Melissa Laing is an artist, theorist, curator and event producer based in West Auckland, New Zealand.

As an artist she works across the media of film, conceptual writing, print and sculpture. She has exhibited widely overseas including at Performance Space in Sydney, Mercer Union in Toronto, Canada, Kulturzentrum Schlachthof in Bremen, Germany, the Museu de Arte Contemporãnea do Ceará in Fortaleza Ceará, Brazil. In New Zealand she has created projects for Sculpture on the Gulf on Waiheke, the Auckland Fringe Festival, Blue Oyster in Dunedin, Enjoy Public Art Gallery in Wellington, The Physics Room in Christchurch, as well as Rm, Te Tuhi and Te Uru in Auckland.

Melissa is the lead researcher for the Performance Ethics Working Group, an initiative of the University Without Conditions. She is the director of the Urban Walking Festival and guides the digital strategy for the Going West Writers Festival. Between 2014 and 2021 she worked as the Whau Community Arts Broker, an initiative of the Whau Local Board to support temporary arts activations across a local area. She has a PhD from the University of Sydney and her writing has been published in magazines, academic journals, and exhibition and artist catalogues.

Download her short CV here (updated February 2022)