[ISEA2013] Panel Statement: Media Releases — The Art of Broadband: The Portals

Panel Statement

Media Release 1

BROADBAND ARTS INITIATIVE
03 September 2012
The Hon Simon Crean MP
Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government
Minister for the Arts
Media Release

PIONEERING ARTISTS TO EXPLORE NEXT GENERATION BROADBAND
Four artistic teams will harness the unprecedented creative possibilities of high capacity broadband with $350,000 through the Australia Council’s Broadband Arts Initiative.

Arts Minister Simon Crean today announced the successful artists who will generate new art content for next generation broadband networks in Australia.

The National Broadband Network is forging new possibilities for artists, Mr Crean said.

It is broadening audiences for artists and providing new digital platforms for creating, sharing and presenting work.

I have been a constant advocate and proponent for this potential, arguing that the NBN is the highway.

The creative industries are a key part of determining the vehicles that go on the highway. The access and applications are vital.

Selected by a panel of practicing artists as well as leaders from the broadcast, creative and gaming industries, these teams are breaking creative boundaries with projects that are only possible as a result of high speed broadband infrastructure.

(…)

Festival director Marcus Westbury has received $86,000 for the Screen Portal Project which will connect artists and audiences in real-time interactions on high definition, life-size audio visual screens in public spaces in New South Wales and the Northern Territory, as part of the 2013 International Symposium on Electronic Arts.

(…)

Media artist Keith Armstrong has received $64,000 for Long Time, No See?’ an online and installation artwork where the public will generate a vision for Australia’s long term future. This project connects with communities at early National Broadband Network release sites.

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Media Release 2

THE ART OF BROADBAND – THE PORTALS
MEDIA RELEASE 30 MAY 2013

THE ART OF BROADBAND – AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS
EMBRACE FAST NETWORKS AS NEW CREATIVE MEDIUM

Fast Internet is changing Australian society by connecting the nation’s scattered population –and it is also transforming Australian art.

Leading Australian media artists are exploring the limits of this new creative medium in The Portals, a public art exhibit which opens in Sydney and Darwin on 8 June for the 19th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA2013). ISEA2013 will showcase the best media artworks and future-focused ideas from Australia and around the world from 7 to 16 June at venues across central and outer Sydney, and Darwin.

The five artworks in The Portals rely on the physics of high speed broadband to link two geographically distant sites in real time: public screens at Chatswood’s The Concourse in Sydney as well as Nan Giese Gallery and the Chan Contemporary Art Space in Darwin.

The program is presented in partnership with Darwin Community Arts, Willoughby Council and Urban Screen Productions.

“High-speed networks are igniting incredible new opportunities for creative practitioners as they are rolled out across Australia,” says creative producer Ricardo Peach, who is curating the program.

Interactive experiences which involve audiences in co-creating the artworks are central to all five projects, which span live art, visual art, sound art, e-literature, interactive performance, augmented and virtual reality, and social media art.

In Metaverse Makeovers (LIVE), the artists are working with nail technicians to makeover members of the public with nail “appcessories” – wearable augmented-reality nail accessories that interact with a companion game app that connects Sydney and Darwin.

“As high speed broadband rolls out around the country, we hope to give it a virtual manicured hand in rethinking and redesigning networked experience, so that it supports greater intimate, immersive, and sensorial connections between participants from different physical locations,” explains artist Thea Baumann.

Other artworks in The Portals include:

Shadow Net, which uses Microsoft’s Kinect technology to incorporate the shadows of passers-by in Chatswood and Darwin into a shared, virtual game space;
Distributed Empire, a real-time sonic and visual portrait generator that recombines the faces of volunteers in various locations;
Is Starlight A Wifi Signal? which encourages audiences in Sydney and Darwin to interact via their mobile devices with a networked performance that includes moving bodies, projections and text; and
Enquire Within Upon Everybody, which is inviting audiences in both locations to tweet questions on any subject and see them answered live by the global data stream.

“The Portals opens up new possibilities for the use of the proliferating screens in our urban environment,” says Jonathan Parsons, Director of ISEA2013.

“Together we will co-create, celebrate and experiment with the burgeoning artistic possibilities emerging in this country as it becomes increasingly connected through high-speed networks.

“This promises to transport, transfix, transform and translocate participants across this vast continent.”

The Portals runs from 8 to 16 June. It will be launched on the afternoon of 8 June at 3pm in Sydney and 2.30pm in Darwin.

Participating artists are available for interviews:

Distributed Empire: Justin Clemens (VIC), Christopher Dodds (VIC) and Adam Nash (VIC)
Enquire Within Upon Everybody: Andrew Burrell (NSW) and Chris Rodley (NSW)
Is Starlight a Wifi Signal?: Nancy Mauro-Flude (TAS), Nick Smithies (TAS), Crystal Thomas (NT) and DCA-Frontline Media (NT)
Metaverse Makeovers (LIVE): Thea Baumann (VIC/Shanghai), Ben Ferns (VIC), Shian Law (VIC)
Shadow Net: Jimmy McGilchrist (SA/NSW), Matt Ditton (VIC), Tom Killen (VIC), Tyler Solleder and Johan Dreyer (NSW)

The Portals also includes the associated events MEMEBrain Art Hackfest, a traveling exhibition of moving images by over thirty Nordic artists titled Nordic Outbreaks, the Zydnei Street Game at Chatswood, and #hererealnow, an exhibition exploring digital culture at Darwin’s The Chan Contemporary Art Space.

The Portals is part of 19th International Symposium on Electronic Art, Sydney, presented by the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) and supported by Destination NSW to align with Vivid Sydney. It has been supported by the Australia Council for the Arts through its Broadband Arts Initiative, Arts NT through the Regional Arts Fund, and partnerships with Darwin Community Arts, Charles Darwin University, Urban Screen Productions and Willoughby Council.

The ISEA2013 Exhibitions Program will showcase the works of over 150 innovative Australian and international artists.