Work samples
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From Our Waist to Waste (Is Fashion Sustainable?)From Our Waist to Waste (Is Fashion Sustainable?) 2022
Public Art Project that includes an installation of post consumer clothing, decomposition tags (pictured here) performance and a publication about textile and fashion rubbish, history and sustainability.The work considers the relationship between glamor and waste.
As part of the performance the viewers were able to tag their garments to determine the life span of the materials they were wearing-some of which will be lingering for hundreds of years in a landfill.
About Laure
Baltimore City - Bromo Tower Arts District
Laure Drogoul is a Baltimore based interdisciplinary artist, olfactory spelunker and cobbler of situations. Laure works with a wide range of media including projects in which she creates sculpture, performance and events that invite the viewer to be an active participant. She has exhibited and performed internationally and nationally, including The International House of Japan in Tokyo, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington Project for the Arts, Baltimore Museum of Art and The Center for… more
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Installation/Performance 2022-2017
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(dirty-clean)Cleaners(dirty~clean)CLEANERS
installation/performance 2019,
neon, clothing rack, recycled single use dry-cleaning bags, filament, sound with on-going performance. The work reflects on the ubiquitous cleaners of our urban landscape. The project emphasizes the growing problem of LDPE plastic and the use of perchloroethylene, a known toxin, to clean wearables. -
(dirty~clean)CLEANERS(dirty~clean)CLEANERS
installation/performance 2019,
neon, clothing rack, recycled single use dry-cleaning bags, filament, sound with on-going performance. The work reflects on the ubiquitous cleaners of our urban landscape. The project emphasizes the growing problem of LDPE plastic and the use of perchloroethylene, a known toxin, to clean wearables -
From Our Waist to Waste (Is Fashion Sustainable?)From Our Waist to Waste (Is Fashion Sustainable?) 2022
Public Art Project that includes an installation of post consumer clothing, decomposition tags (pictured here) performance and a publication about textile and fashion rubbish, history and sustainability.The work considers the relationship between glamor and waste.
As part of the performance the viewers were able to tag their garments to determine the life span of the materials they were wearing-some of which will be lingering for hundreds of years in a landfill.
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Hothouse for the Flora of Our Own MakingHothouse for the Flora of Our Own Making,
installation 2019,
43'L x 15'D x 10'H
thousands of clear polyethylene single use repurposed dry cleaning plastic bags, wood, filament and motion light
Site-specific installation in a greenhouse that juxtaposes the flora of the natural world, as evidenced in the lush plant life of Ladew's Topiary Gardens, with an illuminated, ethereal hothouse of polypropylene vegetation, that is a human creation. -
Hothouse for the Flora of Our Own MakingHothouse for the Flora of Our Own Making
installation 2019
This site-specific installation in a greenhouse, is a spectacle of endless consumption and a reminder of how a material of our own design has become a staple of our environment and is rapidly transforming the natural world. -
The Illuminated Fountain of Extinction.jpgThe Illuminated Fountain of Extinction 2018
wood, fabric, paper, light, sound, rickshaw, multiple performers and participants.
The Illuminated Fountain of Extinction is a participatory theatrical event and a sculpture that is a dystopian inversion to the Fountain of Youth. It features a climate change processional performance with a living tableau of natural and post-natural creatures. The work is inspired by the search for the fountain of youth and the exotic flora and fauna of the illuminated manuscripts. The project raises environmental awareness.
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Herbispheres (or a post natural garden of possibilities)Installation 2017
low-fire ceramics, water micro-greens seeds, plastic, glass and LED grow lights
Decker Gallery, MICA faculty exhibit
The seeds embedded in the surface of the water saturated ceramics sprout under the glow of artificial light of the LEDs, creating a shadowy garden of the post-natural future.
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Friends of Friends of Friends(Diceros bicornis longipes)Friends of Friends of Friends, Installation 2017
canvas, paint, wood, foam, bench video and field recordings of red-billed ox peckers and cattle egrets.
