While at Open School East, Leslie explored society’s increasing connectivity, interrogating where and when it could be cut off or interrupted. A capsule clothing collection, Temporary Autonomous Girl, featured electro magnetic field blocking pockets as well as chakra protecting beads. Vanity Fair, a performance for Project Native Informant, featured sculptures with Radio Frequency ID tags and an alarm system being set off by them. Exploring the fetishisation of our connected tech objects is also important to Kulesh and has been realised in an Etsy style shabby chic install for Hotel Palenque in Berlin, called Baby BoBo. The work featured discarded cellphones, SIM cards and motherboards repurposed into key fobs, salt bowls, journals and other home products.

Realised with fellow associate Laura Yuile, Co-Pourri dove right into the current tropes of feminine making in contemporary art. Proposed as a new art movement, the launch in July at Caustic Coastal, Manchester, featured fabric works, how-to videos, and soap dipped business cards all in a pink and purple palette. During her time at OSE, Leslie also produced It’s What’s Inside That Counts, a solo show for Et Al in San Francisco, the No Rose trilogy for Open Source Festival, London, Sylvanian Fashion Week for Cosmos Carl online, as well as work for multiple international group shows. See more at: www.lesliekulesh.com