Could you please describe your creative practice?

Imagine a wizard, a computer nerd and Bjork had a baby haha!

My work is an intense hybrid of art and technology. I work primarily in creative programming, animation, cyberdecks, art-science integration and immersive media. 

I'm deeply curious and experimental in my approach; I'm always asking, 'what happens if we try x?' This approach has led me down some wild and magical rabbit holes.

For example, this last year I have made animations for a giant dome in Washington DC, created art for a microgravity piano performance with an aerospace engineer/composer, and co-built scenes for a musician-robot collaboration in Phi Museum in Montreal. 

I'm driven to learn and try new things all the time, and I want everything I do to be technically interesting and excellent. 

But at its heart, everything I make is grounded in a love for resonant, immersive, synaesthetic and compositionally beautiful experiences.

When did your creative journey begin?

I've been obsessively creative since birth. I used to draw and make things constantly as a child, and as a teenager I grew up in a small South Gippsland town, where I was the 'weird art girl'. I left home as a teenager to study Creative Arts at Melbourne University and have been working as a professional artist ever since. 

What inspired you to pursue a career in the creative field?

For me, I knew early on that a creative path was the only path for me, and I had to do whatever I could to make it happen. I was inspired by both artists and inventors as a child and loved reading about women who were scientists and explorers. 

How do you connect with the Greater Geelong area through your work?

I moved here about 15 years ago when I first met my husband, and we bought a house here and are very happy to call this our hometown. 

We have two young children and it's an overall lovely community. 

What challenges or barriers have you encountered in your career?

I have had many serious setbacks throughout my career, from personal loss and grief to life-threatening illness in our little family. I'm also a neurodivergent adult, so I navigate sensory issues daily. However, the curious and creative drive forward has always been what has set me back on my path again. 

Looking ahead, what would you like to achieve?

I am planning on commencing a higher research degree in the next couple of years which I am excited about! 

I have recently had the pleasure of co-authoring some research on art-science integration in the Space Industry, with my friend and collaborator Professor Leonardo the Space Pianist - which will be presented at ISEA and the Astronautical Space Congress later this year. 

I'm hoping we can secure funding and build a body of work based on our research and show the world what we have been building. 

I would also love to create work for museums that deepen the embodied experience of arts-science - I am currently designing immersive systems with a collaborator in Berlin based around ocean science and tardigrades. 

I also have a particular interest in bio-signal data from trees and moss, and I want to tour an immersive work around that as well. 

Where can we see/learn more about your work/projects?

My website and portfolio are on www.lauraalice.com.au 

My most interesting informal experiments are on my instagram - www.instagram.com/lauraaliceartist