University of Tasmania, Australia

Carmen Reid’s stint here as the current Artist-in-Residence marks a certain homecoming. Originally from northern Tasmania and currently based in Melbourne, she is here to explore the complexities of place, location, memory and belonging that underpin a sense of home. Some of these outcomes will culminate in a solo-exhibition at Sawtooth ARI next month. In recent years Carmen has consistently exhibited new work, participated in collaborative projects and occasionally been involved in Art Production for local Theatre Companies. In Melbourne she is a committee member with Artist Run Space, Brunswick Arts and works with Counihan Gallery, Brunswick. This forum will provide an introduction to Carmen’s practice with a focus on works and recent projects that inform development of her current body of work. Key themes and influences will also be discussed.

Carmen’s practice is grounded in sculptural installation. Persistent themes are drawn from architecture, cinema and neurology and motivated by the expression of movement, tactility and tensions between physical states and mental concepts. Recent work has centered on notions of movement and narrative in architectural space in which inhabited environments are approached as mental terrains that blend perceived, lived and imagined notions of occupying space. Often resulting in site-specific installations of large fragmented architectural forms that address the functional and poetic fluctuations of time and place, they offer an encounter with works that set a scene, imply a narrative and disrupt the spatial expectations of an existing site.

Upcoming Arts Forum
4 October | Malcom Bywaters, House and Home - Building Space
11 October | Public Holiday
18 October | Dr Deborah Malor, Distinctly Australian? Design since the 1960s