UMA England

UMAE ARTISTS

United Media Artists England

For information about UMAE and our ongoing projects please contact: Terry Flaxton

UMA are committed to maintaining gender parity

United Media Artists England (UMAE)
UMAE are one of UMA's 'country' groups specialising in exhibitions in England and Great Britain generally.

United Media Artists (UMA)
Each of the UMA artists are internationally acknowledged for their compelling, innovative and inspiring art works. Most of the group started working with moving image prior to the digital age which gives us a unique understanding of new media. The works of the UMA artists are in the permanent collections of world museums like MoMA NY, Tate London, Centre Pompidou Paris, V & A London and ZKM in Germany.

UMAE artists include:
Kerry Baldry, Lisa May Thomas, James Bloom, Nick Fudge, Terry Flaxton, Sadia Sadia

UMA has three Commonwealth Artists: Australia, Jutta Pryor, & Canada Finn Harvor, Sadia Sadia

Practitioners of Art within an Evolving Technological Landscape

For some long time now first experimental film, then video art, then data or media art has been practiced in the UK. Starting in 1966 British photographer of the sixties, the innovator who began International Times, The UFO Club, the 14 hour Technicolour Dream and the Albert Hall Poetry Fest with Alan Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Hopkins got his first portapak from John Lennon to cover Yoko Ono's 'Caterwauling' as John told Terry Flaxton and Chris Meigh-Andrews in an interview just before Hoppy died. Hoppy went on with Sue Hall to create Fantasy Factory where the second wave of UK Video Artists frequented and learned their editing skills.

In October 1966 The London Film-Makers' Co-op (LFMC), a pioneering organization for independent and experimental film, In 1968 The Computer Arts Society began and still exists - and then in 1974 in Soho London Video Arts began and later turned into LUX which also still exists. Notably both the Rewind Artists Video Project and the London Community Video Archive charts Video in the UK - as well as Triple Vision's 5 part series called On Video for Channel 4, made between 1985 and 1987. On Video 1 - 3 charts UK video, On Video 4 and 5 chart European Video. See below for John Hopkins interview and Triple Visions programmes - including In the Belly of the Beast featuring John Wyver of Illuminations TV.

Years later Video/data/media/digital art has come of age. Bloomberg argue that the Digital Art market in 2023 was 5 billion and is yet to grow to 25 billion by 2030 - the argument there is that 'Digital Natives' - those that do not fear the absence of a thing to legitimise and artwork, will come into their highest disposable income period. Duchamps arguments are beginning to win out. But for those of us steeped in the ways of video, data and media in general, the road ahead is still full of pot holes - consequently United Media Artists was started and latterly when we have now become stable and have originated some artworks that are in 2026's Venice Bienalle, we have started UMA England to represent British Artists at a moment when Ditial Art has become to a degree - acceptable.

John Hopkins Remembers - Hoppy UK Video Pioneer

In the Belly of the Beast, 25 minutes, written and presented by John Wyver, Produced by Zanna Northam, Directed by Terry Flaxton, Concerning Video Positive 1989