Circular Economies Residency: Loren Kronemyer in Esperance #5

Nov 30

All of us at SPACED pay respect to the victims and survivors of gun violence, from Bondi to Minneapolis and across the world. This post is shared in solidarity with the families and communities whose lives have been affected by the terror and violence that has taken place, as well as deep concern for the use of guns and the place they hold in our society.

Additional note from the artist, January 2026:

The reality of living among firearms, in both the community I come from, and the community where I now live, evolved over those two years in ways that uncomfortably echoed aspects of the artwork. While I aspire to make work that connects with our times, I feel compelled to acknowledge that this connection can sometimes manifest in unexpected and difficult ways, as is the case here.

My last reflection was written three weeks before the horrific, deadly shooting at Bondi Beach in December 2025. This attack, in which 15 people were killed, was the first mass shooting to occur in Australia in 30 years. It is hard to know the purpose of words, or creative expression, in the face of such tragedy. Anyone affected by this event is at the centre of my thoughts.

In this dispatch from November 2025, I sought to convey what we did, wrote, and thought at that time, offering a view into my small and incomplete creative perspective at that moment. In attempting to understand the role of firearms in my life, I hope to express solidarity with anyone
searching for ways to dismantle the violence in their world.

Original reflection, November 2025:

SPACED Circular Economies artist Loren Kronemyer shares her latest reflection about her research on residency in Kepa Kurl/Esperance with Cannery Arts Centre.

CLOSING THE LOOP

On 17 November 2025, Artist Loren Kronemyer returned for a final visit to Kepa Kurl/Esperance with Metatechnician Hosting. This dispatch reflects on their accumulated knowledge exploring the trajectory of munitions and metals that connect this place to the world.

TRAJECTORY

A circular economy posits continuous recycling, where value is accumulated through transformation of materials, rather than lost through degradation. As our cycle draws to a close, I will use this opportunity to present a reflection back through the stages of transmutation that occurred.

Our three-stage residency in Esperance has provided us with coordinates and collaborators that have come together across an elaborate cradle-to-cradle artwork we have called Materiel World. The title Materiel World borrows a word from the military: materiel, which refers to equipment, munitions, and other inorganic inventory besides personnel. The raw elements that make up this artwork have now completed their first round of reincarnation, forever binding sites of extraction that link Kepa Kurl/Esperance Western Australia, Lutruwita/Tasmania, and the rest of the world.

In September 2024, I conducted an E-Waste Buy-Back event at Cannery Arts Centre. Local residents were invited to trade in electronic waste, to be re-mined and used to create a recycled bullet, a warped re-imagining of the Western Australian gun buy-back that was underway at the time. To prepare for this event, we visited local shooting associations, private gun collectors, the local tip and e-waste consolidation point, and relics of famous electronic space waste that have rained down upon this region.

The community e-waste we procured was reverse-mined for copper. This raw material was cast into an inert bullet artwork, with supervision from licensed firearms experts. A live E-Waste Buy-Back and Bullet Casting experiment also took place in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland courtesy of Festival of Live Art [AKL]. The inert artworks produced by these events were then returned to the Mount Lyell Copper Mine in Lutruwita/Tasmania.

A film was made of this process. In September 2025, A version of this film was screened at Contemporary Art Tasmania, inside a partially functional reconstruction of the Esperance Pistol Club within the gallery. In November, 2025, I brought the film back to its point of origin, for a screening at the Esperance Pistol Club indoor air rifle range, for members and collaborators.

As an American living in Lutruwita/Tasmania, I have historically avoided guns, and never owned a gun. If I was going to learn about guns as tools, I wanted to do so through a framework that was explicitly peaceful. This resolved into the imperfect idea of creating a recycled copper bullet. A bullet that could undo harm, made with the potential to return stolen, mined materials back into the ground. [A circular economy.]

Images: E-Waste Buy--Back at Cannery Arts Centre, photo by sarsby, Freshly cast E-Waste Bullet, photo by David St. George. Recreation of Esperance Pistol Club, part of Materiel World at Contemporary Art Tasmania, photo by Jesse Hunniford, Materiel World screening at Esperance Pistol Club, photo by Loren Kronemyer, final two images: Materiel World screening at Esperance Pistol Club, stills by Jennene Riggs.

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Circular Economies is produced as a joint partnership by PICA - Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and SPACED.