In 2024, PICA re-launched its studio program, providing opportunities for local, national and international artists to undertake periods of research and development alongside a creative community.
Cassandra Tytler, A Skin, a Sea, an Island, a Prison (2023) Digital Video
Join us for the first Open Studios of 2024, with artists in residence Yinga Chen and Cassandra Tytler presenting works developed during their residencies and speaking about their practice and research. With the galleries open late, the chance to hear directly from artists working with PICA and drinks and food provided, you’re invited to get closer to the ideas and processes involved in the development and creation of contemporary art.
Yinga Chen is a Taiwanese artist who navigates the space between reality and virtuality in order to question the essence of selfhood. During his PICA residency, Chen is exploring the concept of death in the context of a digital world. Through a process of interviewing people from different ages and backgrounds on their perspective on questions of life, death, identity and legacy, Chen uses their responses to create a body of work including sculptural manifestations of their personalities and an AI digital consciousness of each person. In this way he invites audiences to consider their own lives and legacies, how they intertwine with the digital world, and how they might be used to form connections with others into the future.
Cassandra Tytler’s project for PICA researches soil and dirt from an ecological, social, cultural and political perspective. The project aims to create relational ‘soil-acts’ that incorporate the human and more-than-human, fostering solidarity across species, or soil-bodies. Through soil, it delves into the intersection of food, health, and morality, examining how health narratives become systems of validation, often reinforcing racial, gender and social hierarchies.
Facilitated by Paul Boyé and Tom Vincent:
Paul Boyé is a writer and researcher living in Boorloo, on Whadjuk Noongar boodja. They have recently completed a PhD at the UWA School of Design, researching contemporary artistic and philosophical responses to emergent social technologies. In addition to sessional teaching and freelance writing, Paul is on the directorial committee of Cool Change (an artist-run organisation based in Boorloo) and Curatorial Assistant at John Curtin Gallery.
Tom has curated artists’ films for the UK’s National Museum of Science and Media, Melbourne International Film Festival, and various other cultural film events here and there. He is currently Program Manager at CinefestOZ Film Festival, was recently curator of Perth Festival’s film programs at UWA Somerville and has just begun studying psychotherapy.