Video documentation of the installation juxtaposes a singular sculptural object of the western black rhinoceros (declared extinct in 2011) with video and audio recordings of its symbiotic species.The work considers the relationship between species as the environment changes.video documentation of installation
Installation/Performance 2017-2014
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The Way of Lead (.38 caliber)performance 2017
Civil war era period garment, candle, smelting kiln, lead, bullet mold making tools, vapor mask, water and metal table.
DCenter Gallery (as part of Labbodies performance festival), Baltimore MD
In this performance I ritualize the process of casting .38 caliber bullets designed for a civil war caliber revolver,that was used in both the Union and Confederate Armies. After the casting process I hand them to the audience. -
Potty Training for Adults and other Civil DutiesPotty Training for Adults and other Civil Duties
performance 2016
adult diapers, tunnel vision spectacles, soap, Q tips, towels
School 33 Art Center
This performance takes the form of a tour and public announcement. During the performance, the viewer is invited into a public lavatory to receive an instructional tour of the body and it’s functions. During the tour among other activities, the viewers hands are washed, they are read to by a lavatory inhabitant and assistant. The tour begins with a glass of water and the tourists are fitted with tunnel vision goggles. The goggles distort the personal view of the space and focuses awareness on the participants body in the environment. -
Potty Training for Adults and other Civil DutiesPotty Training for Adults and other Civil Duties
performance 2016
School 33 Art Center
This performance takes the form of a tour and public announcement. During the performance, the viewer is invited into a public lavatory to receive an instructional tour of the body and it’s
functions. During the tour among other activities, the viewers hands are washed, they are read to by a lavatory inhabitant and assistant. The tour begins with a glass of water and the tourists are fitted with tunnel vision goggles. The goggles distort the personal view of the space and focuses awareness on the participants body in the environment.
Participants are brought into lavatory installation for a tour.
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Potty Training for Adults and other Civil DutiesPotty Training for Adults and other Civil Duties
performance 2016
School 33 Art Center
This performance takes the form of a tour and public announcement. During the performance, the viewer is invited into a public lavatory to receive an instructional tour of the body and it’s
functions. During the tour among other activities, the viewers hands are washed, they are read to by a lavatory inhabitant and assistant. The tour begins with a glass of water and the tourists are fitted with tunnel vision goggles. The goggles distort the personal view of the space and focuses awareness on the participants body in the environment.
Participants are brought into lavatory installation for a tour.
Detail of inhabitant in the public lavatory (performed by Matt Williams) -
Teetering X Tottering(On The Brink)Sculpture 2015
wood, water, repurposed water bottles, micro-controllers, sensors, speakers, light
Teetering X Tottering(on the brink)—is a kinetic sculpture that invites the viewer to balance up or down creating an experiential awareness of water as a shared resource. The participants movement of the see-saws in this audio work triggers the recorded sounds of the fish common to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby connecting them to the natural world. -
Teetering X Tottering(On The Brink)
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Art Guard (en garde)ART GUARD (en garde) 2014
performance as part of Labbodies Lab
Baltimore Museum of Art
Performance with recorded tape (audio guide), plaster mask and museum guard uniform.
With this performance, I suggested that the guard be considered the art of the museum. Masked and uniformed as a Baltimore Museum of Art guard, I offered lessons in self-defense with a pre-recorded audio guide. -
Art Guard (en garde)ART GUARD (en garde) 2014
performance as part of Labbodies Lab
Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore, Maryland
Performance with recorded tape (audio guide), plaster mask and museum guard uniform.
With this performance, I suggested that the guard be considered the art of the museum. Masked and uniformed as a Baltimore Museum of Art guard, I offered lessons in self-defense with a pre-recorded audio guide. -
SWAN SONG (After-Life Karaoke)SWAN SONG (After-Life Karaoke)
Installation/performance 2013 (on-going)
modified 1969 hearse, karaoke machine, speakers, disco ball, light
This artwork is a mobile karaoke room in a funeral car.
