Ellie Harrison

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  • 2015 Media

    Transmediale Festival’s 2015 Exhibitions Bring Artist Labour and Bodies into Focus

    2 Feb 2015
    ArtSlant Berlin (Germany)

  • 2015 Lectures
    Transmediale

    Transmediale: Capture All

    Harrison discusses her strategies for monitoring and redressing the work-life balance, as part of the Time & Motion panel at Transmediale 2015: Capture All.

  • 2015 Exhibition

    Time & Motion: Redefining Working Life

    29 Jan 2015
    HKW, Berlin (Germany)

  • 2015 Media

    Transmediale 2015

    27 Jan 2015
    Berlin.de (Germany)

  • 2015 Media

    Generation: Pour l’historicité du présent

    1 Jan 2015
    Espace (Canada) (Issue 109 p.76-77)

  • 2014 Lecture

    Artist’s Talk

    20 Nov 2014
    Brandts 13, Odense (Denmark)

  • 2014 Lectures

    Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

    Talk by Ellie Harrison to students at Funen Art Academy in Denmark, presenting the ideas behind the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills – a title borrowed from the UK Government for her studio during her six-week residency at the academy.

  • 2014 Performance / Events

    The Global Race

    The Global Race is an absurd vision of an Olympic games of the future, in which the brilliance of human ‘innovation‘ means we no longer need to break a sweat! At an athletics track in central Berlin, a group of ‘elite athletes’ and members of the public competed in a series of races on Segways.

  • 2014 Media

    L’Ecosse Répète son Indépendance sur les Planches

    21 Aug 2014
    Le Monde (France) (p.12)

  • 2014 Media

    Time & Motion: come ridefinire oggi la nostra vita lavorativa

    8 Jan 2014
    UnDo.net (Italy)

  • 2013 Media

    Swaying Railway

    17 Sep 2013
    KBS News (South Korea)

  • 2013 Media

    Копья против ножниц: искусство в плену бюджетных сокращений

    20 May 2013
    Colta.ru (Russia)

  • 2013 Media

    The History of Financial Crises

    17 May 2013
    Money after Money (Japan)

  • 2013 Publication

    Money after Money

    2 May 2013
    マック (Japan) (p.13-14) ISBN 978-4907367008

  • 2013 Exhibition

    Money after Money

    2 May 2013
    Eye of Gyre, Tokyo (Japan)

  • 2013 Media

    Téma: Eat 22

    1 Apr 2013
    Čilichili (Czech Republic) (p.20)

  • 2012 Exhibition

    Experimenting With Clouds

    12 May 2012
    Rua Red, Dublin (Ireland)

  • 2011 Exhibition

    Trajector Art Fair

    30 Apr 2011
    Brussels (Belgium)

  • 2011 Internet / Broadcasts

    UK Weather Report

    For the second of 4 LIVE Broadcasts made over the course of a year (December 2010 – November 2011), Harrison interprets the unusually cold weather experienced in the UK in December 2010. By observing the short-term impact these conditions had on retail sales in the run-up to Christmas, she raises questions about the long-term effect of capitalism on climate change. (Duration: 10:30)

  • 2011 Exhibition

    Re-generation

    20 Jan 2011
    Plato Sanat, Istanbul (Turkey)

  • 2010 Exhibition

    Definite Article

    6 Aug 2010
    Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (Germany)

  • 2010 Lecture

    Artist’s Talk

    29 Jul 2010
    Monash University, Melbourne (Australia)

  • 2010 Lecture

    Artist’s Talk

    23 Jul 2010
    Swinburne University, Melbourne (Australia)

  • 2010 Media

    Lady Dada

    1 Feb 2010
    Trece:Veinte (Mexico) (Issue 54 p.22-29)

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News

Ellie Harrison is an artist & activist based in Glasgow (UK). In 2023 she won the Stephen Fry Public Engagement Award for her ‘Bus Regulation: The Musical’ Trilogy in Greater Manchester, Strathclyde & Merseyside (2019 – 2023).
In 2021 the Second Edition of Harrison’s book The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint was launched at the UN Habitat’s Innovate4Cities conference to mark the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, and chosen by the Ecologist for the Resurgence Book Club. Her Early Warning Signs were also exhibited at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library during COP26 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the project.
Harrison’s Vending Machine continues to feature in the 😹 LMAO exhibition exploring humour in data visualisation at the Open Data Institute in London.

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Ellie Harrison

Ellie Harrison

Artist, activist & author of 'The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint' 📚

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It was great to meet Paul from PalFox Photography last month when he visited me at Wasps Studios Hanson Street to take these fab pictures 📷

My studio has always been more like an office than anything else, going back to my very first one in Glasgow in the Barnes Building at The Glasgow School of Art from 2008-2010. I bought ‘The Boss’ mug back then as I was interested in the aesthetics of the corporate world and exploring what it meant to be self-employed worker, making pieces like ‘The History of Financial Crises’ (2009), ‘Desk Chair Parade’ (2009) and ‘Desk Chair Disco’ (2011), and the ‘Work-a-thon for the Self-Employed’ (2011).

