The Institute of Unusual Studies (IUS) is the working name for the collaborative team of artists Dianne Bos and Sarah Fuller. Both artists have full time artistic practices that involve working with a variety of mediums including photography, sculpture, sound and installation pieces. Their artistic friendship developed over a special interest in antiquated photography techniques including pinhole, analogue photography, large format cameras, the camera obscura and in general an interest in nature, vernacular architecture, the history of photography and a quirky sense of humour. Each of us has an interest in history, narrative and place.
We work to create dynamic, interactive and sometimes magical art works and don’t rely on high tech special effects to create a eye-catching or engaging experience. The Institute of Unusual Studies isn’t just a playful name for our collaborative works – we have a serious interest in studying unusual things that work their way into our artwork whether it be imagery, natural phenomena or antiquated processes and techniques.
We want to engage the viewer in a playful dialog and exchange, but also provoke them to think about the world in alternate ways. This ties into our interest in old photography technologies, lenses, viewers and contraptions that allow the viewer (and ourselves) to see the world from another perspective.
Institute of Unusual studies 