Malcolm Whittaker works as an artist, writer, researcher and performer. He does this in solo pursuits and in collaborations with other artists and non-artists. His work is mostly made and executed through the engagement of participants and collaborators in the framing of play spaces that adopt social forms and rituals from popular culture and the everyday. His projects have taken the form of theatre and gallery situations, site-specific and public interventions, performance lectures, film shoots, phone calls, support groups, radio programs, elevator rides, teeth-brushing services, walks in the park, games of chess, gift shops, handshakes, letters in the mail, digging holes and the borrowing of books from the library.

He has made and presented work extensively across Australia, as well as in the UK, Finland and Europe. He has done so through a range of initiatives and organisations, including Performance Space (Sydney), Arts House (Melbourne), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), State Library of NSW, The Wheeler Centre (Melbourne), Vitalstatistix (Adelaide), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Campbelltown Arts Centre, ANTI Festival (Kuopio), Next Wave Festival (Melbourne), Proximity Festival (Perth), World Theatre Festival (Brisbane), Junction Arts Festival (Launceston), Field Theory (Melbourne), Merrigong Theatre Company (Wollongong), Berlin Performing Arts Festival, Prague Quadrennial and Cementa (Kandos). Malcolm recently completed his PhD at The University of Wollongong, where he also works as a sessional teacher.