1,721,054 research outputs found
Lighter than Tai
No full textIn the Hall of Reverence on Tiananmen Square, Beijing Mao Zedong's body lies in state surrounded by flowers and draped with a Red Flag of Communist China. His casket with a glass top lies on a black stone from Mt. Tai, reflecting the quotation from Sima Qian (China's Han Dynasty historian) that "One's life can be weightier than Mt. Tai or lighter than a goose feather".-----\ud
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This pair of performances were a quiet, personal reflection upon what such a once revolutionary expression might mean in today's very different time and place. The work was conceived during the Olympic Cultural Festival showing of Intimate Transactions - during the tumultuous times leading up to China's proudly staged August 2008 Olympics. The rise and rise of China had long been generating major geopolitical, ecological and cross-cultural shifts throughout the region and beyond. In this dramatic epicentre of change and at a time of such great national pride, how might we each act in ways that are ecologically 'mighty' and yet simultaneously have an impact lighter than a goosefeather? This is both a question for China in its relations with the autonomous provinces and the environment as it is for all of us in our own 'local' affairs. However ecologically speaking all that is of local concern is of global concern and noone can therefore be exempt from the need to sustain that which we share in common and must all protect for the future.-----\ud
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Performance 1: Tiananmen Square, Beijing: Dropping 100 goose feathers.-----\ud
Performance 2: The summit of Mt Tai, Shandong Province. Building a mountain from Goose Feathers.\u
The jingling Geordie: community arts and the regional culture of the North East of England
Full text linkIn the light of the massive economic and social changes which have affected the North East of England over the last 25 years, the author assesses the vitality of the indigenous culture and reflects upon current cultural trends and the North East’s future, particularly in relation to a regional Europe. He traces the folk-tradition of the region and looks at ways in which this can be drawn upon to develop a meaningful link between past and present. He looks closely at the changing nature of class-relationships in the North East and reflects upon how a valid local culture can survive in a multi-cultural society. He draws upon his own extensive experience in Community Arts, looking at definitions of the term in the new political climate and arguing for its positive contribution to the cultural debate. He dwells on the issue of regionalism and devolution in a new Europe, comparing the situation in the North East of England with political and cultural changes in Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom
SubCon warrior 1
No full textSubcon Warrior 1.0 was a large-scale location based promenade performance work produced by the renowned physical theatre company Zen Zen Zo. Themed around the experiences and ethical dilemmas inherent within contemporary computer gaming scenarios it utilized a dramatic combination of multimedia scenography and audience-performer choreography to profoundly challenge numerous conventions of contemporary performance. Technologies deployed included augmented reality mediatised sets and locations as well as the extensive use of wearable, portable and wireless systems. Audiences became central participants within the work’s creative processes and were taken on an immersive journey via numerous sets distributed throughout buildings, their environs and a private house. As multimedia director my role was to work in close collaboration with the directors and players to create visual materials, wearable computing and imaging devices, computer surveillance systems, wide area audio broadcasting and bugging and surveillance solutions. The production was hugely successful selling out every performance of its run and producing strong and vibrant reactions from its diverse audiences.-----\ud
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The immersive multimedia script developed a complex computer gaming scenario that required audiences to engage in physical action, active problem solving and role play, thereby developing a deep physical and emotional connection to the ‘game’ and its characters. Audience groups and performers shared common spaces and scenarios and each were handed a range of problems and ethical dilemmas which they were asked to resolve in limited time periods, ensuring that the work’s outcomes could be dramatically different depending upon any one audience’s will, ability and collective skills.-----\ud
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This project was an outstanding success elicited major financial backing from Qld Performing Arts Trust and Arts Queensland to produce a full-scale subsequent work called Subcon Warrior 2.0, produced for the 2008 Brisbane Festival. Subcon Warrior 1.0 built strongly upon new forms of mediatised and interactive performance being developed throughout the world at that time to profoundly challenge existing ‘passive’ performance paradigms, particularly through the innovative and wide scale integration of new technologies
The last generation
No full textThe Last Generation is a laser-cut, plywood sculpture (1.2x1.2x0.3m) containing 52 miniature red scrolling LED text modules. It is shaped in the form of a low resolution greyscale computer icon once widely used to represent the 'Save as - to floppy disc” function on greyscale computer monitors. Each text alludes both to that which has been lost through rapid technological progression & the long term ecological damage being created through their rapid transition of technological objects from desirable commodity to waste stream.----- \ud
The scrolling texts are intentionally blurred as a tactic for drawing attention to the constant superceding of prior technological products in favour of those with incrementally higher resolutions (often far in excess of user requirements). The work therefore sought to question the ICT industry’s lack of clear policies in terms of avoiding pre-planned obsolescence in their products as well as the toxicity of commonly employed materials – an agenda which at that that time had garnered limited governmental attention. The Last Generation was commissioned for a National touring design/art/craft exhibition in 2007-8 and has future public showings booked for 2009
