Jen Valender

Clearfell 2025

timber, steel, aluminium, horsehair, brass, nylon

Clearfell transforms an antique ABC TV satellite tripod into an Aeolian harp, a sculptural instrument activated by the wind. The materials used reflect the site’s layered history as a former clearfell logging tramway, referencing archival photographs. Harp bow horsehair and a brass amplifier materially echo the harnesses of these horse-drawn trams, while steel elements mirror the fittings used on timber trolleys, and salvaged wood recalls the felled Otway forests. In Clearfell, the wind becomes both performer and sound-maker, collaborating with live performers in an ephemeral exchange of sound and movement. The project renders the intangible—air currents and harmonic frequencies—tangible, fostering deep listening to the airscape and landscape.

As part of the Biennale’s Sculpture+ program, Valender will film a performance between harpist Genevieve Fry and the sculpture, offering audiences a cinematic experience of the dynamic interplay between performer, artwork and site.

Jen Valender creates performative encounters on and with the landscape that raise questions about the relationship between art and the natural world. Using sound and sculpture, her practice navigates the intersections of human and elemental connections, foregrounding the perception of sound—both human and nonhuman—as a means of communicating the cerebral and ineffable. Grounded in site-specificity and material heritage, Valender’s work draws on ecological narratives, ethical dilemmas and cinematic approaches to reflect on the ways in which art can shape our perception of the environment.

Valender was born in Aotearoa New Zealand and is based in Naarm Melbourne. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (Research) (2021) from the Victorian College of the Arts, as well as Bachelor degrees in Fine Art, Sociology and Anthropology. Valender has exhibited widely both locally and internationally. Selected projects and exhibitions include: Saatchi Gallery (London); Museum of Art and Culture & Multi-Arts Pavilion (Lake Macquarie); Australian Centre for the Moving Image (Melbourne); MPavilion (Melbourne); Centre for Projection Art (Melbourne); Spier Light Art Festival (Stellenbosch); Heide Museum of Modern Art (Melbourne); Ian Potter Museum of Art (Melbourne); Wrong Biennale (Portugal/France); Gertrude Street Projection Festival (Melbourne); Collingwood Yards Art Precinct (Melbourne); WIRWIR Gallery (Berlin); Benalla Art Gallery (Victoria); and Rosi Braidotti Posthuman Artist Labs (Utrecht University).

This project was assisted by the Australian Government through the Festivals Australia program, and generously supported by patrons David and Margaret Harper, and production partner Sculpture Co.

Images: Jen Valender, Sediment 2024, still from single channel, colour film, 9min (top); Jen Valender (bottom). Courtesy the artist.

To purchase this work

Contact our sales team 0400 009 953