Kate Scardifield has a research driven and experimental studio practice traversing textiles, sculpture, installation and video. Her work intertwines material investigations with archival and collection focused research, and her practice is driven by interdisciplinary exchanges that trace materials through various states of transformation, generating different types of encounters with materials and different forms of material knowledge. Her current projects are investigating algae-based biopolymers, designing with biomaterials for carbon capture and storage, and working with textiles as propositional instruments for navigation, transmission and communication.

Kate is a Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Material Ecologies Design Lab at the University of Technology Sydney. She is currently in residence at the C3 Institute (Climate Change Cluster) in the Faculty of Science, where she is leading projects exploring the possibilities of algae, seaweeds and biotechnology alongside the development and application of biomaterials in architecture and design. 

Recent exhibitions include Pliable Planes, UNSW Galleries (2022); FREE/STATE, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia (2022), The lighter a thought the more it rises, Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch, New Zealand (2019); Soft Topologies, UTS Gallery, Sydney (2018); Ley Lines, St Andrews Museum, Hawick Museum, and Calendar House, Scotland, UK (2017); Microgravity, The Powerhouse, Sydney (2017); System of Objects, National Art School, Sydney (2017); When moving through ruins, The Glasshouse, Port Macquarie Regional Gallery, NSW (2016).