BIOGRAPHIES

Teresa Carlesimo and Michael DiRisio, who have worked together since 2012, incorporate common materials into their sculptural, media and participatory installation-based forms to disrupt familiar understandings of space. Their collaborative practice considers forms of value, labour and political economy through research-based and site-specific projects. The social character and political dimensions of the built environment are increasingly central concerns.

Teresa Carlesimo is an interdisciplinary artist currently pursuing a PhD in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University where her research considers various systems of power, class and empire as integral to the analysis of environmental damage. In Fall 2016, she was an artist-in-residence at the National University of Ireland where her work addressed the visual culture of urbanization; upcoming artist residencies include Can Serrat and SÍM, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists. Recent and forthcoming publications include Performance Research, PUBLIC, Art Papers and Blackflash. She has exhibited throughout Canada and the US.

Michael DiRisio is an artist and writer, and currently the Artistic Director of Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre. His recent work explores direct democracy and alternative economies, through the documentation of the origin and development of social unrest and the construction of free stores in gallery spaces. His writing has appeared in Art Papers, Afterimage, C Magazine, Fuse Magazine, Esse and PUBLIC, with recent essays in BlackFlash and ETC MEDIA. He holds an MFA from the University of Windsor and has participated in exhibitions at Rodman Hall Art Centre, Artcite, Museum London and Eyelevel Gallery, with forthcoming exhibitions at the Workers’ Arts and Heritage Centre and Thames Art Gallery.

More info: www.teresacarlesimo.com and www.michaeldirisio.ca