Camden Art Centre, north London, is shortlisted for the first major solo exhibition by sound artist, DJand composer Ain Bailey (b. 1963, London, UK) in early 2026. Reflecting Bailey’s ongoing interest in activism and architectural acoustics of urban spaces, this major new site-specific commission will build on her deep listening sessions and workshops, developing sonic autobiographies which respond to sites and communities of resistance.
Ain Bailey, Brückenmusik 27, Cologne, Germany, 2022. Photo: www.nu-j.org
Ain Bailey (b. 1963, London) is a composer, artist and DJ who lives and works in London. Working at the forefront of sonic exploration over the last 15 years, her electroacoustic compositions encompass field recordings, found sounds, voice and music, and are created for a variety of forms including mixed media installations, moving image soundtracks, live performance and dance. Bailey collaborates through ongoing and sustained engagement with often silenced or marginalised groups to open up spaces of grief, loss, resistance and remembering. She facilitates workshops considering the role of sound in the formation of identity, and the exploration of memory and sound.
Recent group and solo exhibitions include The Range at Eastside Projects, Birmingham, 2019; RE:Respite at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, 2019, and And We’ll Always Be A Disco In The Glow Of Love at Cubitt Gallery, London, 2019. In 2020, Bailey and Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski created a composition and print entitled Remember to Exhale for Studio Voltaire, London. She was commissioned by Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, to create the exhibition Version, 2021 and composed Atlantic Railton, 2021 for the Listening to the City sound installation programme at Serpentine Pavilion. In 2022, Bailey created the moving image/sound work Untitled: Our Wedding for the Black Melancholia exhibition at CCS Bard, New York, USA and Trioesque for Brückenmusik 27 in Cologne, Germany. She is the 2022-23 Cavendish Arts Science Fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge.
Ain Bailey, 'Untitled: Our Wedding' (film still), 2022. Courtesy of the artist
Camden Art Centre is a place for world-class contemporary art exhibitions and education. Situated in Hampstead, North London (charity number 1065829) Camden Art Centre is a place for art and artists; a place for the curious, the novice and the expert alike. It’s a place to see, to make, to learn and to talk about contemporary art, whether in our building, attending off-site projects or via our digital forums. Founded by artists in 1965, the Centre continues to be a space for the most vital and diverse mix of practices and ideas and is dedicated to supporting artists at every stage of their careers.