Ellie Harrison

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politics

  • 2015 Performance / Events
    Darren Johnson AM hosts a discussion

    This Is What Democracy Looks Like!

    We live in a liberal democracy, yet how much power do we really have to decide the direction of our country? “This Is What Democracy Looks Like!” gives you the opportunity to meet & greet your newly elected politicians at a roving roundtable discussion upon a bicycle built for seven. Hop on, decide on your direction and then travel together through the Olympic Park whilst discussing the issues that matter to you with the people in power.

  • 2014 Installations
    Installation view in Talbot Rice Gallery

    After the Revolution, Who Will Clean Up the Mess?

    An installation / event completely contingent on the result of the Referendum on Scottish Independence on 18 September 2014. The four large confetti cannons installed inside Talbot Rice’s Georgian Gallery would only be detonated in the event of a ‘yes’ vote.
    Project website

  • 2012 Installations
    The Redistribution of Wealth installed at Tate Britain in 2012

    The Redistribution of Wealth

    Installed in Tate Britain’s Historic Collection Room, this piece retells the history of UK government spending on the arts from the birth of the ‘Council for the Encouragement of Music & the Arts’ in 1940, right up to the present day climate of cutbacks.

  • 2011 Internet / Broadcasts

    Personal Political Broadcast

    For the third of 4 LIVE Broadcasts made over the course of a year (December 2010 – November 2011), Harrison explores the impact of political devolution on her own personal identity. Using a variety of regional accents, Harrison interprets the systems of government in use in Scotland, Wales and the wider UK, in order to make the case for electoral reform. (Duration: 14:38)

  • 2011 Installations
    A Brief History of Privatisation installed at Watermans in 2011

    A Brief History of Privatisation

    An installation in which the oscillations in UK public service policy over the last century are re-enacted by an inner circle of electric massage chairs under the seedy glow of red, and then blue, neon.

  • 2010 Internet / Broadcasts

    Transmission: Glasgow to London

    For the first of 4 LIVE Broadcasts made over the course of a year (December 2010 – November 2011), Harrison gives a rambling exploration of ethical compromise and political contradiction. Questioning how a person’s moral outlook and priorities may shift with age, she offers an insight into the life of a home-owning thirty-something in devolved Scotland. (Duration: 18:00)

  • 2010 Performance / Events

    The History of Revolution: Ellie Harrison’s Fireworks Display

    Conceived as the sister work to The History of Financial Crises, this performance spectacle is a one-woman attempt to re-enact a chronology of ‘the history of revolution’ over the course of the last 360 years via the medium of pyrotechnics.

  • 2010 Performance / Events

    General Election Drinking Game

    An endurance performance devised by Harrison to coincide with the 2010 UK general election. Four ‘players’ represented the main political parties – each attempting to drink one shot of lager for every seat in parliament their party won, live as the results came in throughout the night.
    Project website

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(opens in a new tab)

Ellie Harrison

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

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Opening this Thursday! 📢 Please don't miss this special exhibition I've curated to celebrate the Get Glasgow Moving campaign's 10th Anniversary 🥳 I've been working on it all summer and it's 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘅 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 at The New Glasgow Society as part of Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival #GDODF26 @followers 🙏 ...

17 hours ago
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I was delighted to be back in Liverpool City Region this week for the launch of Merseytravel's new publicly-controlled bus network 🚌🥳 I staged 'Bus Regulation: The Musical' here in 2022 and 2023 as part of the campaign which led to Steve Rotheram's decision to become the 2nd UK city region to roll-out bus franchising, after Greater Manchester. Find out more here: ellieharrison.com/merseyside @followers ...

1 week ago
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After 10 years campaigning, it's just brilliant to see The Scottish Government finally taking action to regulate bus fares in Glasgow 👏 But their £2 fare cap will do nothing to improve services, create new routes or integrate timetables and tickets with other transport modes 🚍🚇🚆 For that we must bring our bus network back into public control. Please support Better Buses for Strathclyde to make it happen ✊ @followers ...

2 weeks ago
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Thanks so much to The National Newspaper for inviting me to discuss how to fix Glasgow's public transport on their podcast! 😄🚍🚇🚆 Listen to find out more about my campaigning with Get Glasgow Moving, Better Buses for Strathclyde, Bring Back British Rail & GoBike 👇 @followers ...

1 month ago
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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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2 months 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 ...

3 months 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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5 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
...

5 months ago
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Commodities

  • National Museum of Roller Derby T-Shirt National Museum of Roller Derby T-Shirt £25.00
  • Channel Swimming Challenge Logbook Channel Swimming Challenge Logbook £3.00
  • Ellie & Oliver Show T-Shirt Ellie & Oliver Show T-Shirt £20.00
  • Gold Card Adventures Poster Gold Card Adventures Poster £5.00
  • Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund Sticker Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund Sticker £3.00
  • National Museum of Roller Derby Sticker National Museum of Roller Derby Sticker £3.00
  • Bring Back British Rail Sticker Bring Back British Rail Sticker £3.00
  • Hen Weekend Badge Hen Weekend Badge £2.00
  • The Glasgow Effect (First Edition) The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint £10.00 – £12.00Price range: £10.00 through £12.00

Contact

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  • ellie@ellieharrison.com

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