Issue 36: Our interview with Michelle Lee Johnson @savagewithaconscience “I Am Very Content With A Polyvalent Practice; It Is A Blessing To Continue Being Surprised By Where An Idea Leads To.”
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Michelle Lee Johnson is a London-based interdisciplinary artist whose work moves between sculpture, installation, and film to examine how systems shape emotion, behaviour, and belonging. In this interview, she discusses her polyvalent approach to making, the role of humour and affect in her work, and the ideas behind her recent projects exploring performance, surveillance, and public life.
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Read the full interview plus many more: Link in our bio
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All images/videos courtesy of the artist
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/// Submissions Are Now Open For Issue 37 ///
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20% OFF / EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT CODE: earlybird
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DISCOUNT DEADLINE: 06/12/25
DEADLINE: 22/01/26
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Issue 37 Artist Interviews + Each issue of Floorr Magazine presents a thoughtfully selected collection of 10 to 15 artist interviews. We pay careful attention to our layout, aiming for a stylish presentation that honours the artwork. Throughout our publication’s history, we have had the privilege of featuring respected artists such as Ragnar Kjartansson, Gillian Wearing, Jules de Balincourt, Yinka Shonibare and working with galleries like Pace, Saatchi Yates, Victoria Miro, Whitechapel Gallery, Serpentine plus many more…
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Installed in the cenacle of a church, ‘be still’ featured a new moving image work ‘Public Sentiment,’ a site-specific thrust stage, porcelain sculptures, and a sound work by musician and sound artist hihi @spacedtheo .
Driven by the question of what a collective of care or a collective of neglect looks like, the work examines the conditions and infrastructures of public transit as a congregational space, considering the commute as a political site of mobility and to locate possibilities of public affect and communality.
The film follows a camp Pierrott clown stuck in a looping commute, where internal affect and public expectations come together to play. Historically understood as the fool who spoke truth to power, the clown represents disobedience to conform to a pervasive dissociative state that demands masking and performance.
The film and sound are independent yet linked; the film is looped four times to listen to the full score. Over time, the sound’s main melodic structure disintegrates into ambient static noise.
Porcelain ‘Jesters’ ornament an empty void. As a light mocking of the art tradition of making large-scale minimalist sculptures, the ‘Thrust Stage’ makes reference to platforms for theatricality and for preaching.
Image 1: ‘be still,’ Installation View
Image 2: ‘be still,’ Installation View. Sound @spacedtheo
‘force with no net sum’
As a sculpture, ‘force with no net sum’ acts as a formal object and as an autonomous producer, contained by site specificity. In its afterlife, it remains as a dialogue in the form of a manual and as an experience in the distilled scent.
The scent provides an alternative perception-based interaction and bears witness to the lifespan of the sculpture; serving as a physical – albeit relatively ephemeral – residue of its existence.
Set to release as an artists book in London on November 10th, the manual is a means of translation, bringing the sculpture back into a language of production while problematizing our understanding of functionality within fine art spaces.
Supported by a bursary from a-n The Artists Information Company
‘Judas hole’ is still available to view, and to be viewed, Fridays and Saturdays at @plicnikspaceinitiative until October 25th.
‘Judas hole,’ 2025
Surveillance footage licensing agreement between artist and gallery, door peephole, CCTV camera, monitor.
Biblical in its sense of betrayal and espionage, a judas hole refers to an aperture or opening through which one may look through without being observed from the other side.
part of Step 3. ???? with @lilybloom_ and @queenneoprene
Scenography by @amelie.mckee and @mellenieling
‘Collection of leaflets gifted to the artist by friends and gathered by the artist in various locations’ (2025) is currently on view in ‘Step 3.????’ at Plicnik Space Initiative @plicnikspaceinitiative with artists Lily Bloom @lilybloom_ and Romane Courdacher @queenneoprene
Image 1 features ‘Terror on Main’ (2025) by Lily Bloom
Installation and curation by Amelie Mckee @amelie.mckee and Melle Nieling @mellenieling
open until 25 October, Fridays and Saturdays
Photography by Vex Noir
I am very excited to share I am showing 2 new works in my upcoming show ‘Step 3. ????’ at @plicnikspaceinitiative alongside two talented artists @lilybloom_ and @queenneoprene
Scenography by the brilliant @amelie.mckee and @mellenieling
I would love to see you at the opening next Friday, September 19th 6-9pm, or stop by until October 25th to visit the exhibition.
The ‘Vessels’ by Emilia Gonzalez Salgado and Michelle Lee Johnson are glass perfume bottles shaped by the imprint of each artists’ mouth. Hand blown by the artists, the glass encases residues of their breath, acknowledging the role of their bodies within the system as both makers and holders.
The ‘Vessels’ are collecting the output of ‘a force with no net sum.’ The extraction process began on July 24th, and is continuously running until the exhibition’s closing date @industrabrno@emilia.g.s@savagewithaconscience
Detail shots of ‘force with no net sum,’ showing the collection of the hydrosol distilled during the exhibition.
The hydrosol, the product of the distillation in the Condensation Column, carries the concentrated scent of the space over time.
As liquid-based documentation, the scent accounts for Volatile Organic Compounds, which include both biogenic (made by or of natural systems) and anthropogenic (emitted by production). VOCs include components such as breath, plants, vapor, coffee, industrial residues, sweat, rust, indeterminate values*, etc.
Live data is displayed to show changes in temperature and humidity and the installation’s elapsed time, which are variables in predicting the total mL of hydrosol distilled.
The extraction process began on July 24th, and is continuously running until the exhibition’s closing date. ‘a force with no net sum’ is currently on view @industrabrno until August 22nd.
*Acknowledges a measure of unexplained variation, uncertainties, and unknowables associated with environment-dependent systems.
‘force with no net sum’ is currently on view @industrabrno until August 22nd.
Constructed as an on-site distillation device, it processes the air in the space to condense its atmosphere into a hydrosol-based liquid, funneling the liquid into handblown glass vessels formed to the inside of each artists’ mouth.
The extraction process began on July 24th, and is continuously running until the exhibition’s closing date.
Pictured is the Condensation Column, where the extracted air and humidity are in contact with cold water and therefore condense. An internal mesh structure increases the surface area for condensation, encouraging drops to form.
We are excited to share the opening of 'force with no net sum' at INDUSTRA Gallery in Brno, Czech Republic.
'force with no net sum' is a site-specific, durational installation and the first public exhibition of a collaborative practice between @emilia.g.s and @savagewithaconscience .
Constructed as a distillation system, the installation condenses the atmosphere of the space into a liquid, carrying scent, over the course of one month. The machine is a performer, generating a fluid-based documentation; a collection of breath, humidity, amongst other indeterminate residues.
The show opens July 24th 6pm, and runs until the 22nd of August.
Graciously supported by @industrabrno and by a bursary from a-n The Artists Information Company.
Galerie INDUSTRA ART se brzy změní v laboratoř mechanických instalací – čeká nás vernisáž dvojité výstavy, a tady je první z nich! 🤖
Force with no net sum
👉 Vernisáž: 24/07 18.00
⚗️ Umělkyně:
Emilia González Salgado
Michelle Lee Johnson
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The INDUSTRA ART gallery is about to turn into a laboratory of mechanical installations – we’re opening a double exhibition, and here’s the first one! 🤖
Force with no net sum
👉 Opening: 24/07 18.00
⚗️ Artists:
Emilia González Salgado
Michelle Lee Johnson
#forcewithnonetsum #industraartgallery #industraart #artinstallation #sitespecificart #mechanicalart #performingmachine #newexhibition #vernisaz #brnoart #contemporaryart #artspace
