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studio [at] parsonscharlesworth [dot] com

ARTIST STATEMENT
Parsons & Charlesworth creates visually provocative objects, installations and digital media that invite viewers into meticulously crafted and designed alternate realities. Working with materials such as cast resins, woven willow, bent metal, inflatable PVC, molded fabrics and readymades they transform conventional materials into artifacts from imagined futures that feel both strange and familiar. Their studio operates as an artistic laboratory where speculative scenarios take physical form, challenging viewers to reconsider their relationship with technology and ecology. Through their richly detailed worlds, Parsons & Charlesworth examines the complex mythology of progress that underpins contemporary society. Each project begins with extensive research and dialogue with scientists, specialists and communities, resulting in works that blur the boundaries between art, design, and critical inquiry. Like archaeologists of possible futures, they excavate the moral dilemmas embedded in our technological aspirations. Rather than offering utopian solutions, their work creates spaces where uncomfortable questions can surface. By materialising abstract concepts into tangible experiences, they invite audiences to physically engage with alternate ways of living and being. Their practice ultimately serves as a mirror, reflecting our collective anxieties and desires about what lies ahead and how we might chart a more just and enlightened future ahead.

BIO
Parsons & Charlesworth is a collaboration between Tim Parsons (UK) and Jessica Charlesworth (UK/Canada) Jessica Charlesworth and Tim Parsons co-founded Parsons & Charlesworth after relocating to Chicago from the UK, creating a research-based artistic laboratory at the intersection of art, design, and critical inquiry. Both studied at the Royal College of Art. Their work has appeared at Venice Architecture Biennale, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Walker Art Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Design Museum London, among others.

Their current project, Multispecies Inc., involves field research and in-depth conversations with specialists in biology, climate science, and climate modeling. This endeavor manifests as a series of narratives and objects around a fictional group of ecologists striving to cohabit with other species using advanced technologies. They are recent NEW INC Members on the Creative Science Track as part of the New Museum mentorship incubator program. Tim Parsons studied (MA) Design Products at the Royal College of Art and Jessica Charlesworth studied Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art. Jessica teaches at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Tim is Professor of Art and Design at Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. Their work has appeared internationally in galleries, museums, institutions, and festivals including Venice Architecture Biennale, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Design Museum London, MAAT Lisbon, Science Gallery Dublin, Science Gallery Monterrey, piknic (Seoul), Istanbul Design Biennial, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), London Design Festival, and the Chicago Cultural Center.

Recent honors, grants, and awards for their work include the 2024 Lumen Arts Prize Futures Award,  2024 Artist Residency grant from Canada Council for the Arts Grant, 2022 Research grant from Canada Council for the Arts,  2021 Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts Grant, support from the British Council, a 2020 Mitchell Enhancement Award from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 10 Faculty Enrichment Grants from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2019 Canada Council for the Arts Realization Grant, 2016 grant from the Awesome Foundation and 2010 First Prize Winner for Project Vienna, MAKVienna, Austria.

Notable artist residencies include the 2026 Artists-In-Residence at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, 2023 Artist-In-Residence Project Space at Headlands Center for the Arts, the 2019 Artist-In-Residence at Krems, Austria, the 2016 Residency at Kriti Gallery, Varanasi, India, a 2014 Residency at Roger Brown House, New Buffalo, Michigan, a 2013 Residency at Home Is Where The Art Is, Charleston, South Carolina  Their work is featured in various private collections and in the permanent collection at the MAKVienna and DePaul Art Museum.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS + ACTIVITIES

2026

May – August 2026
Artists in Residence
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art
Omaha, Nebraska

February 5 2026 – March 8 2026
Assembling The Social
The Social Design Lab, Department of Architecture,
National University of Singapore

January 30 – May 31, 2026
More than Human – Design with Nature
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Switzerland

2025


More Than Human
Design Museum, London

2024

November 2024 – August 2025
Brave New Future,
Science Gallery Monterrey, Mexico

July – August 2024
Artists-In-Residence, Studio Alto, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

May 2024
NYCxDesignxSouvenir
Hudson Yards

May – June 2024
Multispecies Inc
Space and Time Gallery, Chicago

March – July 2024
Running: Birds Fly, Fish Swim, Humans Run
Piknic, 194 Namchang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

2023

June 15 – July 4 2023
NEW INC Creative Science Exhibition, DEMO 2023, Pier 17, New York

July 17 – August 31 2023
Artists-In-Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California

August 2023 – May 2024
Meta What? Media Majlis, Northwestern University, Qatar

September – December 2023
Design for the Unthinkable World, Kora – Centro del Contemporaneo, Italy

2022

NEW INC Year 9 Members
We are Members of the Creative Science Track at New Museum’s NEW INC

Sept 2 – Nov 4 2022
The New Earth, Public Works Gallery, Chicago

June 23 – 30 2022
Catalog for the Post-Human, Jerusalem Design Week, Israel

March 7 – 10 2022
Lecture + Masterclass, Tasmeem Design Biennale, Virginia Commonwealth University, Doha, Qatar

2021

Nov 2021 – Jan 2022
Catalog For The Post-Human, The Whole Earth 2045, re:future lab, Berlin

May – Nov 2021
Catalog For The Post-Human, Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy

May – Nov 2021
Future Assembly,  Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy

Oct 16 – 24 2021
Supermarket of the Future, Embassy of Food, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, Netherlands

2020

Sep 12, 2020–Apr 11, 2021
Designs for Different Futures, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

2019

October 22, 2019–March 8, 2020
Designs for Different Futures, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania

 

ABOUT
Tim Parsons (UK) Jessica Charlesworth (UK/Canada)

Jessica Charlesworth is a British/Canadian transdisciplinary artist, designer and educator. She co-founded the studio Parsons and Charlesworth in 2014 with Tim Parsons upon relocating to Chicago from the UK. A Masters graduate of the Design Interactions course at the Royal College of Art in London, Jessica explores the speculative impacts of emerging technologies on future society and culture. Her artistic journey is anchored in extensive research and critical inquiry, utilizing art and design as powerful tools to navigate the intricate landscapes of social, ecological, and technological challenges. With over 15 years of teaching experience, Jessica has created futures-oriented classes, mentored students, lectured and independently organised workshops at universities and education institutions including Harvard Business School, University of Pennsylvania, California College of the Arts, University of Michigan, ArtCenter College of Design, Central St Martins, Glasgow School of Art, Royal College of Art, Bath School of Art & Design, St. Joost School of Art & Design, Netherlands and Moholy Nagy University, Budapest. She is a part-time faculty member in Designed Objects at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has collaborated with artists, futurists, scientists, and think tanks including Foresight (UK) and the Institute for the Future (US). 

Tim Parsons is a designer, author, and educator having studied Industrial design before earning a Master of the Arts Degree in Design Products at London’s Royal College of Art in 2000. He has gone on to teach product design at universities in Britain and America. Tim previously taught at the University of the Arts London and Manchester Metropolitan University. As a designer, he has worked with manufacturers in Britain and Europe and exhibited widely, including at The Design Museum, London, and MCA, Chicago. As a writer, Tim has contributed articles and essays to publications including Blueprint, ICON, Crafts, and Phaidon’s Design Classics, and his book Thinking: Objects: Contemporary Approaches to Product Design was published in 2009 by AVA Academia. He is also the writer and instructor of the online course Making Meaning: An Introduction to Designing Objects. Tim is Professor of Art and Design at Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan.

studio [at] parsonscharlesworth [dot] com

 

 

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