Keith Mason | Terra Forming

Artist Statement

My practice investigates the paradoxical relationship between authenticity and simulation in contemporary culture. I am particularly interested in how we construct and validate 'natural' experiences through artificial means – a tension that manifests across multiple fields, from audio engineering to environmental design. This dichotomy reveals our complex relationship with authenticity: even as we strive to recreate or preserve natural phenomena, we inevitably create new forms of artifice.

Through multimedia installations, I explore these manufactured attempts at authenticity, examining how they simultaneously achieve and undermine their intended purpose. My work questions our cultural assumptions about what constitutes 'real' or 'natural,' particularly in contexts where mechanical and electronic interventions are used to simulate organic processes. This investigation extends beyond mere technical reproduction to probe deeper questions about human desire for authentic experience in an increasingly mediated world.

Drawing from my background in music, I examine how these tensions manifest in acoustic environments, where technological simulations of natural phenomena create uncanny spaces that are neither purely artificial nor truly organic. This exploration serves as a broader metaphor for contemporary culture's relationship with authenticity, revealing the hidden histories and quiet contradictions in our pursuit of the natural.

Artist Bio

Keith Mason is a visual and sound artist based in Melbourne Victoria. His work has encompassed sound design and composition, live performance, video and sculpture. Most recently he has created performance works for Good Grief Studios in Hobart and Wide Open Road Art in regional Victoria around the themes of geographic distance, the Australian landscape, reality and engineered authenticity.