Approved: 01.02.2013

Louise Mackenzie

Artist, Researcher, Teacher

Approved: 01.02.2013

Louise Mackenzie is a UK based artist creating installation, sculpture, performance, sound and film works.  With a focus on living material, she is interested in the relationships between medium, sound, image and text, attempting to find ways in which these can be connected to produce unexpected results. Drawn towards the mechanisms upon which consumer-led society is founded, elements of her work focus on processes of production and, increasingly, biotechnology. Recent research investigates the use of life as material, specifically, the translation of cultural material to DNA, the insertion of this material into living organisms and the emotional weight of working with life in the laboratory. 

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    Artist Statement

    Louise Mackenzie is a UK based artist creating installation, sculpture, performance, sound and film works.  With a focus on living material, she is interested in the relationships between medium, sound, image and text, attempting to find ways in which these can be connected to produce unexpected results. Drawn towards the mechanisms upon which consumer-led society is founded, elements of her work focus on processes of production and, increasingly, biotechnology. Recent research investigates the use of life as material, specifically, the translation of cultural material to DNA, the insertion of this material into living organisms and the emotional weight of working with life in the laboratory. 

    Projects, exhibitions and residencies include Pithos (one possible story of our lively material), Summerhall, Edinburgh, 2019; Evolution of the Subject, Gallery North Project Space, Newcastle, 2018; Tentacular Resonances, Generator Projects, Dundee, 2018; Contemporary Connections, Edinburgh International Science Festival, 2017; Photo España, Madrid, 2016; Gravitational Wave Space Station, Shanghai, 2016; The Late Shows, BALTIC39, 2016; Lumiere Durham, 2015; Domestic II, Word of Warning, Manchester, 2015 and Microbes as Material, Abandon Normal Devices, Lancaster 2015.  

    ?Louise received the New Graduate Award at Synthesis, Manchester Science Festival, 2013 and received an honorary mention for the Bio Art & Design Awards, 2015 in The Netherlands.  She is currently recipient of post-graduate research funding from BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art, a Northumbria University and BALTIC partnership, to explore the agency of the organism within fine art practice in collaboration with Professor Volker Straub of the Institute of Genetic Medicine at Newcastle University. Louise is a member of Northumbria University's fine art research group: The Cultural Negotiation of Science.

    CV & Education

    Qualifications and Training: 

    2017 (expected) - PhD Candidate, BxNU, Baltic & Northumbria University, Newcastle

    2013 - First, BA (Hons) Fine Art, Newcastle University, Newcastle

    2011 - Distinction, Foundation Degree Fine Art, Leeds Metropolitan University, Newcastle College

    Commissions, Competitions & Residencies:

    2015    Lumiere 2015, Durham

    2015    Domestic II, Word of Warning, Manchester

    2015    Bio Art & Design Awards, The Netherlands (shortlisted)

    2015    Microbes as Material, Lancaster, Abandon Normal Devices & Lancaster University

    2014    Eden Project, UK, Human Microbiome 5 Year Exhibition (shortlisted)

    2014    Photography Prize, ISAP 2014, Sydney, Australia

    2012    Zeitgeist (ZAP) Open, London

    2012    North East Student Prize, Departure Foundation, Sunderland

    2010    Student Art Prize, Newcastle Building Society

    Grants & Awards:

    2014 - Grants for Arts Funding for solo exhibition, transformation content

    2013 - Forefront Collective New Graduate Award, Manchester

    2013 - ncl+ Alumni Association Student Initiative Fund

    Solo Exhibitions:

    2014 - Memory Transcribed, The Ark, Gateshead

    2014 - transformation content, The Holy Biscuit Gallery, Newcastle

    Group Exhibitions: 

    2014 - ISAP 2014, Sydney, Australia

    2013 - Synthesis, Manchester Science Festival, Manchester

    2013 - Arthouses, Whitley Bay Film Festival, Whitley Bay

    2013 - Newcastle Show, Embassy Tea Rooms, London

    2013 - Symbiosis, The Late Shows, Newcastle

    2012 - Departure Foundation, Tower House, Sunderland

    2012 - Zeitgeist Open 2012, Bond House, London

    2011 - Gallery 6, Shibuya, Tokyo