Julie Libersat

Navigation and orientation has become central to my work as I travel and question my own relationship to place and belonging. Feeling simultaneously at home and out of place, I use navigation motifs and transportation as both metaphor and process. “Getting lost” allows me to highlight the ways in which the built environment directs orientation and cultural values. That is, as we construct spatial meaning around the buildings and places occupied within memory, dreams and imagination, our cities, neighborhoods and buildings reflect our personal, cultural and political histories and imaginaries.

Through architectural interventions, installations, and interactive projects, I investigate our embodied perception of space—our lived, perceived, and conceived experience of space. I strive to make immersive, interactive, and participatory environments that engage viewers and compel them to observe ways in which space is socially and culturally produced. I utilize games and play to create space that welcomes participation and experimentation with roles that are fluid and outcomes, undetermined. Using an interactive game structures disrupts and reorients viewers to take on new roles within the landscape and seeks to assist them in finding a critical and reflective perspective.