Jim Whiting
He was born in Paris and spent his early childhood in Salisbury (now Harare), Zimbabwe before returning to the UK with his family in 1959. He studied Electronic Engineering & Systems Control at Queen Mary College and then sculpture at Saint Martins School of Art after a foundation at High Wycombe Art College. Whiting's first major installation was in 1979 at The Hayward gallery in London, His Business Machine was chosen by artist Helen Chadwick as part of the summer show.
Jim Whiting
- Name
- Jim Whiting
- Born
- 11 January 1951
- Birthplace
- Paris, France
- Known for
- artist, inventor
- Awards
- MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- artist · sculptor
- Education
- Saint Martin's School of Art
- Languages
- French
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
He was born in Paris and spent his early childhood in Salisbury (now Harare), Zimbabwe before returning to the UK with his family in 1959. He studied Electronic Engineering & Systems Control at Queen Mary College and then sculpture at Saint Martins School of Art after a foundation at High Wycombe Art College. Whiting's first major installation was in 1979 at The Hayward gallery in London, His Business Machine was chosen by artist Helen Chadwick as part of the summer show.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Jim Whiting. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1689245 · wikipedia · Jim Whiting
In this article
Biography
Biography
Other shows of his animated figurative works followed, including Purgatory at British museums, galleries and festivals, and Heavenly Bodies on the roof of the Royal National Theatre in 1981. He received international recognition in 1984 after his robot-like sculptures were featured dancing in Herbie Hancock's music video for "Rockit" directed by duo Godley & Creme, winning the first MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction. Whiting's Mechanical Theatre was commissioned in 1987 by Andre Heller for his Luna Luna art/amusement park in Hamburg. From 1988 to 1992 he took his Unnatural Bodies show on tour, exhibiting in Cologne, Zürich, Berlin, Basel, with Galerie Littmann, and later in Glasgow, Linz (Ars Electronica) and also as the Tower in London's Broadgate and Aurillac Festival. In 1994 he created a waggon installation for Klaus Littmann's KunstZug, which was exhibited at stations in Switzerland, France and Germany. His work has now been incorporated into his variété venue Bimbotown based in the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei a former factory in Leipzig that has become home to dozens of international artists and galleries. Originally launched in 1993 in Basel, Bimbotown moved to Leipzig in 1996 where Whiting continued to host parties, which The Guardian newspaper recently described in a round up of the best of Germany as "a mix of music, theatre and lots of crazy stuff by artists from all over Europe". Bimbotown was closed in 2016. In 2007 a new version of his Mechanical Theatre was commissioned for the Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds) theme park in Austria, which was conceived by André Heller and features work by famous modern artists. He continues to exhibit his installations in Europe.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jim Whiting • Born — 11 January 1951 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Known for — artist, inventor • Awards — MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1951
Jim Whiting born at Paris.
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- ParisPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Sculpture
6,174 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Jim DolanArtist
- Jim GaryArtist
- Jim MathiesonArtist
- Jim SupangkatArtist
- Jimi HopeArtist
- Jimmie DurhamArtist
- Jimmy WululuArtist
- Jindřich IV. ParléřArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Jim Whiting?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.