Throughout his career, Shawcross has experimented with ideal geometries and topologies; these constructions are conceived as systems, sometimes modular, sometimes mechanical, which could be theoretically extended infinitely into space. In these and other sculptures, Shawcross has paid tribute to some of the great pioneers and analysts, and considered specific moments or figures from the past. Paradigm (Ode to the Difference Engine), 2006 references the life of Charles Babbage; Space Trumpet, 2007 is inspired by the history of early acoustic mapping; while Slow Arc Inside a Cube, 2008 takes its inspiration from the scientist Dorothy Hodgkin's discovery of the structure of pig insulin.

More recently, Shawcross has developed the scale of his practice, taking on architectural and public space with work that combines epic scope and poetic grace. Timepiece, 2013, a major commission originally conceived for the Roundhouse in London, saw the artist transform the iconic main space of this historic London building into a vast timekeeping device activated by sculptural and light elements, as well as the shadow presence of each visitor to the space.

A further evolution of Shawcross' practice has seen the development of static works that contain both an internal dynamic and an idea movement. Three Perpetual Chords, 2015, a series of knot-like permanent sculptures commissioned for Dulwich Park following a commission by Southwark Council advised by the Contemporary Art Society to replace works by Barbara Hepworth that were stolen in 2011, draws from the artist's ongoing study of harmonic ratios. The Dappled Light of the Sun, 2015, first installed in the Annenberg Courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts, London as part of the Summer Exhibition 2015, is an immersive work comprising five branching cloud-like forms made up of thousands of tetrahedrons. Part of Shawcross' ongoing explorations of the four-sided tetrahedron as a tessellating form, Paradigm, 2016, a permanent installation which marked the inauguration of The Francis Crick Institute in King's Cross, is currently one of the tallest public sculptures in central London.

Unveiled in Autumn 2016, The Optic Cloak, a major architectural intervention for the Greenwich Peninsula low carbon Energy Centre, is a synthesis of engineering and optical research that draws on subjects including maritime camouflage, Cubism and Op Art. Made from lightweight aluminium perforated panels whose overlays create an optical effect, the structure is both monumental and visually dynamic, utilitarian and beguiling, created in sympathy with the design and ethos of the Energy Centre while appearing continually to change in different lighting conditions and as viewers move around it. 

In June 2017, the Royal Academy of Arts and St Pancras International unveiled the major site-specific installation, The Interpretation of Movement (a 9:8 in blue). Shawcross' most ambitious mechanical work to date, it stretches out to a 16m diameter as it methodically turns above the station concourse. Consisting of three articulated arms driven by a complex sequence of gears, the mechanism drives three 'optic sails' which expand and contract in an orbit from the centre, at which point they eclipse each other where they form a complex pattern of interference. MATRIX 179, the artist's first museum exhibition in the Americas, was held at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in 2018.

Exploded Paradigm, 2018, Shawcross’ largest Paradigm work to date, occupies the lobby of the new Comcast Technology Center building, designed by Foster + Partners, in Philadelphia, where its complex mirrored surfaces enhance the visitor's experience of the surrounding architecture.

In November 2019, Bicameral, a major new public sculpture by the artist, was unveiled at the new Chelsea Barracks development. Standing 8m tall and with 693 component parts which cascade down in scale as they radiate out, Bicameral is an unprecedented structure, created entirely without welding whilst using techniques drawn from Japanese wood joinery. 

Shawcross commented: ‘The name Bicameral came from The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. The sculpture is a progression of bifurcating and trifurcating elements that fan out from a stem loosely forming two hemispheres or sides. The work is in some ways an Arcadian symbol for reason, humanity, rationalism, progress, whilst the abstract modular structure oscillates between recognisable natural systems such as neural pathways, a set of lungs, or even a schematised tree itself, but in the end it remains elusive to definition.’

In September 2023, Manifold (Major Third) 5:4, commissioned as part of The Crossrail Art Programme, was officially unveiled outside the Moorgate entrance of the Liverpool Street Elizabeth line station. Taking inspiration from musical harmony, Shawcross has used a machine based on the Victorian harmonograph – with its two pendulums that draw the oscillation of a sound wave – to map the complex shape of a specific piano chord that is falling into silence. Encapsulating the dynamic visual potential of harmonics, the resulting ‘drawing’ is sculpted in three dimensions using bronze to create a unique signpost at the entrance of the station.

