Runa Islam
Runa Islam (born 10 December 1970) is a Bangladeshi-born British visual artist and filmmaker based in London. She was a nominee for the 2008 Turner Prize. She is principally known for her film works.
Runa Islam
- Name
- Runa Islam
- Born
- 10 December 1970
- Birthplace
- Dhaka, East Bengal
- Training
- Royal College of Art
- Nationality
- Bangladesh · Pakistan · United Kingdom
- Occupation
- video artist · film director
- Movements
- contemporary art
- Education
- Royal College of Art · Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Runa Islam (born 10 December 1970) is a Bangladeshi-born British visual artist and filmmaker based in London. She was a nominee for the 2008 Turner Prize. She is principally known for her film works.
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Note VALÉORINE
Runa Islam (born 1970) is a film director and video artist, a national of Bangladesh and Bengal. The film director was born in Dhaka.
Runa Islam was educated at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten and Royal College of Art. The film director worked in Amsterdam and London. Runa Islam is associated with contemporary art.
Languages used include English. Works are held at Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Canada and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 30 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
gnd · 1045122335 · wikidata · Q16211385 · wikipedia · Runa Islam
In this article
Biography
Biography
Runa Islam studied at Royal College of Art and Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are London and Amsterdam. Work by Runa Islam is recorded in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, Tate, National Gallery of Canada, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Runa Islam • Born — 10 December 1970 • Birthplace — Dhaka, East Bengal • Training — Royal College of Art
Early life
Early life
Islam was born in Dhaka, Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and moved to London aged three. She attended the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, from 1997 to 1998. In 1999, Islam exhibited at EASTinternational which was selected by Peter Doig and Roy Arden. She completed a M.Phil at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2004.
Career
Career
Islam has been inspired by European auteurs such as Jean-Luc Godard. In 2005, she participated in the Venice Biennale. Islam's 2006 16mm film installation Conditional Probability was the result of a residency at North Westminster Community School, in the final year before its closure. It was first exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery and was said to "imbue even the most mundane dusty corner with a little visual magic". The other artists included in the project to document the life of the school before it closed were Christian Boltanski, Faisal Abdu'allah and the architect Yona Friedman. In 2010, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (MCA) presented Runa Islam's first solo exhibition in Australia. Works included Magical Consciousness (2010), co-commissioned by the MCA and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) and Scale (1/16 Inch = 1 Foot) featuring the now demolished Trinity Square (Gateshead) multi-storey car park. Islam says, "I feel I've got a lot to say with film. The camera can go to impossible places. It can re-articulate time. Films from other epochs allow you to go back in time. But so much of contemporary life is also envisioned through film and TV. We remember people we've never met because we've seen them on a screen." The Museum of Modern Art held an exhibit of Islam's work in 2011, Project 95: Runa Islam, featuring films by Islam. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art featured a solo show of Islam's work from December 2016 through April 2017, Runa Islam, Verso.
Interviews
Interviews
• Runa Islam Interview; Göteborg International biennial 2005 • Interview with particular regard to the works: • Time Lines • First Day of Spring • Answers to Questions: Runa Islam in conversation with Tine Fischer • Islam talks extensively about her film work.
Reviews
Reviews
• Runa Islam, White Cube, London • Review of exhibition from The Daily Telegraph • The Telegraph review by Alastair Sooke • Review of Islam's work Conditional Probability. • Frieze review • Review of Empty the pond to get to the fish from Frieze • Frieze review – Camden Arts Centre • Review of exhibition featuring the works: • How Far To Faro • The First Day of Spring
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q16211385: Runa Islam
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Runa Islam”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1045122335, Exhibition Runa Islam (2010 : Montréal; Sydney).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Awards and nominations
In 2008, Islam was nominated for the 2008 Turner Prize.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Fortnum, Rebecca. Contemporary British Women Artists: In Their Own Words. I.B. Tauris. 132. 2007. 978-1-84511-224-0.
- 2.Davies, Serena. A cable car named desire. The Daily Telegraph. 10 December 2005.
- 3.Herbert, Martin. Cinematic affects: the art of Runa Islam. Artforum. January 2006.
- 4.Spanier, Samson. Venice Biennale news: several countries are exhibiting at the Biennale for the first time this year, says Samson Spanier. But the important things—champagne and politics—have not changed. Apollo. 162. 521. July 2005.
- 5.Runa Islam - Conditional Probability. Serpentine Gallery. October 2006.
- 6.Sooke, Alastair. In a class of her own. The Telegraph. 31 October 2006.
- 7.Smithers, Rebecca. Gone but not forgotten. The Guardian. 11 July 2006.
- 8.Runa Islam. Museum of Contemporary Art. 2010.
- 9.Rosenberg, Karen. The Magic of Movies, Born From a Single Snapshot. The New York Times. 18 August 2011.
- 10.Projects 95: Runa Islam. Museum of Modern Art. 2011.
- 11.Runa Islam: Verso. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 2016.
- 12.Akand, Shawon. Bangladesh. ArtAsiaPacific. 13. 85. 2018. 1558-8904.
- 13.Turner Prize: Nominees profiled. BBC News. 13 May 2008.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q16211385: Runa IslamWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1045122335, Exhibition Runa Islam (2010 : Montréal; Sydney).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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.
Citizenship
1- BangladeshPlace
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 17 August 2026.
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