atomictv David Bickerstaff
Artist, filmmaker and creative director of digital media for narrative environments

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David Bickerstaff is an artist and accomplished filmmaker who founded Atomictv in 1997 as an umbrella organisation for developing collabrations with film makers and digital artists. His documentary work and artist video installations such as The Lukhang, Hygieia, Heavy Water: a film for Chernobyl and Making War Horse have been exhibitied and broadcast in Britain and included in many international festivals and exhibitions, which include the Wellcome Collection, Vitra Museum, Onedotzero, Festival International du Film sur L’Art Montreal, and the documentary fortnight at the Museum of Modern Art New York. In recent years, he has been directing and filming a series of short artist documentaries for Art360 Foundation which offers funding to artists for legacy and archive work.

David has also been collaborating with producer Phil Grabsky on the innovative EXHIBITION ON SCREEN series - directing, filming and co-writing 12 feature-length art documentaries. This popular series is distributed to 63 countries and shown in over 1500 cinemas worldwide. Each film looks at an iconic artist and a major exhibition of their work in world renown art galleries. Titles include The Danish Collector: Delacoix to Gauguin, Sunflowers, Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait, Van Gogh & Japan, Degas: A Passion for Perfection, Michelangelo: Love and Death, Canaletto & The Art of Venice, along with other films about artists such as Claude Monet, Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya.

David is also the Creative Director at Newangle Productions, a design practice that produces video installations and interactives for museums and visitor attractions. Recent clients including the Natural History Museum, The Royal Collection Trust, British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Historic Royal Palaces, Museum of London, the Royal Observatory, and the National Maritime Museum. He has won various awards for his projects and is a member of British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

For more information contact info@atomictv.com

Selected Arts projects | Selected Museum projects

Selected documentary film and artist projects

2023   
Tokyo Stories  - Director, co-writer - Ashmolean Museum, Oxford  - Exhibition On Screen - 90' feature film  
Vermeer: The Greatist Exhibition
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam  - Exhibition On Screen - 90' feature film 
Art360 Scotland, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by Art360 Foundation 

2022   
Pissarro: Father of Impressionism  - Director, co-writer - Ashmolean Museum, Oxford  - Exhibition On Screen - 90' feature film  
TATSUMI ORIMOTO: A Cosmic Chaos
- Director, co-writer - short film for cinema release
Art360, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by Art360 Foundation               

2021   
The Danish Collector: Delacroix to Gauguin - Director, co-writer - Royal Academy of Art - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
SUNFLOWERS
- Director, co-writer - Van Gogh Museum - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
Art360, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by DACS
Exhibition On Screen - SkyArts series - 50 minute versions of Girl With a Pearl Earring and Other Treasures form the Mauritshuis, Van Gogh: A New Way of Seeeing, Painting the Modern Garden - Monet to Matisse

2020   
Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait - Director, co-writer - Royal Academy, London - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
Art360, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by DACS
Great Art - ITV series - 50 minute versions of Van Gogh & Japan
Symphony for Absent Wildlife - Lucy and Jorge Orta - filming and editing a single screen artist project

2019   
Van Gogh & Japan - Director, co-writer - Van Gogh Museum - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
Art360, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by DACS
Great Art - ITV series - 50 minute versions of Goya: Visions of Flesh and Blood
Raft of the Medusa
- Lucy and Jorge Orta - filming and editing a multi-screen artist project

2018   
Degas: Passion for Perfection - Director, co-writer - Fitzwilliam Museum - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
Great Art - ITV series - 50 minute versions of Van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing

2017   
Michelangelo: Love and Death - Director, co-writer - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
Canaletto & The Art of Venice - Director, co-writer - Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace - Exhibition On Screen
Art360, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by DACS

2016
   
The Curious Wold of Hieronymus Bosch - Director, co-writer - Het Noordbrabants Museum - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse - Director, co-writer - Royal Academy - Exhibition On Screen
Art360, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by DACS
Monumental Lhasa - Rubin Museum New York - short film
Bread and Butter Performance - Lucy Orta and Jemima Burrill- filming and editing artist project
Portrait of a Place: Tibet's Secret Temple - NOWNESS artist project for online video portal
NORTH
- a film collaboration with Alex Hartley - shown at Victoria Miro Gallery for the NOWHEREISLAND book launch

2015
   
Vincent Van Gogh: A new Way of Seeing - Van Gogh Museum - directed and filmed feature documentary film for cinema - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
The Lukhang - Tibet's Secret Temple - Wellcome Collection exhibition - various video installations
GOYA: Visions of Flesh and Blood - National Gallery London - directed and filmed feature documentary film for cinema - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
Symphony for Wildlife - Lucy + Jorge Orta - filming and editing artist project
BANFF Centre for Creativity - Food, Water, Life - Lucy + Jorge Orta
- guest residency

