Lisa Meinesz
Lisa’s artwork utilizes conceptual form to not only prompt contemplation on the broader implications and significance of our aesthetic choices, but also to illicit an emotional response to the possibilities that exist beyond the familiar touchstones of life.
Lisa , please take our readers through your background a bit ? (culture, growing up years, academic background and your work)
Thank you for having this conversation with me Jag!
My father, Henry, is Dutch though grew up in South Africa, and my mother, Sheela, is Malaysian-Indian. They met on set in Malaysia, my father a director and mother an art director at the time. When I was just two, they decided to make the move to Australia for a more safe and stable life. Coming from Zimbabwe, my father was a war veteran who was able to get residency in Australia. They gave up their esteemed positions to start a new life.
My father worked as a carpenter selling— very ahead of its time— bespoke furniture, hand made out of recycled wood. We lived in the back of his shop, and later his workshop when we lost the shop. In hindsight I am grateful for this experience as it forced me to be creative. I essentially had nothing else to do but make things out of offcuts of wood. When Henry eventually left the country, Sheela raised me as a single mother and her artistic aesthetic became a huge influence. She introduced me to artists like HR Giger from an early age and we would watch Ridley Scott's Alien movies together regularly.
After a turbulent time at three different public high schools, I eventually got myself a good enough grade to make it into university. I had only ever wanted to be an Artist, but this was not a plausible option to me because I knew I needed a stable job to make money for rent. I subsequently applied for, and was accepted into, communication design to become a graphic designer. After a few years of working as a graphic designer for advertising agencies, I was creatively stunted. I wanted to get back into art but didn't have the space or the resources. So, I started teaching myself 3D art. It quickly became very exciting to me to be able to work in digital 3D space with so little physical parameters.
I went back to university and completed a masters of design with a multimedia specialisation and started working as a 3D artist. After working for visionary film directors like George Miller on 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' and studios such as Sony for future user interface graphics on their sci-fi epic, '65,' I decided to take the opportunity to deepen my artistic practice, moving into 3D explorations of forms related to ideas around synthetic biology and the interplay between aesthetic choices and textural execution.
Lisa, you specialize in the creation of speculative life forms. I wonder how you got introduced to the idea, how did you begin 3D art works and what got you inclined into this?
My initial inspiration would have to be Ridley Scott's Alien movies, the work of H.R Giger, and the synthetic character David in Alien covenant. The story of David's pursuit to create the perfect organism communicates a beautiful cycle of conflict between the creator and creation and is a very relevant story for today, considering rapidly advancing technologies. Specifically, within the fields of synthetic biology and soft robotics, where the boundaries between the living and the artificial blur, I have become extremely excited by the prospect of aesthetic considerations for such technologies. I've been closely following the work of synthetic biologist Michael Levin and his creations. Levin explains that in the coming decades we will be surrounded by creatures that are nowhere with us on the tree of life, that have radically different bodies and minds, and the importance of developing new systems of an ethical symbiosis.
My recent work proposes to explore the role of aesthetics in shaping our connection to speculative synthetic life forms and the implications of certain aesthetic choices. Speculative biology, with its imaginative exploration of diverse and alternative life forms, holds great potential in informing our relationship with ourselves. By presenting a myriad of fictional entities that push the boundaries of what is deemed possible in the realm of life, we have the ability to reveal to human beings their own freedom and responsibility in the world.
In 2024, now that the bridge between digital and physical is fading even further, please tell us about bio materials and how your work reaches from intangible space to a tangible one.
There is a beautiful symbiosis happening with digital and physical right now.
Forms that would have been very difficult for me to sculpt in real life I can now sculpt digitally and have them 3D printed. One important parameter I put upon my work is a focus on biocompatibility and sustainability. There is a company in Australia that is bringing in the first 3D printer in Australia that can print with recycled ocean plastics that I am planning to work with in the next year. I have been 3D printing small scale digital sculpts in SLM aluminum because of its recyclability. I've also been using some of these aluminum prints as a base to create molds, or getting molds printed with PLA, and experimenting with casting various organic materials into the molds such as Pine resin, Agar and a potato starch based bioplastics. Some experiments are successful and some are not, though the process of working seamlessly between the digital and physical is very liberating.
In your bio it is mentioned that your ‘artwork utilizes conceptual form to not only prompt contemplation on the broader implications and significance of our aesthetic choices, but also to elicit an emotional response to the possibilities that exist beyond the familiar touchstones of life.’ I really liked what your intention is with your work, but I wonder how do you reach a certain artistic direction, what influences or inspires you and how much time does it take for you to complete one entire look ?
The decisions I make when designing and sculpting are made with the intention to establish a deeper connection between the synthetic and the observer. Given this, I try to find inspiration from shapes and details within the human body and in the natural world around us. There is soft connective tissue, bone marrow matrix, our skeletal system, nerve cells and so many more fascinating parts of us that are so beautiful through a microscopic lens, and we're lucky enough to be able to look at pictures of it all online. Systems in nature are also a huge source of inspiration for my work, such as adventitious tree root systems, tafoni rock formations, coral reefs and more (check out https://coralreefdiagnostics.com/) When you look at our makeup you start seeing the same patterns and forms everywhere in nature, the connectedness of everything starts to become more and more apparent. The time it takes to create and finish pieces varies, it could take a few hours, or it could take a few weeks, working on it off and on in-between paid commercial work. Sometimes I start with sketches and a very clear vision, or I just experiment with the procedural tools within the computer software (I use cinema 4D and Z-brush) until I start seeing something I like. Either way, it's a very intuitive, emotionally driven process.
Your work resembles the imagination of alien life forms yet also deep water life forms or say flesh and bones, what do you have to say on that ?
Yes! Despite the influence for my work existing in the natural world around us, the execution is still very alien. I like the idea of having a clear separation between human and synthetic beings. After all, new intelligence will operate in a completely different way to us, there is no need for it to look like us. It is important to have the ability to feel comfortable with a diverse range of life in various shapes and sizes. I like to explore what constitutes a form as being alien or exotic.
What future do you imagine of such a concept and space which remains avant garde for the date. Yet one day (as past teaches us) might become a everyday experience ? How that world would be in your eyes?
It is true that the avant garde eventually seeps its way into the mainstream. I would love to see a future that embraces sustainable and ethical creation, with a shift away from human dominance, and an understanding of other entities as interconnected components within a larger ecosystem. A world where posthuman principles, such as hybridity, distributed cognition, and non-anthropocentric agency are implemented throughout the creation and design of synthetic entities. It would be an ideal future if we could put ethical considerations at the forefront of technological innovation, addressing issues such as autonomy, consent and ecological impact in the creation of artificial life.
Last but not least, Any new ideas or concepts you working on?
I have an upcoming solo exhibition as part of Melbourne design week at Terrain, called 'Symbiotic Structures'. The exhibit shares a dynamic blend of prints, animations, and 3D printed sculptures, as a series that invites viewers on a journey to envisage a world where diverse lifeforms seamlessly integrate with their environments, forming intricate and symbiotic relationships. Each artwork within this series serves as a prototyped window into a realm where architecture and biology converge, showcasing the potential for habitats that not only sustain life, but celebrate its inherent diversity. Drawing inspiration from nature's resilience and adaptability, the series celebrates the beauty of symbiosis—where organisms mutually benefit from their interactions, creating a delicate equilibrium that sustains life. For our human habitats to be designed and retrofitted collaboratively with nature at scale, what necessary innovations and implementations of technology might help us get there?
interview JAGRATI MAHAVER
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