Pat Foster and Jen Berean

Prato project 2014

Pat and Jen worked in collaboration with local textile firm Beste, designing a fabric that conflates the varying techniques, methodologies and economics employed by the differing fabric mills - the traditional, the technical high-end and the low-cost mass producing - and attempting to generate something that is in itself unique.

Our period of residency at Monash Prato has been exceptionally fruitful and productive. We have had the time, space and facilities to research and develop this project. Monash Prato has been pivotal in the project’s realisation through initiating and managing our collaboration with Beste.

Their Prato work Nuove Tendenze was exhibited at Neon Parc in Melbourne.

Background

Pat and Jen have been working collaboratively since 2001. Employing a diverse and lateral array of media and processes, their work unpicks the hidden systems that make up the sites and infrastructure that surround us. Within such thinking, contemporary architecture is deconstructed to such a degree that it is not solely concerned with the making of functional and utilisable space, but crucially, the determination of how, and by whom, such space is used, and for what purpose.

They have been the recipients of several awards, including undertaking a mentorship with Turner Prize winning artist Martin Boyce as part of the Jane Scally Travelling Scholarship, and the Marten Bequest Award.

Find out more about their work on Pat Foster and Jen Berean’s website.