Whisper our futures
No full textWhisper Our Futures was an invited design proposal to produce a major public artwork for the State of Queensland’s 150th Anniversary Celebrations. It involved a network of 100 individual scrolling digital text boxes each with individual audio systems arranged together in a tessellated format. This form (specified by the originating brief) both mimicked the soaring gothic arches typical of Queensland cathedrals and was also suggestive of their stained glass windows. Each text module presented a message in both visual and audible forms for Queenslanders living 150 years hence - spoken both by the general public aw well as prominent figures. In this way the work was designed as a focus of future hope, historical reflection and inspiration to visitors to Queensland cathedrals throughout the entire year of celebrations (2009). The work was planned to premiere at Brisbane’s main Anglican Cathedral and then tour to nine other state cathedrals throughout 2009.---- \ud
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Two staged proposals and budgets were invited throughout 2007. After the second successful proposal stage the State Premier and cabinet changed, ultimately leading the public art components to be dropped from the program. The proposal currently remains on file at the Queensland Premiers Office.\u
Presentation of Major Works of the Transmute collective
No full textA video installation presentation of Major Works of the Transmute collective at the L'Attitude 27.5 Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse Centre For the Live Art
In step
No full textIn Step was a wearable artwork consisting of a pair of embroidered foot bandages and an actuator ‘cushion’ embedded with 15 electromechanical actuator pistons. The bandage was embedded with woven, soft and flexible fabric sensors - interconnected with metallic connecting threads, fasteners and a wireless interface (in a final form). When wrapped around a foot and lower leg the sensors sat on the ball of the toes and heel. This ‘wearable interface’ was then connected wirelessly to a soft sculptural form, which employed actuators to tap gently in response to the qualities of the walk detected by the soft sensors. In this way the ‘tread qualities’ of the walker could then be felt by someone else holding this device against their stomach – thereby allowing pairs of participants to ‘feel’ the tactile qualities of the other's walk. The work was presented both as a working object and via a short videorecorded performance.-----\ud
In Step generated innovative new approaches to interface and sensor embedded clothing/footware whilst also creating an evocative vehicle to comment upon contemporary Post Colonial theories of weight and groundedness – particularly the psycho-geographical ‘separation’ from the landscape that inspired Paul Carter’s “environmentally grounded poetics”. The work’s final form also suggested critical new directions for responsive clothing and footwear for the emerging genre of smart textiles
Lie of the Land
No full textA presentation of three video artworks at Nishi Ogikubo station, as part of the Alibabart event in the Nishi Ogi Machi Media Festival. Three Australian artists have come together through their common connections with the art community of Nishi Ogikubo. With the aim of communicating with a broad cross-section of the local community, their videos will be shown within the public space of the local train station. The collective title "Lines of Sight" was chosen to reflect the variety of view points framed within the video works to be shown. Keith Armstrong's video is concerned with issues regarding the colonization of Australia. For the period of one month, from April 29th, the three video artworks will be played continuously in a loop on the Lion TV monitor at Nishi Ogikubo Station between the times of 7am and 10pm, seven days a week. Viewing Point - Within Nishi Ogikubo Station. View from the top of the escalators on the Sobu Line platform
Unbearable lightness
No full textUnbearable Lightness was a public artwork of 110 LED scrolling text boxes distributed throughout the canopy of a large, mature tree, located in a high traffic location in a major Brisbane Parkland. The work was a major commission for the Southbank Corporation Public Art Program and was exhibited during the three months around Christmas and New Year 2003. Each text module displayed individual LED scrolling messages developed during collaboration with locally based hypertext writer, Linda Carolli. Set during the time of the highly contentious Invasion of Iraq, the texts posed open questions around the themes of lightness, thinness and emptiness with the aim of promoting contentions of hope in a time of painful impotence for concerned citizens.-----\ud
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The text modules were positioned in sympathy with the position of major constellations in the night sky at that time whilst the design alluded to Martin Luther’s original Christmas tree envisaged as a mixture of ‘stars’ seen via a tree. The tree was further outlined and highlighted with blue spotlights set within its crown. The project required the design, networking and ruggedisation of the work’s waterproof electronic modules – assisted by an electronic designer. These modules were later re-purposed into a range of other works and formats.-----\ud
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Set within the context of major antiwar protests of that era, the project sought to foster private reflection amongst its viewers whilst also calling upon the power of their personal and collective imagining as a method for retaining positive and critical mindsets in the face of such painful social and political adversities. The work became a strong focus of attention within the park and generated nightly debate and enthusiastic spoken reading sessions.\u
Videos in 'Creative Queensland' presentation, World Expo, Aichi, Japan
No full text3 Selected Works: Included in ‘Creative Queensland’ Presentation/Publication of Leading Queensland Australian Artists, At the Australian Pavillion, World Expo 2005, Aichi, Japa
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