Keith Albarn

Keith Albarn
Keith Albarn at the Level Best Cafe in Colchester sitting next to Hazel Albarn who is reading a newspaper with an article about Keith.
Born	(1939-01-28) 28 January 1939 (age 78) Nottingham, England
Nationality	British
Education	Nottingham Trent University, School of Art and Design
Known for	Mathematics and art, Systems art, Psychedelia, Design

Keith Albarn (born 28 January 1939 in Nottingham) is an English artist and the father of the musician, Damon Albarn and the artist, Jessica Albarn.

He attended West Bridgford Grammar School.

Albarn studied Architecture at Nottingham School of Art where he met fellow student Hazel Dring, whom he married in 1963 in Welton, Lincolnshire. They moved to London where he studied sculpture at Hammersmith School of Art.

Throughout the 1960s, Albarn worked freelance to finance environmental art projects including "Interplay" at the ICA. Also at this time, a gallery was set up at 26 Kingly Street, which was run by a group of artists including Albarn and his wife, Hazel, who also exhibited her work there. In 1967 Malcolm McLaren presented his first public showing of work, which was based around an environmental installation. In the same year, Jeffrey Shaw and Tjebbe van Tijen presented Breathing, Airmatter, Soundform.

In 1967, Keith Albarn & Partners. Ltd was established to design and produce "modular structures and multi-media environments for festivals, exhibitions or private clients who want anything from weather-proof golf course shelters to a children’s playhouse". In 1968, they contributed to the exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity at the ICA that was curated by Jasia Reichardt. Also in 1968, Ekistikit was launched at Margate’s Dreamland Amusement Park in Kent via Spectrum, the first 'psychedelic' Fun Palace which had 20 different chambers where the participants were able to explore and stimulate their senses by awakening each room. The second Fun Palace was called Fifth Dimension and was presented at Girvan on the West coast of Scotland, and featured on Tomorrow's World and in their 1970 annual. Keith's Ekistikit system was flexible and was also used as furntiture for the style-conscious of the seventies as well as for children's playgrounds. In 2002 a version of EKISTIKIT was presented as an exhibition by UNIT with Jim Birdsell at the Spiral Gallery in Japan.