As the inaugural artist-in-residence at The Cosmic House, Marysia Lewandowska undertook detailed archival research, resulting in a site-specific sound installation. Lewandowska’s work acknowledges Maggie Keswick Jencks’ contribution as a designer and intellectual, employing spoken voice recordings and written texts. For this seminar, Lewandowska will reflect on the process of making the artwork in relation to research undertaken during her year-long residency, as she connects this project to her ongoing interest in recovering women’s histories. She will introduce the work of Maggie Keswick Jencks, including her role in the transformation of The Cosmic House, which has been mostly associated with her husband, the architectural historian Charles Jencks.
She will be in conversation with Catherine Grant, Reader in Modern and Contemporary Art at the Courtauld, as they explore the uses and politics of the voice in feminist artistic practices, including Lewandowska’s work. The intimate and feminist possibilities offered by her research into Maggie Jencks’ voice and archive, will open up into a wider discussion, thinking about voice and “voicing” as a form of portraiture that challenges the hegemony of the visual. Lily Jencks, Director of the Jencks Foundation at The Cosmic House, will introduce the seminar.