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Thomas Pausz is a designer, artist and researcher born in Paris and based in Reykjavík.
In 2022–23 Pausz is an artist in residence at the Laboratoire Modulaire, a structure dedicated to artistic practices in digital spaces at ESAM (France).
In 2022–24 he was appointed Stanley Picker Fellow in Art & Design for the project Haunted Ecologies.
Thomas Pausz’s trans-disciplinary practice explores alternative ecologies and creates frictions between life forms, technologies, and media. Thomas graduated from the critical design Master at the Royal College of Arts (London), after completing undergraduate studies in philosophy and media at Sorbonne University (Paris).
In parallel with exhibitions, Thomas writes critical essays and fictions.
Residencies & Affiliations
2022–24 Stanley Picker Fellow in Arts & Design
2022–23 Artist in Residence at the Laboratoire Modulaire (ESAM Caen)
2021–22 Director of MA Design Explorations at IUA Reykjavik
2018–ongoing Member of The Swamp School network, Venice Architecture Biennale
2016 Artist in residence at Delfina Foundation London, 2016 (Politics of Food Programme)
2017 Artist in Residence at Srishti Interim Program, Bangalore, 2017 Srishti Live 2017
2010–11 Design Fellow of the Akademie Schloss Solitude 2010-2011 (Chronicles of Work Programme
Training
Masters of Arts in Design Products, Royal College of Arts, London 2009 – Platform 11 / Critical Design
BA in Technical Arts for Film & Performance, Wimbledon School of Arts, London 2003
BA in Philosophy with majors in Philosophy of Arts and Aesthetics, Sorbonne University, Paris 2000
Recent Exhibitions & Projects
Haunted Ecologies, media workshop / installation at the Academy of Climate, Paris.
Nature in Transition, Shifting Identities at the Nordic House Reykjavik, Iceland, 2021. Curated by Hanna Styrmisdóttir & Hulda Stefánsdóttir.
The Wildflower, contemporary art exhibition at Hafnarborg Museum, Iceland, 2020. Curated by Becky Forsythe & Penelope Smart.
Out of the Sea at CAC Brest, curated by Sylvie Ungauer, 2020.
Spacecoralia in the Age Of, Volvo Studio, Stockholm Design Week 2020, curated by Petra Lilja.
Non Flowers for a Hoverfly, VR film and artefacts in Food, Bigger than the Plate exhibition at the V&A Museum London, 2019. Curated by Catherine Flood and May Rosenthal Sloane.
Safari Spectral, special installation commissioned for Creatures Made to Measure at Design Museum Gent, 2019. Curated by Evelien Bracke & Tanja Seiner.
A Brief Catalogue of Pansies & other Invadors, Gallery Estudio Pablo Delillio in Oviedo, Spain, 2019. Curated by Cristina Ramos.
No Palm is an Island, Lecture at Critical Media Lab Basel, 2019.
Participation to the Swamp Pavilion, at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, curated by Gediminas & Nomeda Urbonas.
Species Without Spaces, Arter Art Space / School of Life, Istanbul Design Biennale 2018, curated by Jan Boelen.
Talks, workshops, forums
A SCANNER DARKLY @ AMBIVALENCES: MUTATIONS OF THE LIVING
OCEAN FICTIONS @ CLIMATE VOICES Reykjavik
WHAT IS A NON FLOWER? VIRTUAL READING CIRCLE @ Hafnarborg Museum
ECOSYSTEMS & MEDIATISATION @ Intermedia 2 AVU Studio
WINTER ECOLOGY @ Plevel Garden
NON FLOWERS @ Victoria & Albert Museum´s Edible Futures Forum
NO PALM IS AN ISLAND @ Critical Media Lab Basel
MAKING NEW LAND @ Swamp Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale 2018
Artist Talk / Degustation.
ANIMAL ARCHITECTURES @ Reykjavik Arts Museum, part of TURF FICTIONS seminar
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY @ Delfina Foundation Artist Talk
INVISIBLE GARDENING workshop @ Culpeper Community Gardens @ Delfina Foundation
ANIMAL ARCHITECTURES @ Reykjavik Sculptors Union.
As part of the collaboration with the Icelandic Forestry Association, the sculptors are planning a collectively built house. In this talk I present some ideas on ephemeral architecture, animal architecture and current forecast on custom building technology for sustainable architecture.
