Kirsha Kaechele is an artist and curator at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), and founder of Material Institute—her charity with branches in two countries—New Orleans, USA, and lutruwita / Tasmania, Australia. She is interested in the space where complex problems exist, and places transformation at the heart of her work. For Kaechele, problems are a medium for art.
Her projects include: 24 Carrot—building kitchen gardens in low-income schools and communities; CA$H 4 GUN$—a conceptual artwork in the form of a gun buyback scheme in New Orleans; Heavy Metal—an art-science initiative hellbent on cleansing timtumili minanya (River Derwent) of heavy metal contaminants; Ladies Who Jump—a philanthropically minded annual skinny dip in the depths of winter; and Eat the Problem—a super-deluxe food and art compendium featuring a series of ‘recipes’ using invasive species (both real and surreal) with an accompanying exhibition at Mona that featured the world’s largest glockenspiel, tuned to the frequency of the Earth. She is currently developing a fund to support rainforest preservation globally.
