Martin Boyce (b.⁠ ⁠1967, Hamilton) lives and works in Glasgow. His poetic installations comprise a vocabulary of images, typography and interconnected forms which emerge across his sculptures, wall paintings, and photography. Collectively, these conjure liminal spaces which explore the aesthetic and political legacy of Modernism, the collapse of nature and culture, and the boundary between the real and fictional. Under Boyce’s handling, ubiquitous objects – such as fireplaces, ventilation grills and chairs – are rendered unfamiliar and ghostly. These inflected and altered phantoms often form part of imagined cityscapes: gardens, municipal parks, courtyards. Boyce traces the way Modernism’s optimism and revolutionary concepts have changed over time and examines how its legacy has affected urban space and our aesthetic imagination.

He represented Scotland at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 and was awarded the Turner Prize in 2011.

Boyce’s recent projects include A Thousand Future Blossoms commissioned by Galeries Lafayette, Paris (2019), and a major outdoor commission in the landscaped grounds of Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute (2019). In 2024, Boyce presented a major solo exhibition of work spanning 30 years, restaging select pieces to create new installations at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh.

Since 2018, he has been a professor of sculpture at the HFBK Hamburg.