'Manners' by Elizabeth Presa
Publications by Elizabeth Presa
Elizabeth Presa's research focuses on the poetics of the text. She is a sculptor and installation artist who has exhibited in Australia, Asia and the United States. In 2002 she was artist-in-residence at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, and the recipient of the Power Institute Scholarship for a six-month residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. In 2004 Éditions Galilée, Paris, presented an exhibition of her work made in response to Chaque Fois Unique (The Work of Mourning) by Jacques Derrida, which was later exhibited at the Musee de Livres D' Artistes Contemporains.
In 2005 she undertook research in Paris on Maurice Blanchot's evocation of L'Inconnue de la Seine which culminated in an installation Moon Water, MARS Gallery, Melbourne. The catalogue for this exhibition contains critical essays by Jean-Luc Nancy and Andrew Benjamin. Her research on the interconnections between Rodin, Rilke and Blanchot is published in After Blanchot: Literature, Criticism and Philosophy (University of Delaware, 2006).
In 2006 the French Government awarded her a three month residency to develop video installations based on works in the collection of the Louvre Museum. This residency was completed in February of this year. The first of these video's The Smile of Madam Houdon is a collaboration with Jan-Luc Nancy. The series will form an installation at the Hong Kong Museum in 2008. She has recently presented installation work on the philosophers Spinoza Calculation of the Rainbow and JJ Rousseau's Confessions "Dear Jean-Jacques", Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris. This year she is working on projects prompted by Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the voyage of the HSM "Beagle" round the world.
Elizabeth Presa's work is featured in Verwisch Die Spuren (Diaphanes) by philosopher Alexander Garcia Duttmann.
Website: www.elizabethpresa.com
This installation titled ‘manners’ is made of bundles of gauze and plaster moulds set with water I have bathed in, and washed dishes or clothes in. Like a series of diaries, the folded plaster documents the residues and textures of objects, experiences and places, through a process that is itself part of the ‘manners’ of using water in this time of drought.
PhD. Centre for
Comparative Literature & Cultural Studies, Monash University.
Research topic: The Poetics of the Book in Sculpture: Jacbes, Blanchot
and Derrida.
M.A. Critical
Theory, (supervisors Elizabeth Grosz and Kevin Hart) Monash University.
BA (Hons) University of Melbourne (Fine Arts).
Post-Graduate Dip. (Sculpture), Phillip Institute.
Diploma of Fine Art (Sculpture), Victorian College of the Arts.
Solo Exhibitions (since 2000)
2007
Art, MARS Gallery Melbourne
'Dear Jean-Jacques', Sculpture and video installation, Cite International
des Arts, Paris
2006
'Calculation of the Rainbow', MARS Gallery Melbourne
'Skin and Peel' sculpture installation with Irene Barberis, St. Johns
Lutheran Church, Southbank, Melbourne
2005
'Moon Water' MARS Gallery, Melbourne
L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival: 'Papier Machine', Spacement, Melbourne
2004
'Peel' Museum de Livre des Artists Contemporain, France
'Peel' Editions Galilee, Paris
2002
'Milk River', Meru Art Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
'A Small Penance', Performance Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore
2001
'The Book of Refused Words', Conservatory, St Kilda Botanical Gardens,
Melbourne
2000
'The Four Horizons of the Page', Linden Gallery, Melbourne
Group
Exhibitions
2007
'This Crazy Love' Linden Gallery, Melbourne
Toorak Invitational Sculpture exhibition, Melbourne
2005
'Making Conditions of Love' MARS Gallery, Melbourne
Jochen Gertz Die Anthology der Kunst, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin &
ZKM Karlsruhe
2004-05
'For Nothing', the Bank, Midland, Western Australia
2004
L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival: 'The Empress's New Clothes',
Port Jackson Press Gallery, Melbourne
2003
'Makers Mark', Counihan Gallery Brunswick Town Hall, Melbourne
2002
'Milk River', Meru Art Gallery, Brooklyn New York
'Shirakawa-go Art Festival', Japan
Anthology of Art, Centre Pompidou, Paris (text and images of contributors
publicly accessible, Feb 5 - April 22)
'Oblique Shadows', VCA Gallery, Melbourne
'Transit Narratives', Villa Letizia, Italy
2001
'Grounds
for Sculpture 1', McClelland Art Gallery, Langwarrin, Victoria
'This Ocean Floor: A sculpture survey', Goya Galleries, Melbourne
'On the Cross', Linden Gallery, Melbourne
2000
'Oblique Shadows', Sculpture Square, Singapore
'Exquisite Corpse', Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
2006
- Cameraman for videos by Anastasia Klose 'Film for Nanna', 'Bonjour
Paris'
2005 - 'Marie-Ange Elizabeth', video installation with text by Jean-Luc
Nancy
2005 - 'In the Toilets with Ben and Mum', 'Separate Countries' video
collaboration with Anastasia Klose
2005 - 'Watteau' video with editing by Andy Spark for video installation
'Papier Machine'
2004 - 'Translation' video installation with Utako Sinto, Kasimir Burgess,
text by Alexander Garcia Duttmann
2003 - 'Abberant' video project with Christopher Koller
2002 - 'Ultra Sound' 12 minute film by Kasimir Burgess, narration
Alexander Garcia Duttman, text Jacques Derrida
1999
- Wyndham City Council, Entertainment and Sports Complex. 'Oasis' (bronze)
1996 - Bayside City Council, Napier Thomas Mantesso Allen Architects. 'Halfmoon
Bay' (bronze)
1996 - Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Sculpture Foundation. 'Manendo Manet'
(bronze)
1994 - Wesley College, Daryl Jackson, Architect. 'Almanac' (bronze)
1989 - Colac City Council, Sculpture Park. 'Isaac's View' (cement fondue)
2006-07 - French
Government (AFAA) 3 month residency at he Cite International des Arts, to
video sculpture at the Louvre, Paris
2003 - Ian Potter Foundation funding for East Timorese Women's Weaving
Project, outcomes showcased in the International Perspectives on Peace
Conference University of Melbourne. $3,000
2002 - Power Institute, Sydney University Scholarship to Cite
International des Arts, Paris (6 month residency July-December) $7,500
2002 - Australia Council for the Arts International residency. $7,500
2002 - January Artist in Residence, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts,
Singapore
Publications by Elizabeth Presa
2006 - Breath,
Mosaic Journal, "After Derrida", October, Manitoba University,
Canada
2006 - 'White Work' in Beyond Blanchot: Literature, Criticism, Philosophy',
eds. Leslie Hill, Brian nelson, Dimitris Vardoulakis, University of
Delaware
2005 - 'He said..' edition on Jacques Derrida 'Access: Critical
Perspectives on Communication, Cultural & Policy Studies' Ed.
Elizabeth Grierson
2004 - 'Establishing a research culture in a college for the Arts' QUT
Press
2003 - 'Diary: Elizabeth Presa' Parallax, Routledge, 2003, vol. 9, no. 3,
pp.69-74
Fonds
National d' Art Contemporain, France (Recommendation by Jean-Luc Nancy,
through the curator Catherine David, in progress)
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore
Museum de Livre des Artists Contemporain, France
Monash University, Melbourne
Bayside City Council, Melbourne
Colac City Council, Victoria
Landmark Corporate Centre, Frankston
McClelland Regional Gallery, Langwarrin, Victoria
Myer Foundation, Melbourne
VCA, University of Melbourne
Wesley College, Melbourne
Wyndham City Council, Melbourne
Represented in private collections in Australia and overseas