chime with the science it evokes.
Research statement
Keith works in collaboration with artist Lindsay Seers on large scale commissions and exhibitions throughout the world. Seers & Sargent began working together in 2012 when Sargent was commissioned to develop digital animations and publications for Seers. Over the intervening years this continued and developed into a collaborative practice. The artists have developed a language of blending objects, environments, light, sound, VR and CGI to contemplate quantum theory in a search for truths. Their work references human, animal and plant life with an ultimate desire for a new philosophy of metaphysical thought that can chime with the science it evokes.
Current/upcoming Exhibitions:
- Vamp(yre) Reality, Solo show, Rīgas Fotogrāfijas biennāle (RFB), Riga, Latvia, 18th April 2024 - 20th June 2024.
- Care(less) and Cold Light VR films and drawings, Solo Show, Swedenborg Society, Swedenborg House, London, 2024.
- Nowhere Less Now, Solo Show, Artangel commission, Scotland (Venue to be announced), 2025.
Seers & Sargent have shown in:
- Cold Light (Lite), Chaleur Humaine, Triennale Art and Industrie, FRAC, Frac Grand Large, Dunkerque, Hauts de France, France (2024);
- Cold Light, E-werk, Luckenwalde, Berlin, Germany (2023);
- Cold Light, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (2022);
- Cold Light, Matt's Gallery, London, UK (2022);
- Long-listed for the Aesthetica art prize for Every Thought There Ever Was, featured in Future Now (125 contemporary artists) catalogue and show 2021, York, UK (2021);
- Plicnik Space Initiative online virtual space show, film Anomaly 4 for one year, Earth (2020-21);
- Nowhere Less Now3 [flying saucer], Sharjah Art Foundation (2020);
- Care(less), Fabrica Gallery, Brighton UK, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham UK, frequency festival, Lincoln UK (2019-20);
- Bath Alumni, Bath Spa University, Bath, UK (2020);
- Every Thought There Ever Was, installation/film/animation/sound, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton UK;
- Every Thought There Ever Was, installation/film/animation/sound, Hospitalfields, Arbroath, UK (2019);
- Vanishing Twin (Tetragametic Chimerism), Fotogalleriet, Oslo (2019);
- 2052 Selves [a biography], Knole House, UK (2018).
- Every Thought There Ever Was, installation/film/animation/sound, The Mac, Belfast UK (2018);
- Every Thought There Ever Was, installation/film/animation/sound, Focal Point Gallery, Southend, UK (2018).
Film Festivals: Today I Wrote Nothing
- Award Winner (Best Black and White Film)), Beyond the Screen Film Festival, Antwerp, Belgium. 2024.
- Award Winner (Best Black and White Film)), Sunny Film Festival, Berlin, Germany. 2024.
- Award Winner (Best Black and White Film)), Your Way International Film Festival, Valetta, Malta. 2023.
- Award Winner (Best Short Film), 60 seconds or Less Video Festival, Maryland, USA. 2022.
- Award winner (best animation), 1st Monthly Film Festival, Belgrade, Serbia. 2022.
- Award winner (best animation), Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, Kolkata, India. 2022.
- Award winner (experimental film), Luis Bunuel Memorial Awards, Kolkata, India. 2022.
- Award winner (international video poetry), La Poesia Che Si Vede - International competition, Franco Scataglini Award, Ancona, Italy. 2022.
- Award winner (best original soundtrack), Brighton Rocks International Film Festival, Brighton, UK. 2022.
- Award Winner (black and white short film), Black and White Film Festival, Toronto, Canada. 2022.
Film Festivals: Always The Sun
- Award Winner (Best Short Film), Budapest International Film Festival, Budapest, Hungary. 2023.
- Award winner (Best Poetry Short), Make Art Not Fear, Porto, Portugal. 2022.
- Award winner, L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival, Kolkata, India. 2020.
- Runner-up, Brighton Rocks International film Festival, Brighton, UK. 2020.
Film Festivals: Anomaly 4, Lindsay Seers/Keith Sargent
- Award Winner (Best Animation), Night of Drama Shorts Film Festival, Milano, Italy. 2023.
- Nominee, Best Short film, Continental film festival, Munich, Germany. 2022.
- Award winner (best short film), Wildsounds Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA. 2021.
- Award winner (best animation), Eastern Europe Film Festival, Romania. 2021.
- Plicnik Space Initiative online virtual space show film Anomaly 4 for one year, 2020-2021.
- Award winner, L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival, Kolkata, India. 2020.
Film Festivals: Care(less) 2, VR film, Keith Sargent/Lindsay Seers
- Award winner (best 360/VR), Indo Global International Film Festival, Mumbai, India. 2022.
- Award winner, Best VR/360 film, L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival, Kolkata, India. 2020.
- Award winner, Best VR/360 film, Barcelona Planet Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain. 2020.
Film Festivals: S/he is still inside you, Lindsay Seers/Keith Sargent
- Finalist (best documentary), 1st Monthly Film Festival, Belgrade, Serbia. 2022.
- Award Winner, best documentary, Absurd Art House film festival, Blue Town, Isle of Sheppey. 2021.
- Finalist, Sweden film awards, Lulea, Sweden. 2020