The installation invites the viewer to repose in the back of a hearse and sing a Karaoke song, eulogize or simply listen. SWAN SONG explores issues relating to loss, death and the finite nature of the body....and the world. This project is ongoing and moves to different locations in Baltimore. -
SWAN SONG (After-Life Karaoke)video documentation of SWAN SONG (After-Life Karaoke)
Installation/participatory performance 2013
Swan Song is a mobile karaoke room in a Funeral Car. This mobile installation invites the viewer to repose in the back of a hearse and sing a song, eulogize or simply watch and listen. Swan Song explores issues relating to loss, death and the finite nature of the body...and possibly the world.
Installation/Performance 2014-2012
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Going To SeedInstallation 2014
Ceramics, light, water micro-greens seeds (arugula, chia, cress, flax).
Baltimore Clayworks Project Room
Over the course of the project, I created and cultivated with different clay vessel shapes and seeds. The project was site specific to the Gallery's sunroom. The work invites the viewer to care for the small micro-green gardens by misting the sprouting vessels as they grew over a 5 week period and then I invited them to snip and taste the sprouts. -
Going To SeedInstallation 2014
Baltimore Clay Works
Ceramics, light, water micro-greens seeds (arugula, chia, cress and flax).
Baltimore Clayworks
Project Room
Over the course of the project, I created and cultivated with different clay vessel shapes and seeds. This installation invited the viewer to care for these mini-gardens by misting the vessels and I invited them to snip and taste the sprouts. -
Pendulum(Oracle)Installation 2014
water, blue light, lens, string, 4 participants
10'H x10'L x10'W
EMP Collective, Baltimore, MD
In this installation the participant is invited into a room that contains a suspended water filled pendulum and invited to gently manipulate and/or ask questions of the pendulum via 4 attached hanging lines. -
Pendulum(Oracle)Installation 2014
water, blue light, lens, string, participants
EMP Collective, Baltimore, MD
Detail of pendulum in use. In this installation the participant is invited into a room that contains a suspended water filled pendulum and invited to gently manipulate and/or ask questions of the pendulum via 4 attached hanging lines.
Installation/Performance 2012-2008
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Headform for the Age of Magical ThinkingSculpture 2010
wood, paper, fabric, video, interactive media,chair
Suspended sculplural form 7'x6' diameter (head)
Julio Gallery Loyola University
The installation explores ideas of mental causation and the role that technology plays in the process. The gallery is dominated by a disembodied head that is offered as a specimen of modern man. The puppet head responds to movement and greets the viewer with a telephonic response.
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MiMiMiMi
2 channel video projection 2011
Mimi DiPietro Ice Rink
Public Project
Parade Director 2011-2013
Great Halloween Lantern Parade
Patterson Park, Baltimore MD
As the director of the lantern parade I ipresented site specific video projections in the Park - projecting onto the Mimi DiPietro ice rink dome. -
Swan Parade FloatLake floats made from repurposed Baltimore Marathon
plastic jugs, paper and bamboo.
10'x8'x7'
2011-2013 Parade Director
Great Halloween Lantern Parade,Patterson Park, Baltimore MD
As Parade director I designed and facilitated lantern and float workshops from repurposed plastic trash to promote environmental awareness.
I fabricated and taught a series of lantern and float workshops. The workshops challenged the community to use existing materials, through collection and re-purposing to create illuminated parade objects for the annual Halloween Lantern Parade . The workshops incorporated traditional lantern making techniques with collected plastic and paper to bring attention to public waste and promote recycling. -
Lantern Parade(Cosmic Park)Lake floats made from repurposed Baltimore Marathon
plastic jugs, paper and bamboo.
10'x8'x7'
2011-2013 Parade Director
Great Halloween Lantern Parade,Patterson Park, Baltimore MD
As Parade director I designed and facilitated lantern and float workshops from repurposed plastic trash to promote environmental awareness.
