Education and knowledge are key themes in the work of Melbourne-based artist Emily Floyd (born 1972). In a practice that encompasses public art, sculpture and printmaking, interaction is a fundamental part of the process of engagement for the artist. Floyd frequently works with language and texts in unexpected ways, meticulously considering elements such as font and colour, shape and size, material and movement to create works that not only engage the senses but also serve to initiate discussions about contemporary social, cultural and political ideas.

Emily Floyd's work is held in museum collections including The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Gallery of Modern Art Queensland, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Monash Museum of Art, Melbourne and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Group exhibitions include Colour Bazaar at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 10 Ways to look at the Past, NGV Melbourne, Kindness: Undarta at The Habitat Centre, New Delhi and Home and Away at the Australian Embassy Washington DC. Solo projects include exhibitions New Graphic Sculpture at Anna Schwartz Gallery Sydney and a major Building Commission for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Floyd has completed several large scale public sculptures, including New Ways of Thinking at Melbourne's Docklands and Public Art Strategy for Eastlink Motorway.

Most recently she was awarded the inaugural Monash University Museum of Art Ian Potter Sculpture Commission. This Place Will Always Be Open explores the role and legacy of the university campus (and museum) as a site of political potential. Drawing its title and conceptual framework from the experimental student struggles at Monash University during the 1960s and '70s, and incorporating a series of activities and publications instigated by Floyd, this work serves as a space for social encounter - reinvoking a utopian spirit that is open, inclusive, free, provisional and generative.

Emily Floyd is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery Sydney and Melbourne.

Related Links:

• www.annaschwartzgallery.com