Virtual Reality
Imagine if Big Brother zeroed in on eight artists for 48 hours – and then handed over the controls to you. You’d have Virtual Reality, a faithful documentation of artistic practice that doubles as hands-on human puppetry. By accessing a special social media kiosk on-site, you are able to select an action for an artist to peform, and then witness it in real time. The power is in your hands.
Join 8 artists
Angela Coombs Matthews James Farley Sophie Kurylowicz Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran Chris Orchard Greg Pritchard Jacob Raupach Loddy Whitmore
over 48 hours as they broadcast their day live to the big screen on Cockatoo Island, and the world.
For your viewing pleasure there will be an interesting twist! While observing the artists through moments of creativity, and perhaps the mundane, you are invited to interact with the artists remotely from the island.
During the Underbelly Arts Lab, Greg Pritchard and The Ronalds will research and develop a series of actions for the 8 artists to perform when prompted by you, the audience. You will be able to use these prompts to communicate directly with the artists through a social media kiosk during the festival. The live element of the work will mean you see your interaction with the artists in real-time (or within a few seconds) as they respond to your requests.
After the initial testing during The Lab, the final work for the Festival will involve 4 chosen artists going about their day, using a recording device to stream video to 4 projectors on Cockatoo Island via the web. These streams will also broadcast live on this website to allow viewers all over the world to enjoy the work.
The audience will have access to the social media kiosk – 4 tablets that are fixed on site in front of each projection screen. The tablets will display a selection of buttons that represent a given prompt that when pressed will notify the artist in real-time to perform a given task or action. That task may be as simple as waving to the camera, but the direct interaction between the viewer and the artist reward the viewer for their participation and fully utilises the live element of the work.
After the first day, each of the 4 artists will meet to relay their equipment on to the next 4 artists to complete the next days streaming.
After the festival, stills will be available here on the website, curated from the 48 hours of broadcasting.
This project is an opportunity to test cutting edge use of current technologies and investigate new ways to include the audience in shaping the outcome of the work.