I fabricated and taught a series of lantern and float workshops. The workshops challenged the community to use existing materials, through collection and re-purposing to create illuminated parade objects for the annual Halloween Lantern Parade . The workshops incorporated traditional lantern making techniques with collected plastic and paper to bring attention to public waste and promote recycling.
Sculpture/Installation (Rotten Enchantments)
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She Pod of Rotten EnchantmentSculpture 2009
Decker Gallery, MICA, Baltimore, MD
Mixed media including interactive video, fabric, wood, photocopy paper, plants and a hammock. 16'x14'x12'ht This sculpture is a architectural folly based on an Anatolian sphinx/fertility figure. The interior is an open space and garden for events to occur and contains a hammock. The eyes are Interactive media/video that respond to the movement of the visitors that enter the interior space. -
She Pod of Rotten EnchantmentSculpture 2009
Decker Gallery, MICA, Baltimore, MD
Mixed media including interactive video, fabric, wood, photocopy paper, plants and a hammock. 16'x14'x12'ht This sculpture is a architectural folly based on an Anatolian sphinx/fertility figure. The interior is an open space and garden for events to occur and contains a hammock. The eyes are Interactive media/video that respond to the movement of the visitors that enter the interior space. -
She Pod of Rotten Enchantmentside view (detail)
The viewer enters the interior installation through a doorway located on either side of the figure, between the arm and leg.
Sculpture 2009
Decker Gallery, MICA, Baltimore, MD
Mixed media including interactive video, fabric, wood, photocopy paper, plants and a hammock. 16'x14'x12'ht This sculpture is a architectural folly based on an Anatolian sphinx/fertility figure. The interior is an open space and garden for events to occur and contains a hammock. The eyes are Interactive media/video that respond to the movement of the visitors that enter the interior space. -
She Pod of Rotten Enchantmentdetail of interior space with hammock.
Sculpture 2009
Decker Gallery, MICA, Baltimore, MD
Mixed media including interactive video, fabric, wood, photocopy paper, plants and a hammock. 16'x14'x12'ht This sculpture is a architectural folly based on an Anatolian sphinx/fertility figure. The interior is an open space and garden for events to occur and contains a hammock. The eyes are Interactive media/video that respond to the movement of the visitors that enter the interior space.
Installation/Performance 2008-2005
Frequencies for Darwin takes the form of a small theater that contains a voice activated, vibrational instrument. This project contains a participatory sculptural object that harks back to the parlor games of the 19th century. The work invites the viewer to sit and speak into the microphone to communicate with the common earthworm. The glass jar contains approx. 1000 red wigglers (a variety of earthworm), who, with time will move in response to the vibration of the glass. The work is inspired in part by the experiments of Charles Darwin with worms and vibration as discussed in his seminal book "The Formation Of Vegetable Mould, Through The Actions of Worms".
We have much in common with the earthworm. Worms respond to vibration, such as the patter of rain or the pecking of the birds on the earth. Humans also communicate with vibration, via the vibrating folds of the larynx, and the vibration of sound transmitted through the air.
We have much in common with the earthworm. Worms respond to vibration, such as the patter of rain or the pecking of the birds on the earth. Humans also communicate with vibration, via the vibrating folds of the larynx, and the vibration of sound transmitted through the air.
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Frequencies for Darwin (vermi conversation) 2006Instructional card for performance.
In this installation the participant is invited to talk and listen to worms via a sculptural
instrument. The worm filled glass jar has been modified with an audio speaker that
vibrates when the participant speaks through the microphone. This work is inspired in
part by the experiments of Charles Darwin with worms and vibration as discussed in his
seminal book "The Formation Of Vegetable Mould, Through The Actions of Worms". -
Frequencies for Darwin (vermi conversation) 20061000 red wigglers, microphones, amplifier, red light.
