Systems of Power | Artist Elaine Cameron-Weir | Louisiana Channel

“Art can infiltrate. It can change people's minds.”
We have visited up-and-coming artist Elaine Cameron-Weir in New York, who has an immense love for transforming materials.
“My love of observation brought about this love of material. I am fascinated with the real world more than the depiction of it. And then the in-between that sculpture can be. It exists materially in front of us.”
Elaine Cameron-Weir’s work is informed by the array of systems and structures humans have created to deal with the unknown - scientific inquiry, religion, modes of governance, or creative practices. Her sculptures incorporate part-objects repurposed from their scientific, medical, military, or faith-giving functions into reliquaries or representations of larger systems of belief and power.
"Why am I drawn to materials and objects from industries like the military, medicine, or religion? The short answer is that there are systems of power. They are systems that humans use to create meaning, and art is one of those systems of power.”
“I think about the function of art a lot. Like what it does, what's the purpose, and it has a purpose. I believe that you can model something beyond what you have in front of you.”
Her installations combine found fragments with definitively handmade elements, using techniques as varied as vitreous enameling, glass casting, metalworking, and leather tooling. Together, these arrangements are often suspended from the ceiling, seemingly levitating from the ground, yet are simultaneously held in tension by gravity and an architectural framework of pulleys and cables. Materials can also be ephemeral, incorporating heat, light, and scent, suggesting transformations of solid matter into dust or diffusion into the atmosphere.
Cameron-Weir’s sculptures often form uncanny mirror images through symmetrical details that emphasize the dualistic nature of any narrative or narrator. Although her practice resists straightforward characterization or iconographic interpretation, Cameron-Weir’s works offer the possibility of passage through a portal or beyond a threshold, further facilitating the transition from one state to the next.
“I want to show or offer my thinking for someone else's consideration. Not to adopt, but just a message has been sent.”
Elaine Cameron-Weir was born in 1985 in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. She lives and works in New York. Past solo exhibitions at institutions include Dressing for Windows (Exploded View), SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, USA (2022); STAR CLUB REDEMPTION BOOTH, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, USA (2021); exhibit from a dripping personal collection, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany (2018); Outlooks, Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, USA (2018) and viscera has questions about itself, New Museum, New York, USA (2017). Her work has featured in major group exhibitions including The Milk of Dreams, curated by Cecilia Alemani at the 59th Venice Biennale, Italy (2022); New Time: Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century, BAMPFA, Berkeley, USA (2021); Present Tense, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA (2019), as well as the Belgrade Biennale, Serbia (2021); the Montreal Biennial, Canada (2017) and the Fellbach Triennial of Small-Scale Sculpture, Germany (2016).
Elaine Cameron-Weir was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in March 2024. The recording took place in her studio in Brooklyn, New York, and in her show A WAY OF LIFE at Lisson Gallery, New York.
Camera: Sean Hanley
Edited by: Signe Boe Pedersen
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling.
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[@olivierbolton8683]

art commemorates, a scent of feelings...thank you.

[@nansenscat9315]

Beautiful process. I especially like your feelings about respecting the object and material, and your ideas about matter and material vs form. Your work is wonderful. 💕

[@cpi23]

brilliant, I love this. Hadn't seen before

[@cloudsofsunset7323]

loved to hear her!

[@RyanjamesfordOfficial]

Yay!! Elaine!!! 😇

[@aaronkirkland212]

Art is just thought materialized. If you don't express yourself you're just art internalized.

[@selmag5819]

some people will make up anything to "criticise" a woman in order to kidnap the conversation and distract from the brilliance of her work. so "her voice", huh?! women's voices must be high and melodic, anything else is "not authentic"?! this misogyny...is dusty, is boring, is never gonna hit an enlightened feminist. since even the toughest woman haters have understood that discussing a woman's appearance is inappropiate, same people now think that at least "the way she talks" should be up for discussion. it's not.