Conrad Shawcross, RA, was born in 1977 in London, where he currently lives and works. Major commissions and works in the public realm include: Manifold (Major Third) 5:4, commissioned by The Crossrail Art Programme, Liverpool Street Elizabeth line station, Moorgate, London, UK (2023); Escalations, a solo exhibition at  Chateau La Coste, Provence, France, where the artist’s monumental commission Schism (Château La Coste) was on view; Pioneering Places, a major public art work for Ramsgate Royal Harbour, UK; and an exhibition to mark the 800th anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, UK (2020); Bicameral, a permanent commission for Chelsea Barracks, curated by Futurecity, London (2019); Exploded Paradigm, permanent commission, Comcast Technology Centre, Philadelphia, USA (2018); The Interpretation of Movement (a 9:8 in blue), HS1 Terrace Wires commission in conjunction with The Royal Academy, St Pancras International station, London (on view during 2017); The Optic Cloak, permanent commission for The Energy Centre Greenwich Peninsula, London (2016); Paradigm, permanent commission for the Francis Crick Institute, London (2016); Three Perpetual Chords, permanent commission for Dulwich Park, London, curated and managed by the Contemporary Art Society for Southwark Council (2016). 

The artist has solo exhibitions at international institutions including: Cascading Principles, Glyndebourne, East Sussex, UK (2024); What is to become is already here, MICAS, Malta (2023); Cascading Principles, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, UK (2022-2023); and previously at Yorkshire Sculpture International, Dean Clough, Halifax, UK (2019); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, USA (2018); the New Art Centre, Roche Court, East Winterslow, Salisbury, UK (2015); ARTMIA Foundation, Beijing, China (2014); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2012); Science Museum, London, UK (2011– 2012); Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (2011); and Oxford Science Park, UK (2010). 

His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally as part of group exhibitions including Art of Innovation: From Enlightenment to Dark Matter, Science Museum, London, UK (2019); Sculpture at Pilane, Pilane Sculpture Park, Klövedal, Sweden (2019); the Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London UK (2014, 2016–2019); Frieze Sculpture, London, UK (2018); Socle du Monde Biennale 2017, HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark (2017); Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction, Barbican, London, UK (2017); The Universe and Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2016–2017), travelling to ArtScience Museum, Singapore (2017); GLOBALE: Exo-Evolution, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany (2015–2016); Art Out Loud, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, UK (2015); Proportio, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy (2015); Light Show, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2013), travelling to Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand (2014–2015), MCA Sydney, Australia (2015), Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2015) and Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece (2016); Glasstress, the 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2013); Journeys: Conrad Shawcross and Tavares Strachan, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, USA (2011); and 4th edition international sculpture exhibition, LUSTWARANDE ’11 - RAW, Park De Oude Warande, Tilburg, the Netherlands (2011).

Shawcross has also received numerous awards and undertaken prestigious residencies and cross-arts commissions including: The Ada Project, an ongoing series of musical commissions between Shawcross and leading contemporary composers which was conceived for the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013) and has since travelled to venues in Tasmania, London, Hong Kong and Denmark. In June 2020 The Ada Project will be presented in Birmingham and London as part of Carlos Acosta’s Curated by Carlos festival, bringing together dancers, musicians, artists, writers and thinkers who inspire him. Shawcross was one of three contemporary artists invited to create works inspired by Titian’s masterpieces for the project Metamorphosis: Titian 2012, an ambitious collaboration with the National Gallery and Royal Ballet for the Cultural Olympiad. He was Artist in Residence at the Science Museum, London, from 2009–2011, and his first public realm commission Space Trumpet, installed in the atrium of the refurbished Unilever Building in London in 2007, won the Art & Work 2008 Award for a Work of Art Commissioned for a Specific Site in a Working Environment. In 2009 he was awarded the Illy prize for best solo presentation at Art Brussels. He was elected a Royal Academician in 2013.

His works are held in permanent collections including: Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; British Council, UK; The Hiscox Collection, UK; MUDAM Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg; Museum of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania; Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, Spain; The Ovitz Family Collection, California, USA; RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; The David Ross Collection, UK; The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Tate, UK; Vervoordt Collection, Antwerp, Belgium; Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK; The Extraordinary Collection, Coutts, UK; Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China.