Art academic wins prestigious art residency in Italy

Dr Laresa Kosloff, Senior Lecturer in the School of Art, accepted an invitation to be the 2015 Monash University Prato Centre (MUPC) visual resident in Prato, a small town on the outskirts of Florence, Italy.

Dr Kosloff, who will undertake the three-month residency in the second-half of the year, said she would deliver a public presentation about her work and develop a public engagement opportunity through a lecture or workshop while in Prato.

“I’ll use the residency to develop new research in the form of contemporary artworks that humorously address my interest in the psychology of formalism and artistic placement,” she said.

She will seek to achieve this through the use of video and installation, which are among her preferred forms of art practice.

In her 12 years as a lecturer within RMIT’s School of Art, Dr Kosloff said she had become interested in the psychology of creativity and how art students grapple with the contextual basis of their work.

“I intend to explore this within my project, as well as relational aspects of subjective effort and approval in art making and design,” she said.

“I'm looking forward to dedicated research time in the unique environment in Tuscany.”

The MUPC Visual Residency Program is a collaborative initiative between the Monash Prato Centre and the Monash Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.

The Program offers established and emerging creative practitioners the opportunity to nurture new ideas, undertake research, and engage with local Italian institutions and industry.

“I'm looking forward to bringing my research and teaching experience together in this new project and subsequently sharing this experience with students and staff at RMIT,” Dr Kosloff said.

Dr Kosloff has displayed her work at several solo exhibitions including CAST at Monash University Museum of Art (2013); The Russian Project, Margaret Lawrence Gallery (2012); Office skate, ACCA public projection, Melbourne City Square (2011); and Sensible World, Artspace, Sydney (2009).

Dr Kosloff is also a member of RMIT’s Centre for Art, Society and Transformation.