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Local exhibition breaks new ground in interactive art

Children | 14 January 2019

Famed for being one of the very few libraries in Australia with no books, the latest exhibition launching at The Learning Space in Rhodes this Thursday is yet another example of how some local libraries are ahead of their time.

While You Are Here…Virtual Traces of Rhodes utilises digital technology to break new ground in interactive art.

Aimed at bringing together local communities, the project is a creative collaboration between the City of Canada Bay Council’s Learning Space and the Rhodes Multicultural Community Association (RMCA). Augmented Reality has been used to capture how members of the local community have adopted the spaces around The Connection at Rhodes and transformed them into social and cultural landscapes where dance, music and song are exchanged.

“Committed to cutting edge practice, this exhibition brings together technology, performance, community and the City of Canada Bay in new and exciting ways,” City of Canada Bay Mayor Angelo Tsirekas said.

“Our partnership with the Rhodes Multicultural Community Association demonstrates our passion for connecting communities with each other.”

Eight performers from the community were nominated to participate in the exhibition. Their performances were video recorded against a green screen by experts from The Learning Space, and in the editing, the background was removed.

The Learning Space team then created auras (augmented reality videos that appear when you point your mobile device at a real world image or object) so the performers can appear on a live background. Augmented reality triggers were created using the titles of the songs, music and dances from each performance. These triggers are displayed along the glass wall of The Learning Space.

“When you hold your phone or tablet over the triggers, the performers appear on your phone dancing, singing and playing against the live background of The Connection,” Mayor Tsirekas said. “It’s a wonderful example of our Council continuing to innovate together with our community.”

The eight performers were also invited to share some information about their performances. These interviews form the final part of the exhibition in The Digital Gallery.

“Part of The Learning Space’s cultural practice is technology and part of RMCA’s cultural practice is performance. The aim of this project is to get together and share both of these practices with our local community,” Michelle Zhang, secretary of RMCA.

“It has been fantastic working with the City of Canada Bay on this collaborative project. We invite you to come along to the exhibition launch on Thursday, 17 January at 6:30pm and experience these unique performances.”

The exhibition is open until 11 February 2019.

 

What: Exhibition launch of While You Are Here…Virtual Traces of Rhodes

When: Thursday, 17 January, 6:30pm

Where: The Connection, Rhodes

More information: theconnectionrhodes.com.au

Children | 14 January 2019