Dr Caroline Vains

Creative Practice/Research + Freelance Academic

Hybrid creative practice includes: Spatial Design, Socially Engaged, Participatory, Exhibition, Interior, Art, Installation, Performance, Scenography, Architecture and Urban Intervention Design

Berlin, Germany | Sydney, Australia

m. +61 (0)438663781
e. carolinevains@gmail.com

Curriculum Vitae available upon request.

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SOME QUALIFICATIONS     

2016 Doctor of Philosophy PhD, Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

2002 Master of Architecture, School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, Australia.

1995 Bachelor of Interior Design (honours), School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University.

Curriculum Vitae available upon request.

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BIOGRAPHY

I am an interdisciplinary creative research practitioner working across spatial design, installation, scenography, performance, exhibition, architecture, urban intervention, socially-engaged art, visual art, writing, and theory.

Recent practice and research has focused on:

1) conducting artistic research to investigate existing conditions, develop new narratives, and envision alternative futures in the following contexts: consumer culture and capitalism; democracy and inclusive cities; migration and decolonisation; wildness, wonder, and the more-than-human world; intersectionality, gender, feminism, technology, and new materialisms; identity, difference, care, and entanglement.

2) using methodologies such as body mapping, la dérive, phenomenology, performative interventions, drawing, and speculative model-making to: investigate relationships between people and environments; become attuned to non-visual qualities of space (atmosphere, affect); cultivate ethical relationships (interpersonal, environmental); critique and push back against the excesses of contemporary neo-liberal regimes of power; test conditions in and construct alternative futures for commodified space; design democratic spaces and practices that facilitate productive conflict, mutual care, and co-creation.

4) bringing the social (people, programs) and the spatial (scenography, performance) together in creative projects that foster an ethos of relationality.

For 20 years, I led design studios in universities in Melbourne, Sydney and Beijing (RMIT, Monash, and Swinburne Universities in Melbourne, UTS in Sydney, Tsinghua University in Beijing). I became a full-time academic in RMIT’s School of Architecture in 2011 (sessional from 1998) where I was a lecturer, creative practice researcher, course coordinator, international and national internship coordinator, and project initiator and leader, and many other things. I resigned in early 2019, and moved to Berlin to live and participate in history as it was unfolding, both through intensive commitment to my research practice and involvement in progressive international political movements.

Prior to my full time academic career, I worked as a spatial and interior designer (1996–2005) in several large architecture practices in Australia, generally on large-scale projects across the retail, residential, leisure and corporate sectors. A number of these were international projects in China, Japan and Dubai.

Prior to this I worked in theatre, film and television design.

I completed my Doctor of Philosophy PhD degree in Performance Studies at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, in 2016, a Master of Architecture in 2002, and a Bachelor of Interior Design (hons.) in 1995, both at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

I completed a University Teaching Certificate sponsored by RMIT University in 2015, during my tenure as a full-time lecturer and academic member of staff.

Following are some highlights from my resume (copy curriculum vitae below for more details):

Between 1998-2018 I received seven different fellowships and scholarships. In 2017 I received the Winner of Built Environment Award for the Guesthouse Project #1 from New York-based CORE77 Design Awards (with Christof Mayer from raumlabor architects, Berlin), and got 3rd place in the Australian Design Review’s Top Seven projects in 2016 for the same project. I was also invited to coordinate a social design project called the ‘Peace and Prosperity Kitchen Garden’ at Government House for the Governor of Victoria, Australia. In 2016 I received the Award for Best Doctoral Thesis from the Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies at Monash University. I have co-convened and curated two international art conferences, one international architecture symposium, and one international design festival. I have been profiled in Monument magazine, The Interior magazine, the Interior Cities publication, and in Melbourne’s Saturday Age Newspaper. I have been invited to participate in residencies at Zentrum für Kunst & Urbanistiks (ZK/U) in Berlin in 2018, at ANCB-AEDES Metropolitan Laboratory in Berlin in 2015 and 2017, at Siteworks Melbourne in 2016, and at Melbourne Central Shopping Hub with the ‘Department of Counter Culture’ in 2010. I have exhibited and performed at ZKU Berlin 2018, ANCB-AEDES Metropolitan Laboratory Berlin 2015 and 2017, Coop Campus Berlin 2018, Siteworks Melbourne 2016, Bus Projects Gallery Melbourne 2014, Melbourne Central Shopping Hub 2010, the State of Design Festival Melbourne 2010, Abbotsford Convent Gallery Melbourne 2007, FAD Gallery Melbourne 1998, Victorian College of the Arts Gallery Melbourne 1996, Arts and Industry Gallery Melbourne 1996, Melbourne International Arts Festival 1993. I have created scenography for the Melbourne Jazz Festival (with Adelle Lin and Sean Healy), the Bohemian Masquerade Ball (with students from RMIT University’s School of Architecture and Design), Universal Theatre, St Martins Theatre, and Anthill Theatre in Melbourne. I have been guest speaker at events such as the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Australian Government’s international cultural festival ‘Australia Now’ (for Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, DFAT), and at cultural and university forums in Europe, Australia and China. I was nominated for the Recognition of Outstanding Work Award from RMIT University’s School of Architecture and Design in 2002 for my Master of Architecture project (by examiner Dr. Conrad Haman), and received the Award for Best Design – Honours Year in 1995 for my undergraduate project, also from RMIT.

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CURRICULUM VITAE

Curriculum Vitae available on request