2014   
Girl With a Pearl Earring: And Other Treasures from the Mauritshuis - feature documentary film for cinema - Exhibition On Screen - cinema release
ArtThings, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by DACS

2013   
Dreamscape - video for a live performance of Simon Emmerson's Dreamscape with Jane Chapman & Kate Ryder
Thinking With the Body - co-curated exhibition about the choregraphic practice of Wayne McGregor | Randon Dance
Snowflakes - video commissioned by Situations documenting a project by Anna Barribal
Missorts - video commissioned by Situations documenting a project by Tony White
ArtThings, a series of short artist documentaries commissioned by DACS

2012   
Everything Flows - 4 x artist documentaries commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella
Tales From The Bridge - soundscape for the Millennium Bridge - collaboration with Martyn Ware
The Zone - video collaboration with Dr Victoria Tischler, British Psychlogical Society
Fabulae Romanae - filmmaker for video installation by Lucy + Jorge Orta, MAXXI, Rome
Altenberg: The Little Pocket Mirror - documentary collaboration with Gemma Blackshaw
XENON - video collaboration with artist Mikhail Karikis - Live Art Development Agency
Steles - documentary collaboration with artist Keith Wilson

2011

Nowhereisland - filmmaker for artist project by Alex Hartley (ongoing)
HYGIEIA - video installation - for exhibition ‘Dirt’ at Wellcome Collection, London
Amazonia - video installation for artist Lucy + Jorge Orta, Natural History Museum
SLOW - documentary collaboration with Alison Clarke (Professor of Design History)

2010

Swallows and Amazons: The Bristol Old Vic Sets Sail - Broadcast documentary, More4
Narrenturm and Steinhof - video installations - Madness and Modernity Wien Museum, Vienna
The Henge - Video and sound collaboration with Zenial, Poland

2009

Narrenturm and Steinhof - video installations for Madness and Modernity at Wellcome Collection
SONG: Theater im Glashaus - video collaboration with Blackhole Factory, Braunschweig
Making War Horse - broadcast documentary, National Theatre and More4
Ho Narro - filmmaker for video installation by Sonia Boyce, Kunstverin Konstanz, Germany

2008

Angry House - Interactive installation - commissioned by Big Chill Festival Art Trail
Museum of The White Horse: Tania Kovats - documentary of project produced by Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art
Drift: Sonia Boyce - documentary and filmmaker for video installation by Sonia Boyce
Grand Kadooment Day - Documentary

2007

Heavy Water: a film for Chernobyl - broadcast documentary, More4 and SkyArts
Crop Over - documentary and filmmaker for video installation by Sonia Boyce
For you, only you - documentary and filmmaker for video installation by Sonia Boyce
Spen Valley Ride - animated video work

2006

Braunschweig Tourist - video - Club Instabil, Braunschweig, Germany
Pripyat: City of the Future - video work - onedotzero London and world tour

2005

Forró - video installation - FILE 2005, Sao Paolo
Sacred Clown - video installation - collaboration with artist Dillwyn Smith and Didier Danthois
The National - video installation - collaboration with artist Dillwyn Smith

2004

Channel 14 - video work - collaboration with Chris Wainwright Champe Libre, Montreal

2003

Muhammad Speaks - documentary, Kino film festival Manchester
Black Mark White Space - interactive work - FILE 2003, Sao Paulo
London Calling - group show of interactive works for Sonar 2003, Barcelona

2002

Capital - video collaboration with Chris Wainwright

2001

Foreign Logics - CD-rom collaboration with the writer Bernard Cohen and DA2 Projects
Riding with Voices - video Installation commissioned by Sustrans, National Cycle Network

2000

Tourism - CD-rom collaboration with the writer Bernard Cohen and DA2 Projects
The Big Idea - CD rom for exhibition ‘Book’, Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham
Angels Dancing on the Head of a Pin - online artwork for Video Positive 2000, Liverpool

1999

The Cistern - multimedia installation, Georgian Baths, Bath Literature Festival
Ubiquity - online work commissioned by Artec and Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art
Bitblood Baby - CD-rom

Selected Museum Commissions and Commercial work

2020   
Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature - Natural History Museum - Creative director for Newangle Productions
The Courtyard Theatre - visitor experience - Creative Director for Newangle Productions
Mary Quant - Victoria & Albert Museum Dundee- a series of audio visual presentations for Newangle Productions

2019   
Manga - The British Musuem - Creative Director for Newangle Productions
Mary Quant - Victoria & Albert Museum London- a series of audio visual presentations for Newangle Productions

