Master of Contemporary Art

Studio PracTice 1

Artist Statement

An artist statement discussing the material and conceptual intention of the work made / undertaken / in progress (word count 400-500 words). This should include information about your chosen medium, processes and ideas as well as information about influences that have informed your work (including other artists, historical references, or contemporary references).

One paragraph summary plus a short paragraph on each work currently under development:

Transmissions across space and time

Chair for Unborn Future Generations

Visiting Design Week, participation in talks @ Agency Project, meeting with Trent Jansen

Message from an ancient future

Tests and tials.

Study for the Great Animal Conversation (working title)

Over 20 separate tests and trials were conducted over the course of the semester (largely from mid April ongoing) and meetings with 11 artist academics from across the VCA were also hosted in both the Octagon and The Stables. Participation in Reveil…

The Wooden Record (working title)

An invitation by the Bob Brown Foundation…

working with a material scientist

Other works

For the late Caribbean poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant ‘the imaginary is all the ways a culture has of perceiving and conceiving of the world. Hence every human culture will have its own particular imaginary’. My practice is driven by a fascination with how we might transform our personal and collective imaginary at a time when it is dominated by a pathologically short attention span.

A 270 million year-old fossilised insect wing, the last recorded voice of a now extinct bird, an iconic photograph taken of Earth from space, the dawn chorus of a Gondwana-era rainforest and a cinema marquee are just some of the things that have lent material to the process of exploring this territory for me. The works I’ve developed this year engage sound, text, printmaking, film, found objects, installation and time as agents for inviting us to consider and care for the long-term.

Process / Background Work

Material Research

Experiments and Trials

Plans and Ideas

Tarkine

Drawings and Sketches

Artist Research

Relevant images (with full captions) & reflections/notes written by you

Contextual/Theory Research

Links/scans + reflections & notes on key ideas related to your practice

Finished Artworks

Message from the future

Study for the Great Animal Orchestra

Research/References that details the research you have undertaken that has informed or influenced your work (including books, articles, links to other artists web pages, and or online exhibitions)

Most of my research for Studio Practice, including online books, texts, journals, websites, videos, films and podcasts, is organised in a “channel” I’ve created on Are.na and includes several 100 separate links to date. Most of these links have been read or viewed at some stage or have been saved here for future reference. Occasionally I print a particular reading or image, re-read things, highlight passages of interest, write notes on the printed reading and then either glue or staple it into my notebook or affix it to one of my pinboards. See here: https://www.are.na/laurent-labourmene/reading-and-research

Beyond this, below I’ve included a list of books :