For Louise Nevelson

Background This research investigates the performative relationship between language and object-making, examining how written statements function as invocations that activate sculptural works. Drawing parallels between magical practice and research frameworks, the work explores how words combined with objects shape meaning and reality—analogous to how research statements construct relationships with artworks. The research engages with established scholarship connecting art and occult practices, including Katy Siegel's "The Black Wallpaper: Louise Nevelson's Gothic Modernism," and recent curatorial investigations such as the State Library's 'The Creative Act' (examining spiritual connections and rituals in artistic practice), McLellan Gallery's 'Eternal Oblivion: death & the afterlife', and Buxton Contemporary's 'The Veil' (exploring uncanny and supernatural qualities in contemporary art). This positions the work within broader discourse on how contemporary sculpture engages with esoteric knowledge systems and the performative function of institutional language. Contribution The sculpture contributes to understanding of cyclical making processes and material transformation through an ongoing practice of creating, destroying, and remaking works from scavenged plastic. This generates a self-cannibalising system where sculptures provide their own detritus for subsequent iterations—a sustainable, low-cost process that challenges conventional notions of the finished artwork. The work functions as a conceptual repository for investigating Louise Nevelson's assemblage practice and relationships between art and occult traditions, while simultaneously interrogating how institutional frameworks (research statements, exhibition contexts, collection acquisitions) operate as contemporary forms of invocation that determine an object's meaning and value. This contributes to discourse on materiality, process-based practice, and the performative dimensions of research documentation in creative practice. Significance The work's significance is evidenced through selection as a finalist in The Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award (shortlisted from approximately 300 entries to 40 finalists), judged by Professor Emeritus Barbara van Ernst and Dr. Dan Wollmering. The sculpture's acquisition by Deakin University Art Collection represents institutional validation equivalent to peer review processes, demonstrating the work's contribution to contemporary sculpture discourse. The 8 week exhibition period at Deakin University Art Gallery provided extended public engagement and critical reception, establishing the work's relevance to ongoing conversations about material practice, cyclical processes, and the intersection of contemporary art with esoteric knowledge systems.

研究背景
本研究旨在探讨语言与物体创作之间的践行性（performative）关系，考察书面陈述如何作为激活雕塑作品的召唤性话语发挥作用。本研究类比魔法实践与研究框架的共通逻辑，探讨文字与物体如何结合以塑造意义与现实——这与研究陈述如何构建与艺术作品的关系如出一辙。本研究依托现有连接艺术与神秘学实践的学术成果，包括凯蒂·西格尔（Katy Siegel）的《黑色墙纸：路易丝·内维尔森的哥特式现代主义》，以及近期的策展研究：州立图书馆的《创意行为》（探讨艺术实践中的精神联结与仪式）、麦克莱伦画廊的《永恒遗忘：死亡与来世》，以及巴克斯顿当代艺术空间的《面纱》（探索当代艺术中的诡异与超自然特质）。本研究将该创作置于更广泛的学术话语框架中，探讨当代雕塑如何与神秘知识体系互动，以及制度性语言的践行性功能。

研究贡献
本雕塑通过持续利用回收塑料创作、销毁并再创作作品的实践，深化学界对循环创作流程与物质转化的认知。由此形成一套自我补给式循环创作系统：雕塑作品自身产生的废料可用于后续的迭代创作——这一可持续且低成本的创作路径，挑战了人们对"完成式艺术作品"的固有认知。该作品同时作为研究路易丝·内维尔森（Louise Nevelson）集合艺术创作手法以及艺术与神秘传统之间关系的概念研究载体，并同时探讨制度性框架——包括研究陈述、展览语境、藏品收购——如何作为当代召唤形式，决定一件物品的意义与价值。这一研究为物质性、基于过程的创作实践，以及创作实践中研究记录的践行性维度相关学术话语提供了新的思考维度。

研究意义
该作品的学术价值与影响力体现在其入选迪肯大学当代小型雕塑奖决赛（从约300份投稿中晋级至40名决赛入围者），评审团由荣休教授芭芭拉·范·恩斯特（Barbara van Ernst）与丹·沃尔默林博士（Dan Wollmering）担任。该雕塑被迪肯大学艺术馆藏纳入收藏，这代表了等同于同行评议流程的制度性认可，彰显了其对当代雕塑学术话语的贡献。该作品在迪肯大学美术馆的8周展期，实现了广泛的公众参与与专业批评反馈，进一步确立了其在当下关于物质实践、循环创作流程，以及当代艺术与神秘知识体系交叉领域学术对话中的相关性。