Artist in Residence
The Westminster Law & Theory Residency programme is a new, fresh approach to bring law into the realm of artistic exploration and theoretical discourse. We are thrilled to announce annual open calls for one distinguished artist to join the Lab as our Artist in Residence.
The Westminster Law & Theory Lab Artist in Residence would be working along legal and interdisciplinary scholars at the Westminster Law School and The Westminster Law & Theory Lab in particular. We welcome expressions of interest from artists working in the intersection between law and art; or who use law as an artistic medium/base/inspiration; or whose practice can benefit from thinking along legal parameters; or whose work can be described as political and engaged.
We understand law in its broader possible manifestation as normativity (of social rules, of artistic practices, of spatiality and temporality) and not just in its textual manifestation as statutes and caselaw. We welcome academically unaffiliated artists who want to explore the normativity of their own practice in relation to that of the legal academic practice. There is no preference in terms of medium but we would encourage a flexibility of expression in order to fit in the multiple engagements of the law school.
You will collaborate with the staff of the Westminster Law & Theory Lab as well as the Law School staff in general, depending on your project and its demands.
Artists As Small As Eyes 2024-25
As Small As Eyes is a long-term research project by Mariette Moor, Krystle Patel & Orsola Zane in which they use the octopus as method and machine to develop both their collaborative and individual practices. The physical properties of cephalopods such as their elasticity, camouflage and complex neural functioning unsettle neat categorisations that we take for granted.
By researching and attempting to inhabit (not depict) the way they think, feel and communicate, the trio reflect on their particular interests around consciousness, surface and touch, while reconsidering the way in which a collaborative artistic practice can function. Central to this is a negotiation of the anthropomorphic tendencies that are unavoidable when researching non-human entities.
MARIETTE MOOR
Mariette Moor (b. 1993) lives and works in London. She completed a Junior Fellowship at Goldsmiths (2023) after completing the MFA (2022). She graduated from the Ruskin School of Art (2016) before exhibiting across the UK and abroad, with notable exhibitions at the Drawing Room, Alice Black Gallery, Bloc Projects and the Florence Trust. Notable residencies and awards include the I-Park Art Foundation, Connecticut (2018), Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Award, Sir William Dunn Art Award and Vivien Leigh Drawing Prize. Her work is housed in the permanent collections at the Oxford School of Pathology and the Ashmolean Museum.
KRYSTLE PATEL
Krystle Patel is a London-based Asian artist born in Texas. She uses writing, sound and textile to create events and site-specific film installations that interrogate the construction and value of relationships through language. She gained a degree in Dentistry and has recently completed her MFA at Goldsmiths University. Krystle was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, the Goldsmiths Alumni commission, has had work acquired for the Government Art Collection and was the artist in residence at the Institute of Neurology at UCL.
ORSOLA ZANE
Orsola Zane was born in Venice in 1997. She graduated summa cum laude in Painting at the Fine Arts Academy of Venice in 2020. In 2022, she completed an MFA in Fine Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2021 alumna. She works with painting, sculpture and installation, notable collaborations include Nino Mier Gallery, Daniel Benjamin Gallery and Palazzo Monti. She lives and works in London.
Mickaël Rivière (Marso) - 2023/24
Marso is the founder of Company Decalage, GalleryMarso and "KRE8!Lab". He produces eclectic and interdisciplinary works rooted to Hip Hop culture. His track record as a performer, producer, workshop leader, mentor, award winning choreographer and photographer is rich with amazing collaborations and achievements. In the last 20 years he has established himself as a major force in both the contemporary dance, and Breakin’ (Breakdance) worlds. He has created numerous touring works for Company Decalage and independently been commissioned by Carlos Acosta for Acosta Danza, Sharleen Spiteri (Texas), Sampad, The Royal Academy of Dance, Birmingham Hippodrome, People Dancing, Dancexchange, Birmingham International Dance Festival, The Place Prize, Breakin Convention, The Cultural Olympiad, The Aurora Orchestra, King’s Cross NC1, Danza Contemporenea De Cuba, The British Council and Hong Kong APA.
Photographer: Lee Wai Leung
Dr. Helene Kazan - 2022/23
Dr. Kazan worked alongside the Lab as our Artist in Residence for 2022-23.
As a research-based practitioner, Helene Kazan’s work investigates ‘risk’ as a lived limit condition produced through capitalism and conflict, analysed at the material intersection of international law and architecture. Her work engages feminist, intersectional, critical legal and artistic methods through poetic testimony, as a means of expressing, translating and dismantling the violent and disproportionate human and non-human effects of risk.
Find out more about Dr. Kazan's work here.
Image by Helene Kazan, Film still from 'Frame of Accountability: Untouching Ground' 2022. Courtesy of the Artist.