About.
the vacuum cleaner (James Leadbitter) is an artist and mental health activist who makes candid, provocative and deeply silly/serious work about the world being messed up. His practice combines madpride, disability justice organising, direct action, deep ecology and a committed refusal to take himself seriously — except when mental distress is involved, in which case he takes it extremely seriously. The work spans performance, installation, film and public intervention, and has been described as “dangerous” by the Metropolitan Police, “disgusting” by The Big Issue and “a pain in the ass” by Nacht Kritik. He takes all of this as a compliment.
He started working as ‘the vacuum cleaner’ in 2003 creating interventions, creative direct action and political street art. In 2005 with Jay Jordan and Isa Fremeaux he created the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, which was a notorious anti-capitalist and ecological protest and art collective who organised raft races against coal fired power stations, snowball fights against bankers, clowns blockading the G8 and large scale festivals of interventions across the financial district of London.
Since 2011 he has drawn on his own experience, centring crip aesthetics and social practice art, to work collaboratively with young people, service survivors and healthcare professionals to challenge how mental health is understood, treated and experienced.
Recent major commissions include Whitechapel Gallery (2026/27), Manchester International Festival (2023/25), Chisenhale Gallery (2022) and the Wellcome Collection (2021, 2019, 2015). He was artist in residence at Tate Modern and Tate Britain in 2016/17 alongside Travis Alabanza, Gal Leshem and Zinzi Minott, and received the Paul Hamlyn Breakthrough Fund in 2018.
With 50 young people he co-created A Manifesto for 2.8 Million Minds, launched at the Houses of Parliament in 2022 for the Greater London Authority and through Balmy Army worked with over 100 people on a major 3 year project commissioned by Manchester International Festival.
UK exhibitions and performance include: Whitechapel Gallery. Southbank Centre. Freud Museum. FACT. The Mac. Contact. Bethlam Gallery. Wellcome Collection. National Review of Live Art. Arnolfini. Fierce Festival (x4). Liberty Festival. Nottingham Contemporary. SWG3. Peacock Visual Arts. Tramway. Centre for Contemporary Art Glasgow. ICA. Barbican (UK)
International: Grand Rapids Art Museum (USA), Spielart Festival, Politik im Freien Theater, No Limits Festival, HAU, Schwankhalle, Tanz Tendez (Germany), Gessnerallee/Festspiele, Les Urbanies, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basler Dokumentar-Tage, Theatre de l’Usine, Roxy Theatre, Far Festival, Vidy Theatre (Switzerland) Steirischer Herbst, Tanzquartier (Austria) Kaai Theatre, Vooruit/Dr Guislain Hospital (Belgium) National Gallery of Indonesia, Homo Novus, National Library of Latvia (Latvia) Short Theatre (Italy) Vårscenefest (Norway) Anti Festival (Finland) Blackwood Gallery (Canada).
National Health Service projects and designs have included Great Ormond Street for Children, Royal Hospital for Children & Young People, Broadmoor Hospital, Beacon Centre (Thanet), Hope and Horizon Units (Bury), Coborn Centre (Newham).
He is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation 2023–27 through his company Madlove.
And yes — he has come second in every art prize he’s ever been nominated for. Except once, when he didn’t know he’d been nominated so didn’t turn up for the ceremony. Which, arguably, is still coming second.