2022 UTS Artist in Residence announced

Hossein at Parramatta Artists Studios Rydalmere 2022. Photo credit Jacquie Manning
Hossein at Parramatta Artists Studios Rydalmere 2022. Photo credit Jacquie Manning

Announcing HOSSEIN as the 2022 UTS Artist in Residence.

The UTS Artist in Residence program is a valuable opportunity for knowledge sharing and cross-disciplinary collaboration of mutual benefit to the artist and university research, and recognises the vital role of the arts in fostering the economic, social and cultural prosperity of our communities. The UTS Artist in Residence will work closely with UTS researchers from February 2022 — February 2023 to support the creation of new work.

HOSSEIN‘s practice explores concepts of healing through meditative ritual, performance and costume. Over the​ 12-month residency period, the artist will draw on the research strengths and facilities of UTS Design School to experiment with new materials, techniques and emerging technologies. HOSSEIN will work closely with Associate Professor Timo Rissanen [Course Director, Fashion & Textiles] to develop and create a new series of “healing” costumes that utilise puppetry, electronics and advanced construction​techniques. The residency culminates in the public presentation of new work at UTS in 2023.

The 2022-2023 UTS Artist in Residence program is generously supported by the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT and is administered by UTS Gallery & Art Collection.

About the artist

HOSSEIN is an Australian artist with Persian, Turkish and Russian ancestry. His multidisciplinary practice incorporates performance, sound, video and painting, with a particular interest in the human voice. HOSSEIN’s practice deals with his heritage, fantasies and feelings. He adopts themes of secrecy, the unconscious, theatricality and mysticism to create surreal scenarios through real and imagined characters— most recently his own mother has been the focal subject within his work.

HOSSEIN holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) from Sydney College of the Arts. He was selected for Primavera 2014: Young Australian Artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and has held residencies with Parramatta Artist Studios (2014-15), Artspace Sydney (2016) and PAS Open Digital Residency (2021-2022). He will present a major solo exhibition at West Space Melbourne in 2023.

About the research partner

Associate Professor TImo Rissanen is a fashion and textiles researcher with an interest in the interconnection between sustainability and social justice as they relate to the contemporary fashion industry. Timo produces cross-stitch, installation and performance pieces with a focus on labour, politics and love. His highly acclaimed work 15%, in partnership with artist Salla Salin, was staged in Helsinki and New York City and toured Germany, New Zealand and Japan as a video installation between 2012-2016.
He is a former Associate Professor of Fashion Design and Sustainability in the School of Fashion at the Parsons School of Design, The New School, and a founding member of the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion. He has published two books on fashion and sustainability: Zero Waste Fashion Design(Bloomsbury, 2016), co-written with Holly McQuillan, and Shaping Sustainable Fashion (Routledge, 2011) with Alison Gwilt.