NEW REFINMENT @ Hugarflug Conference 2016, Reykjavik.
A talk on material hierarchies and matter decomposition based on my research for the Willow Project book. Part of a session of presentations around The Willow Project curated by Tinna Gunnarsdottir.
ANIMAL RADIO lecture series @ MENGI
I curated and facilitated a series of three public events on the theme of Animal Ethics and production systems in Iceland: FOOD & ZOOS, BECOMING ANIMAL & BEAUTY & THE BEASTS. see Animal Radio
CANNIBALISING MODERNISM! @ Iceland Academy of The Arts.
Presentation of current research on translations/deformations of the ‘modernist project’ through local crafts and materials.
SUBSTITUTIONS @ Cumulus Conference Milano 2015. Based on a contemporary interpretation of the ideas of George Washington Carver, the founder of Chemurgy, this talks explores possible ‘new uses’ of design substitutions in a world mass-producing waste.
REPAIR / RECONFIGURE @ Iceland Academy of the Arts. This talk focuses on the concepts of ‘reparations’ and ‘system reconfigurations’ in current creative architecture & design practice, part of Hugarflug lecture series at IAA.
DESIGN DIALOGUES @ Iceland Academy of the Arts. A talk on dialogical processes, vulnerability and listening as design tools.
RE-USE @Wick Session No8 organised by Andreas Lang / Public Works in London. This public debate platform brings together practitioners and researchers with experience in the field of material Re-Use in architecture and design.
THE ART OF PRODUCTION @Akademie Schloss Solitude.
Participation in round tables fostering reflexions and experiments in collaborations between local companies, and resident designers and artists.
CHRONICLES OF WORK @Akademie Schloß Solitude. As a fellow in design I participate in the Akademie’s two years reflexion on the transformations of artistic work through worshops and my publication Intelligence Starts With The Feet.
AFTER THE SOLITUDE OF COTTONFIELDS
workshop @ Akademie Schloss Solitude
The art, science & business program @ Akademie Schloss Solitude is organizing an internal workshop with three artist fellows: Julia von Leliwa, Thomas Pausz, and Stefan Grupe.
WASP & ORCHID @ Salon Populaire berlin.
A short intervention on a biological model for the exchange between artists and communities at GIFT diner/event.
SCENOGRAPHIES FOR THE REAL WORLD @ CSSD
Masterclasses in urban scenography for the design MA students at Central School of Speech and Drama, London.
NOMADIC ARCHITECTURES @ Alan
Baxter Gallery, London. A talk on my project Revisiting The Community Shed as part of a collective evening of presentations on small architecture for retreat: shed, boothies, treehouses.
DESIGN AND MEMORY @ Nunnery Gallery / Bow Arts Trust London.
Talk on Revisiting The Community Shed project and publication.
DESIGN WORKSHOPS @ Memory Gardens Islington
design of a workshop environment for long term installations built by children and adults from the Autistic spectrum in London.
Links to collaborations
* Critical Ecologies
* Formulaprojects
* Evening-class.org
* Delfina Foundation London
* Politics of Food
* Design Museum Gent
* Geoffroy Tobé
* Victoria & Albert Museum London
* Istanbul Design Biennale 2018
* Desis Philosophy Lab / Z33
* Atelier Luma Arles
* Swamp Pavilion / Venice Architecture Biennale
* #korpastudio
* Srishti Live Festival, Bangalore
* National Centre For Biological Sciences, Bangalore
* Liberté Living Lab Paris
* Zooetics Project
* Turfiction
* MUDAM Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg
* Mengi Reykjavik
* NYLO – The Living Arts Museum Reykjavík
* Reykjavík Arts Museum
* Neue Tische Berln
* Akademie Schloß Solitude
* Iceland Academy of The Arts
* Comme Des Garçons Paris / Tokyo
* Frerk Lintz
* k-w-y
* Reykjavik Culture House
* Exhibit at Golden Lane Gallery London
* In Our Backyard
* Hybrid Platform Berlin
* The Nordic House Reykjavik
* ferlar / process design
* R_Urban
* By Trico Gallery Tokyo
&
Liege Design Bienniale * Gallery ByTrico, Tokyo via RCA * Bureau Des Arts Plastiques Berlin * Cite Henri Barbusse * Lifeisland Allotment Gardeners Association * Yewtopia Project * The Place * Royal College of Arts * Cumulus &..