the vacuum cleaner is the name of a UK based artist who makes candid, provocative and playful art about the world being messed up.

the vacuum cleaner wants to find better ways to go mad. Drawing on his own experience of mental health disability, he works with groups including young people, health professionals and vulnerable adults to challenge how mental health is understood, treated and experienced.

With roots in activism and radical art, the vacuum cleaner has created one-man interventions and large-scale actions as well as performance, installation and film. His work has been shown in galleries, theatres, hospitals and schools and has appeared on streets and in public spaces internationally.

the vacuum cleaner is James. He works from his East London studio with his dog, Doris.