2018   
Victor Papanek: Politics of Design - Vitra Museum - Creative Director for Newangle Productions
Winnie-The-Pooh: Exploring a Classic - Victoria & Albert Museum - a series of audio visual presentations for Newangle Productions
'Open Up' - Royal Opera House- large film installation for Newangle Productions

2017   
'Albert Dies', Victoria Reveals - Historic Royal Palaces - film installation for Newangle Productions
Winnie-The-Pooh: Exploring a Classic - Victoria & Albert Museum - a series of audio visual presentations for Newangle Productions
Fethard Horse Country Experience - Fethard, Ireland- a series of audio visual presentations for Newangle Productions

2016
Poem of a House - Red House, National Trust - Creative Director for Newangle
Sunken Cities
- British Museum - creative director of various video installations - Newangle
HM Queen II at 90
- Kensington Palace - creative director of a multiscreen video installation - Newangle
Fashioning a Reign
- Buckingham Palace Summer opening, including Holyrood and Windsor - various video installations - Newangle
Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation
- creative director of various video installations - Newangle

2015

Celts: Art and identity - British Museum - creative director of various video installations - Newangle
Longest Reign
- Kensington Palace - creative director of a multiscreen video installation - Newangle
A Royal Welcome
- Buckingham Palace Summer opening - various video installations - Newangle
Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation
- creative director of various video installations - Newanglee

2014

Ahmad Al-Jaber Oil and Gas Museum - Kuwait - creative director of various video and interactive installations - Newangle
Royal Childhood
- Buckingham Palace Summer opening - various video installations - Newangle

2013
Ice Age Art, British Museum - director of video installations
Coronation
, Buckingham Palace Summer opening
Enterprise Collective, promo film for Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Colleges of art
In The Zone: a Symposium, videos from the symposium run by Film and Video Umbrella
Charles I, video installation, Banqueting House, Historic Royal Palaces for Newangle

2012
Shakespeare: Staging the World, British Museum - director of video installations
Jubilee - View from the Crowd, Kensington Palace  - director of video installation
Royal River, Royal Museum Greenwich  - director of video installation

2011

Arts for India - director of promotion video
The Cult of Beauty, V&A  - director of video installation
Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballet Russe, V&A  - director of video installations
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Museum  - director of interactive media and video
Treasures from Heaven, British Museum  - director of video

2010

Florence Nightingale Museum  - director of interactive media and video
Italian Renaissance Drawings, British Museum - director of video installations
Mossley Mill - director of interactive media and video
Capital City Galleries, Museum of London - director of interactive media, installation and video

2009

Heads and Hearts, Hampton Court Palace - director of video installation
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford - director of interactive media, installation and video
Marks and Spencer Visitor Centre - director of video
Shah Abbas: The remaking of Iran, British Museum - director of video

2008

Hadrian: Empire and Conflict, British Museum - director of video
Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970, V&A Museum - director of video and sound installation
Kitchens Exhibition
, Audley End, English Heritage - director of video

2007

Cadbury Collection, Cadbury World -- director of interactive installations
The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army, British Museum - director of video
Surreal Objects, Victoria & Albert Museum and Guggenheim Museum, Bilboa - director of video
Diana: a Princess Remembered - Kensington Palace - director of video
Space Galleries, Royal Observatory - director of video and interactive media
Battle Visitor Centre, Battle, English Heritage - director of interactive media, installation and video

2006

Purple Planet, Cadbury World - director of interactive media, installation and video
Kew Palace - director of video and sound installations

2005

National Waterside Museum Swansea - director of interactive media, installation and video
Medieval Galleries, Museum of London - director of sound installation and video

2004

Holocaust Memorial Centre, Detroit - director of installation and video

2003

Futures Gallery, Thinktank, Birmingham - director of interactive media, installation and video

2002

National Maritime Museum Cornwall - director of interactive media, installation and video

2001

Medicine Matters, Thinktank, Birmingham - director of interactive media, installation and video

Selected panels and public presentations

2010
Rediscovering the Object / colloquium, Kings College and Goldsmiths College
Digital Objects: Thoughts on dexterity, perception and narrative flow / National Museums of Scotland
Media Innovation Awards for the South West - judging panel

2009

iDesign - Future of Sound panel

2007

The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army, British Museum / Process and Presentation

2006

Future of Sound / Interactive media presentation with HMC medialab

2005

7th Biennale Architecture and Media, Graz - Urban representation on film

2004

BAFTA - interactive art judging panel

2003

Institute for Interactive Media and Learning, UTS, Sydney / CD-roms and video presentation

2002

FILE 2002, Sao Paulo / presentation of interactives and videos / supported by British Council
Digital Aesthetic, Preston / presentation of interactives and videos

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