Unseen

Lauren Simmonds’ practice crosses drawing, sculpture, installation, choreography and performance. She often uses her body as a medium to traverse these artforms. Previous works have taken the form of immersive kinetic installations that are part performance, part anthropological study and part sculpture.

Lauren works with everyday materials, which she activates in playful ways to change their inherent qualities. She works with unpredictability and chance to challenge and push her body and her ideas beyond their perceived capacity, thus transmuting their original form. By relinquishing control in her work she aims to reach a place of neutrality and collaboration. This process is assisted by working with ephemeral and fragile materials, such as light, paper, plastics and other natural and man-made items.

Lauren’s practice encompasses themes of mysticism, symbolism, energy and biological rhythms. These form together to conceptualise the invisible forces of our inner and outer worlds.

Performance enables Lauren to embody her works and immerse her audience in her constructed, seemingly ritualistic environments. This allows her to engage directly with her audience as participants, facilitating greater changes in immersion and connection.

CV: Lauren Simmonds

Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.

Education
2000 – 2002 Bachelor of Contemporary Art (Visual Arts) Deakin University

Solo Exhibitions and Performances
2021        Contemplations on Perspective, Five Walls, Footscray, Melbourne
2016        Unseen, Metanoia, Brunswick, Melbourne
2016        Love Spectrum, Love/City III Planetary Festival, Testing Grounds, Melbourne
2016        Equilibria, Korpúlfsstaðir, Reykjavik, Iceland
2014        Flashlight, Dancehouse, Carlton, Melbourne. Melbourne Fringe Festival.
2013        The new forest, Seventh, Fitzroy, Melbourne.
2012        Point of Departure, Kings ARI, Melbourne.
2012        Transfigure exhibition and opening performance, Blindside ARI, Melbourne
2011        Paper cuts, Peat’s Ridge Festival, Glenworth Valley, NSW
2010        Skin & Bone, ARS at the Napier, Fitzroy, Melbourne.
2010        What do you believe in, Trocadero Artspace, Footscray, Melbourne.

Collaborations
2017        Tabula Rasa II, with Briony Barr, TW Fine Art, Brisbane, Australia
2016        Together//Apart, with Myfanwy Alderson, Conduit Arts, Fitzroy, Melbourne
2016        Chrysalis Lounge, Hotel Obscura and Triage, FOLA, Artshouse, Melbourne
2015        House of Wisdom, with  David Cross and Jem Noble, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, South Bank, Melbourne
2015        Tabula Rasa, with Briony Barr, North Island, Fitzroy, Melbourne
2013        Soundpaper, Ros Bandt, Natalia Mann & Lauren Simmonds, Library Art Space, Fitzroy.
2008        One thing after another, Dance & Sculpture project: Dancehouse, Carlton.
2007        Mysteries of the Convent: Abbotsford Covent, Melbourne. (Performer)
2006        Dance: Adorn, Art Wear: Manningham Gallery, Melbourne. (Performer)
2006        Dance: Eggshells & Bodysongs: Deakin University, Melbourne. (Performer)

Group Exhibitions
2022       Sculpture Scape, Lorne Sculpture Biennale, Lorne, Victoria (Finalist) 
2021        Montalto Sculpture Prize, Red Hill, Victoria (Finalist)
2021        Trails, This is Portland, Portland, Victoria
2016        In The Making, SIM Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
2016        Gertrude Street Projection Festival, Fitzroy, Melbourne
2014        What’s your Recipe?, St Heliers Street Gallery, Abbotsford Convent, Abbotsford, Melbourne
2014        Your Shout, Upstairs at the Napier, Fitzroy, Melbourne.
2013        Reframed, Upstairs at the Napier, Fitzroy, Melbourne
2011        Artrecycle, Incinerator Art Complex, Mooney Valley, Melbourne
2011        Kodak Salon, CCP, North Fitzroy Melbourne.
2009        Into the Red, Guildford Lane Gallery, Melbourne Fringe Festival.
2008        Pervasive Dissent. Counihan Gallery In Brunswick, Brunswick.
2007        Don’t call me a domestic Goddess: MARS Gallery, Port Melbourne.
2007        Linden Postcard Show, Linden Gallery, St Kilda
2006        Leave it Red, Exhibition, Per Square Meter Gallery, Collingwood.
2005        Self Portrait Exhibition and Prize, Artholes Gallery, North Fitzroy
2005        A4 Art, Exhibition, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne.
2003        Shimma, Aural Geography, 45 Downstairs Gallery, (Melbourne International Jazz Festival).

Curatorial
2013        Sound & Vision, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2011        Reclaim and Sustain, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne.
2010        Fuse, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne.

Grants/Awards/Residencies & Mentorships
2022        Winner, Sculpture Scape Award, Lorne Sculpture Biennale, Victoria
2020/21   The Quarry Projects,  Residency, Beech Forest, Victoria
2020        Test Sites online, Testing Ground and City of Melbourne
2018        Time Place Space: Nomad, Residency, Artshouse, Melbourne.
2017        Room to Move, Dancehouse, Melbourne, Australia
2017        Creative Victoria, Artist in Schools recipient
2016        Yanira Castro (USA) Residency, Dancehouse, Melbourne, Australia
2016        SIM Artist Residency, Reykjavik, Iceland
2015        Hotel Obscura Lab, Triage live art Collective, FOLA, Artshouse, Melbourne
2014        Live Art Camp, Artshouse, North Melbourne, Australia
2014        NAVA – Australian Artist Grant for Flashlight
2013        Mentorship with Jill Orr, Australian performance artist
2013        City of Yarra: Small project grant for The New Forest
2013        NAVA – Australian Artist Grant for Sound & Vision
2012        Moreland City Council – Project Grant for Sound & Vision
2012        Australia Council, new work c/o Blindside for Transfigure
2011        Takt Kunstprojektraum – Artist Residency Berlin, Germany
2010        City of Yarra: Out of Time Grant for Skin & Bone

Commissions
2014        What’s your Recipe? Exhibition, Kids’ Own Publishing, Abbotsford Convent, Abbotsford
2014        Tidal Rhythms, Set design, Sydney Myer Music Bowl, Arts Centre. Multicultural Arts Victoria
2013        Crackle, participatory performance work with children, Artplay, City of Melbourne, Victoria

Bibliography/Reviews
Elyssia Bugg, A Glorious Revelation of the Unseen, Real Time issue #133 June-July 2016 
Caroline Schelle, Performance artist reveals the unseen at profound exhibit, Moreland Leader, 4 July, 2016.
Jordan Beth Vincent, Flash/Girl, The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 2014
Ariele Hoffman, Picture Skew, Our Tangible Sound – a review of ‘Sound and Vision,’ 24 April, 2013
Dan Rule, Arts & Entertainment, In the Galleries, The Age pg 5, March 16 2013
Penny Web, The Melbourne Magazine, The Age, No 100, March 2013
Maura Edmonds, Sound & Vision, Time Out, No 15, March 2013
Jillian Farrar, Transfigure, catalogue essay, May 30 2012
Beverly Johnston, Pattern of Simplicity, The Age, Saturday July 5 2010
Dylan Rainforth, What On: The Arts, The Age, Friday June 4 2010
Anthea Cannon, ‘Footscray Exhibit Strung together‘, Marbyrnong Leader, Tuesday 30 March 2011