Renowned filmmaker and video artist, Steve McQueen speaks about his interdisciplinary practice across the art world and in mainstream cinema, focusing on the social, psychological, and political traumas thematized in his work.

Born in London, England in 1969, Steve McQueen is an artist, film director, and screenwriter currently based in London and Amsterdam. His themes are universal and often focus on painful biographies. McQueen has mastered the art of minimalist storytelling to deliver the utmost impact on his viewers.  In his own words he "wants to put the public in a situation where everyone becomes acutely sensitive to themselves, to their body and respiration." 

He has directed four feature films, most recently Widows (2018). His first, Hunger (2008), was awarded the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and his third, 12 Years a Slave (2013), received the Golden Globe, Oscar, and BAFTA awards for best picture in 2014.

Celebrated internationally for his art, McQueen has been featured in Documenta (1997 and 2002), represented the national pavilion of Great Britain at the Fifty-Third Venice Biennale in 2009, and been selected several times for the Venice Biennale’s central pavilion (2003, 2007, 2013, and 2015). Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Art Institute of Chicago (2012) and Schaulager, Basel (2013); and at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (all 2017). In 2019 he presented Year 3, a portrait of an entire age group of London schoolchildren, at Tate Britain, London. In February 2020 a major solo exhibition opened at the Tate Modern, London.

Participants and topics are subject to change; visit Berkeley Arts + Design (artsdesign.berkeley.edu) for the most up-to-date series information.