Ellie Harrison

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Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund

  • 2021 Media
    Power Films

    Cop Out 26

    3 Dec 2021
    Power Films

  • 2021 Writing

    City as Social Sculpture

    In this interview for LADA’s Live Art Sector Research report, Harrison reflects on how Live Art tools and tactics have influenced her practice, and explains how her Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund project evolved into Glasgow Community Energy – Glasgow’s new community-owned renewable energy co-operative. (Word count: 1,010)

  • 2019 Lecture

    Assembly: Alternative Funding

    22 Nov 2019
    The NewBridge Project, Gateshead

  • 2019 Writing

    The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint

    On 4 November 2019, Luath Press published Harrison’s first book. Inspired by her 2016 ‘durational performance’ The Glasgow Effect – for which she refused to travel beyond Glasgow’s city limits, or use any vehicles except her bike, for the whole calendar year – the book provides the complete context for her thinking and action. (Word count: 119,000)

  • 2018 Lecture

    Art & Energy

    9 May 2018
    Free Exchange, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, Northamptonshire

  • 2017 Media

    The New Conservatism: Complicity & the UK Art World’s Performance of Progression

    24 Oct 2017
    e-flux

  • 2017 Media

    Rebellious Concepts

    1 Apr 2017
    Sleek (Issue 53 p.78-82) (Germany)

  • 2017 Lecture

    Energising Culture

    9 Mar 2017
    Julie's Bicycle, Barbican, London

  • 2017 Lecture

    How can we afford an ethical practice?

    1 Mar 2017
    Royal College of Art, London

  • 2016 Exhibition

    Art – Possibility – Action

    10 Sep 2016
    Bloc Projects, Sheffield

  • 2016 Lecture

    What can the world learn from radical approaches to socially engaged art-making?

    Harrison was invited to introduce the Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund project as part of this panel discussion chaired by Anna Cutler at the third International Teaching Artist Conference (ITAC3) exploring ‘Best, next and radical practice in participatory arts‘. (Timecode 00:56-09:05)

  • 2016 Lecture

    The RRAAF Founding Symposium

    Harrison outlines the vision, mission and values of the Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund at the start of its Founding Symposium at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow on 23-24 July 2016.

  • 2016 Media

    Loving the Inbox: the Artist as Bureaucrat

    1 Jul 2016
    ArtReview Asia (p.68-71)

  • 2016 Newsletter

    RRAAF Founding Symposium (Centre for Contemporary Arts)

    20 Jun 2016

  • 2016 Exhibition

    Festival of Questions

    2 Feb 2016
    The Storey, Lancaster Arts

  • 2016 Media

    Stay or Glasgow?

    1 Feb 2016
    Art Monthly (Issue 393 p.11)

  • 2016 Media

    From Below: A Visual Arts Reflection on ArtCOP Scotland

    22 Jan 2016
    Creative Carbon Scotland

  • 2016 Media

    Artists need to stick their necks out

    7 Jan 2016
    CommonSpace

  • 2015 Lectures

    The RRAAF Report Launch Event

    Harrison outlines the ideas behind her new Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund project at the Launch of The RRAAF Report at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.

  • 2015 Media

    Project to turn renewable energy into arts funding has wind in its sails

    14 Dec 2015
    a-n website

  • 2015 Newsletter

    RRAAF Kickstarter – Last Chance to Get Involved!

    2 Dec 2015

  • 2015 Media

    Wind-Powered Art

    30 Nov 2015
    10:10 UK

  • 2015 Lectures

    The RRAAF Debate

    Harrison outlines the ideas behind her new Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund project at the Shifting Power event at Beaconsfield in London.

  • 2015 Lectures

    Sustainability in Practice

    Speaking at the Culture & Sustainability event organised by Julie’s Bicycle at The Tetley in Leeds, Harrison discusses the challenges and consequences of putting ‘sustainability’ into practice; specifically: her life-long project Early Warning Signs, her Environmental Policy and how her breaches of its Transportation section led to The Glasgow Effect.

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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 weeks 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

2 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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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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4 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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5 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

7 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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7 months ago
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Commodities

  • Counterpoint Poster Counterpoint Poster £10.00
  • 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
  • Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector Book Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector £10.00
  • The Quotidian Factor Badge The Quotidian Factor Badge £2.00
  • Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund Sticker Radical Renewable Art + Activism Fund Sticker £3.00
  • Channel Swimming Challenge Logbook Channel Swimming Challenge Logbook £3.00
  • Day-to-Day Data Book Day-to-Day Data Book £20.00
  • Hen Weekend Bag Hen Weekend Bag £10.00
  • Tea Blog Sticker Tea Blog Sticker £1.00

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  • ellie@ellieharrison.com

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