Louise Mackenzie United Kingdom

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I am a contemporary visual artist working across sculpture, installation, new media (bio) art and sound. Based in the North East of England, I exhibit nationally and internationally. I have a PhD in Fine Art from BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art, Northumbria University (2018). My process-based practice is collaborative and multi-disciplinary and engages with the concept of life as material.

Louise Mackenzie is an artist and researcher with a PhD in Fine Art from BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art. She is a member of the Cultural Negotiation of Science research group, Northumbria University and an Associate of the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University. Working across contemporary visual art practice, installation, new media (bio) art and sound, her research raises questions about our relationship to the environment through considerations of human progress, production, waste and the more-than-human concept of lively material. Using process-based approaches to engage with materials and concepts, Mackenzie's installations, film, sculptures and sound works draw from many influences including Fluxus, Dada and feminist art and science practices. Recent research has investigated the use of life as material, specifically, the insertion of synthetic DNA into living organisms and the emotional weight of working with life in the laboratory. Louise was a finalist in the Bio Art & Design Awards 2015 and recipient of the New Graduate Award at Synthesis, Manchester Science Festival, 2013. She has spoken at RE:SOUND 2019, Denmark, TransImage2018 Edinburgh, Leonardo LASER London, ISEA2017 Colombia, ISEA2016 Hong Kong, Bodily Matters UCL London, and Sonic Environments, Brisbane. Her artworks have been exhibited at Charles Darwin House (London), the National Library of Spain (Madrid), Lumiere (Durham), Summerhall (Edinburgh), BALTIC39 (Newcastle), Bond House (London), Basement 6 Collective (Shanghai) and National Taiwan University of the Arts (Taiwan).