Open Spatial Workshop (OSW) is a collective comprising Bianca Hester (University of Sydney), Scott Mitchell (RMIT) and Terri Bird (Monash University), artists and academics who have been working together developing research projects with exhibition outcomes since 2003. We have produced collaborative installations, constructions, diagrams, writing and events.

Our activities are framed by an ongoing interest in physical forces, such as gravity, and material operations that register these forces and their temporality. Our current research focus is with the dynamic flows of matter, focusing specifically upon geology as a starting point for exploring a range of connections to geography, colonization, mining, economics and philosophical thought.

Throughout 2013 OSW explored the geological collection at the Melbourne Museum photographing selected specimens and discussing them with the collections manager and senior curators. These conversations were mapped to produce a series of idiosyncratic diagrams. The range of specimens, including tektites, meteorites, crystals and metals, are the starting points for a research project that explores the layered connections these specimens generate as material objects.