Andy Holden: Maximum Irony, Maximum Sincerity 1999-2003: Towards a Unified Theory of MI!MS

The 2013 Annual Commission is a major new show by Bedford-based artist Andy Holden (B. 1982).

The culmination of an 18-month collaboration with the Collection, it includes film, large-scale sculpture and performance exploring the output and legacy of the MI!MS (Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity) artistic movement, which Holden founded with friends before training as an artist in 2003. The movement's manifesto stated “MI!MS is about the willingness to be lied to and the will to believe! It's about the intense sadness of our unrealistic dreams, and the intense joy of our desire for them."

This is Holden's most ambitious project to date and includes collaborations with the other founding MI!MS members: John Blamey, Roger Illingworth, James MacDowell and Johnny Parry.

Holden has had recent solo exhibitions at Tate Britain and Cubitt in London, Kettle's Yard in Cambridge and the Stanley Picker Gallery in Kingston where he was the Stanley Picker Fellow in 2012.

Andy Holden is represented by WORKS|PROJECTS, Bristol

Zabludowicz Collection Annual Commission: Andy Holden, realised in partnership with Spike Island, Bristol, and supported by Bedford Creative Arts and Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University. The exhibition will tour to Spike Island, Bristol: 3 May - 29 June 2014

Look out for the Manifesto in a magazine or Newspaper near you!

Download the Manifesto at the PDF link.