I’m not making much art these days as nearly all my time goes into local community activism, particularly with the Glasgow Community Energy co-operative which I helped get up-and-running during the pandemic, and with the Get Glasgow Moving public transport campaign which I co-founded in 2016.

Over the summer I’m preparing for Get Glasgow Moving’s 10th Anniversary Exhibition at the New Glasgow Society, which opens on Thurs 17 September as part of Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival 2026.

I love using my creative skills to further causes that I’m passionate about. Over the years I've designed many campaign materials – including this ‘Trans-Clyde Links You Clyde-Wide’ T-Shirt, which is based on the original marketing for the Trans-Clyde integrated public transport network launched by the Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive in 1979, the year that I was born.

The integrated public transport networks which most big city-regions had were wilfully destroyed in 1986 with the deregulation (and later privatisation) of buses. This was one of the most destructive of all Margaret Thatcher’s policies, and it is shameful that The Scottish Government has continued to maintain it for more than quarter of a century of devolution. With the Better Buses for Strathclyde campaign, we are doing all we can to get our region’s buses back in public control.

If you like the T-Shirt, come down to the exhibition in September and you’ll be able to get one there! And, if you'd like to have a nosey round my studio, I'm also planning to take part in the Open Studios at Wasps Artists' Studios - Hanson Street, Glasgow on Sat 3 October 😊 See you there! @followers
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3 days ago
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This 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟱 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 in Glasgow! 📢 I'm delighted to be talking about my work with Get Glasgow Moving & Glasgow Community Energy at the 𝘙𝘦𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘨𝘰𝘸? conference at the University of Glasgow 🎟️ Tickets are free, so come join us 👇 @followers ... See MoreSee Less

1 month ago
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Don't miss our Better Buses National Hustings tonight! 👇 You can catch me on the livestream at 7pm:
📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rFh2CjP_Xs @followers
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3 months ago
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"We need The Scottish Government to support our transport authority, SPT, to bring the bus network back into public control, so they can deliver a fully-integrated, accessible and affordable public transport network across the region like Greater Manchester’s new ‘Bee Network’, or the recently released plans for South Yorkshire’s ‘People’s Network’" — Ellie Harrison

I was delighted to contribute to Gerry Hassan's article for Bella Caledonia about 𝘈 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘨𝘰𝘸 👏 Read online here 👇
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/03/31/time-for-a-new-deal-and-vision-for-glasgow @followers
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3 months ago
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Calling all A-N members! Don't miss this online artist's talk and workshop on '𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲' which I'm co-hosting this Thursday 2 April, 11am-1pm 🌍 Find out more 👇 @followers ... See MoreSee Less

4 months ago
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Are you in Glasgow t

Are you in Glasgow this evening? Come along to this free screening of the brilliant POWER Film at The Glasgow School of Art 👇 I'll be introducing the event, talking about my work with Glasgow Community Energy and chairing a Q&A with artist and filmmaker Hilary Powell 😊 @followersSave the date! 🌞 We're delighted to be collaborating with Friends of the Earth Scotland to bring you Turning homes into renewable Power Stations: film screening & Discussion 👇
🗓️ Thurs 12 March 2026, 5:30pm
📍 Reid Building, The Glasgow School of Art
🎟️ Book free tickets: powerstationGSA.eventbrite.com @followers
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4 months ago
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It’s this blatant injustice that motivates all my campaigning 😡 Why should people in the poorest parts of Glasgow have to pay 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 for an essential public service as bankers in the City of London? Shame on The Scottish Government for presiding over this system for more than 25 years! @followers ... See MoreSee Less

6 months ago
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Ten years ago today, I was just beginning my year-long durational performance #TheGlasgowEffect which was to become one of the most controversial publicly-funded artworks that Scotland had ever seen.

Part psychological experiment, part protest, part strike, for the whole of 2016, I vowed not to travel beyond Glasgow’s city limits, or use any vehicles except my bike.

I described my experience of starting #TheGlasgowEffect, including being at the centre of the social media stooshie it provoked, in ‘When the Chips Hit the Fan’ – Chapter 5 of my book ‘The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint’ published by Luath Press 📚

We have just printed a newly updated version of the Second Edition, so do have a read if you’d like to be transported back to that moment in January 2016... Find out more at: ellieharrison.com/book @followers
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6 months ago
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Commodities

  • Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund Sticker Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund Sticker £3.00
  • 4 Live Broadcasts DVD 4 LIVE Broadcasts DVD £20.00
  • Ellie & Oliver Show T-Shirt Ellie & Oliver Show T-Shirt £20.00
  • Channel Swimming Challenge Logbook Channel Swimming Challenge Logbook £3.00
  • Part-time Book Part-time Book £10.00
  • Counterpoint Poster Counterpoint Poster £10.00
  • Bring Back British Rail Sticker Bring Back British Rail Sticker £3.00
  • Gold Card Adventures Poster Gold Card Adventures Poster £5.00
  • Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector Book Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector £10.00

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