In this installation the participant is invited to talk to worms via a sculptural
instrument. The worm filled glass jar has been modified with an audio speaker that
vibrates when the participant speaks through the microphone. This work is inspired in
part by the experiments of Charles Darwin with worms and vibration as discussed in his
seminal book "The Formation Of Vegetable Mould, Through The Actions of Worms". -
Frequencies for Darwin (vermi conversation)(detail of installation)
This image shows the modified speaker which amplifies the voice via the microphone and vibrates the jar of worms. Because the worms are light sensitive they are placed in red light to allow the participant to see them respond to the vibrations.
We have much in common with the earthworm. Worms respond to vibration, such as the patter of rain or the pecking of the birds on the earth. Humans also communicate with vibration, via the vibrating folds of the larynx, and the vibration of sound transmitted through the air. -
Symphonic StitchSymphonic Stitch is an interactive installation and performance with projected light and sound. The project invites the visitor to participate as part of a musical knitting circle. The knitter’s needles are equipped with tiny microphones, which amplify the percussive nature of the knitting process, capturing the rhythmic counter point of the participant’s hand movements. The sound generates a projected visual that references the body's physiological system. The installation reveals the synchronicity connected to needlework and creates an environment that is an aural and visual manifestation of the participant’s collective process and a symphonic expression of the craft.Participatory installation and performance
knitting needles, yarn, audio equipment, interactive media(MaxMSP), video, modified suitcase
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Symphonic StitchSymphonic Stitch is an interactive installation and performance with projected light and sound. The project invites the visitor to participate as part of a musical knitting circle. The knitter’s needles are equipped with tiny microphones, which amplify the percussive nature of the knitting process, capturing the rhythmic counter point of the participant’s hand movements. The sound generates a projected visual that references the body's physiological system. The installation reveals the synchronicity connected to needlework and creates an environment that is an aural and visual manifestation of the participant’s collective process and a symphonic expression of the craft.Participatory installation and performance
knitting needles, yarn, audio equipment, interactive media(MaxMSP), video, modified suitcase
Scentorium (olfactory factory)
Scentorium (olfactory factory) is a performance and installation project about smell perception and geography. It is an ongoing work (started in 2002) that takes many forms, including an on-line interactive map and survey to collect smell data. www.olfactoryfactory.org. This work has been exhibited as an installation and performed in Baltimore, St Petersburg, Russia, Tokyo, Japan and New York City.
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Scentorium performanceAs a Smell Hostess, I blindfold a willing participant and various olfactory specimens are placed under their nose. They are asked a series of questions connected to the specimens. I specifically ask them not to try to identify the specimen but to simply respond to the scent and the memory it may evoke.
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Essence (olfactory factory)2004In Japan, the project took the form of a survey with multiple performances titled Essence (with Mami Takahashi) and culminated with a larger collaborative Scent Salon at the International House in Tokyo. In Japan, the response was tremendous. Pictured here the Essences are visiting the sites directed by the Japanese survey cards.
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Essence (olfactory factory)2004In Japan, the project took the form of a survey with multiple performances titled Essence (with Mami Takahashi) and culminated with a larger collaborative Scent Salon at the International House in Tokyo. In Japan, the response was tremendous. Pictured here the Essences are visiting the sites directed by the Japanese survey cards.
Bozo Prison (for four or more)
Bozo Prison(for four or more) is a architectural follie/theater in the shape of a clown. Four or more performers are invited to perform in the cages to yell, shout or scream insults and angry words at the viewer. It is a vessel for venting and airing one's angst.
Created in 1999 as part of Artscape.
Created in 1999 as part of Artscape.
Sculpture (more Rotten Enchantments)
These illuminated Sculptures often contain interior spaces for events to occur. I consider them small theaters for a performative act or an interaction. They are built, similarly to a lantern or kite in multiple forms, then stacked. The surface of the work is photocopy paper, that I wheat paste onto the surface. These papered surfaces often contain a conceptual element or a reference point for the work. All these sculptures have an accompanying sound track.