[@anitchlikadze3451]

💖

[@anitchlikadze3451]

Music💖

[@earinsound]

systems of power. like joining the commercial art world. 😂

[@newjawn9004]

It's how American Millennials talk to add authority to their voice; Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian are two typically linked with the beginnings of the trend: "Vocal fry is the lowest register (tone) of your voice characterized by its deep, creaky, breathy sound. When you speak, your vocal cords naturally close to create vibrations as air passes between them. It is usually the result of a learned social habit. It's particularly used by young women and seen as a way to support their authority by accessing an unnaturally deeper pitch of voice than they would normally use. Whether this works or not seems to depend on who is listening. Those under 30 apparently do find vocal fry adds authority to what is being said." It's like fingernails on a chalk board. It is unlistenable.

[@TheKunstlich]

Could not agree more. It´s pathetic and cringy. By far the worst is Elizabeth Holmes. But why do young women think they need to act, rather than be authentic? Also the rising intonation of the last word of a sentence, making every sentence an question. Why, just why?

[@BobACNJ]

You have crystalized my thoughts eloquently.

[@artvsmachine3703]

I hear what you're saying, and that kind of thing drives me bonkers as well. But, it's a lit like local accents which are more striking the further apart locations are (say, Aussie versus American accents): it's to a large extent out of one's personal control. The rising intonation started in the 80's at the latest. Remember Moon Zappa's "Valley Girl" song? And so, people like this young woman might have been raised by mom's who talk like that. I've hear men use the rising intonation, too. The vocal fry is a newer thing. But, still, people talk and walk like everyone else in their communities. The worst one for me is when people, usually women, pepper their sentences with "like" all over the place. Like, they like can't go three or four words without like saying like.

[@lalewilan]

@newjawn9004 Oh that is interesting that it adds authority for younger people and it sounds different for them. I am dying insight when I have to listen to vocal fry. My brain melts, but I am from Berlin. It is so bizarr. It sounds so forced and artificial. At min 8:41 her voice slips and you can her her real voice. She is a great artist for sure.... I hope this New York trend will stop soon or vocal fry will split the world once and for all.

[@newjawn9004]

@@artvsmachine3703 Yes, interspersing "like" is another habit that's extremely irritating, but I've read that it can be related to an involuntary speech stutter -- the brain essentially creating pauses to allow conscious thoughts to gel and vocalized. In regard to vocal fry (also known as "pulse register," "laryngealization," and "glottal fry") it is the lowest vocal register and is produced through a loose glottal closure that permits air to bubble through slowly with a popping or rattling sound of a very low frequency. It can be a difficult habit to unlearn, but speech pathologists can help. Vocal fry is rarely found outside of America, and even then it is typically associated with young women who have been heavily influenced by American pop culture. Finally, I had forgotten about Moon Zappa's song -- like her father, an astute observer of corporate teen "culture."

[@franksliwa362]

All so cerebral 🙄 effecting space.. it’s on.. personally I find nothing inspiring, interesting, or original about this stuff you claim is Art..

[@paulkaiser8834]

As someone who is deeply immersed both personally and professionally in systems of power I was really interested in what she has to say. Ironically the vocal fry and its implied pretense, illustrates that she would be a victim of such power. Systems of power are subversive and deceptive - in my experience - they are soft and hidden - threatening whispers. Like war, systems of power can be understood when both wielded or firmly under its heel. Her art runs dangerously close (too close really) to the cliched tugs on the usual tropes: a thought experiment rather than reporting back from the other side telling showing us what the hell is going on.

[@amanialinzy8073]

Her voice as if she wants to burb

[@authoritease]

Funny about systems of power, your "intense consideration for the thing that you're doing" + consideration of the viewer.... You and an assistant (?) were so rude to me on our Troutman studio loading dock a while back. Try having more respect for other artist neighbors in the community. Thanks

[@aeastman59]

maybe you are watching too many horror movies