Anton Kats (b.1983, Ukraine) is an artist, musician and dancer based in London.
Anton's practice derives from informal everyday relationships within a vibrant neighbourhood in Kherson, Ukraine and is complemented through necessity and pragmatics of self-legalisation in Europe via entering formal institutions of education. After attending masters programmes in Art in Context at the University of Arts Berlin and Interactive Media: Critical Theory and Practice at Goldsmiths College, Kats continues his studies through a practice-based PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research derives from and investigates walking and listening as methodologies within the field of Artistic Research as Pedagogy.
Developing practice-driven research projects, Kats explores ambiguity of art practice as a question of agency and intentionality and develops site-specific work engaging with structures of self-organisation, self-education, marginalised people and the non-normative. His enquiry reveals the diverse forms of learning necessary to generate critical and practical knowledge in the everyday and combines pedagogy and art practice as a form of investigation. Collaboratively developing learning platforms by the means of Radio and Film his work addresses site-related processes from within of the group and is driven by the context of diverse practitioners. Amongst others he has been working with non-governmental organizations in St. Petersburg, Berlin, Kingston and London developing artistic interventions and programs together with the residents of the cities margins. Kats’s goal is to explore the potential of collaboration within formal and informal social structures and to jointly develop useful methods that enable to independently take action.
Kats is an editor of Sound Space Downtown: Workbook and User Manual and a lecturer of Contextual Studies at the Ravensbourne University in London. His works have been exhibited and performed in venues including the Serpentine Galleries, Tate Britain, Victoria and Albert Museum and the Showroom Gallery.
