[ISEA2013] Curator Statement: Ricardo Peach — The Portals

Curator Statement

The Portals is presented by ISEA2013 in partnership with Darwin Community Arts. The Portals is a curated program of five telematic artworks linking the two cities of Darwin and Sydney. The project connects these two communities in realtime through networked and interactive artworks which require the physics of high speed broadband. Darwin and Sydney are the two key sites, as Darwin is a regional centre which is part of the first stage roll-out of the national high speed broadband, while Sydney is the host city for ISEA2013, an event designed to showcase the work of Australian and international media artists. The ISEA2013 theme ‘Resistance is Futile’ is addressed in this program both directly through concepts around surveillance, social media and tracking embedded in many of the artworks, and indirectly through the public broadcasting of the work and the ubiquitous nature of the technology used to co-create the interactive pieces on screen. The media art work in The Portals includes live art, visual art, sound art, e-literature, interactive performance, augmented and virtual reality, social media art and community engagement. The Portals as a curated program ultimately showcases the cultural possibilities that can emerge when some of the most renowned media artists in Australia create works linked in realtime to two distant geographical sites via high speed broadband. These developments not only herald future opportunities for creative practitioners using high speed networks as they are rolled out across Australia, but also help insert culture and diversity into the heart of the debate on what this new infrastructure can deliver. There are five works in The Portals program. Each work addresses slightly different art practices and genres, and engages with the different capacities of a dual site, networked space. Some of these works will run continuously on screen and on-line, while others will be one-off performance events in Darwin and Sydney.
Join us on The Portals Project Facebook page (facebook.com/ThePortalsProject) to become part of The Portals community and follow us on Twitter through #ThePortals.

This project is presented by ISEA2013 and the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) as part of the 19th International Symposium on Electronic Art, Sydney.

The Portals Project Team

  1. Ricardo Peach – The Portals Creative Producer
  2. Kathryn Gray – The Portals Northern Territory Producer
  3. Britt Guy – The Portals Northern Territory Producer
  4. Bong Ramilo – Executive Officer, Darwin Community Arts
  5. Chris Rodley – Communications
  6. Glenn Harding – Managing Director at Urban Screen Productions and Technician/Manager Chatswood Urban Screen
  7. Emma Shearman – Operations Director at Urban Screen Productions Technician/Manager Chatswood Urban Screen

Producing & Presenting Partner
Darwin Community Arts seeks to promote grassroots arts development in the Darwin region. DCA started as Brown’s Mart Community Arts in the 1970s, and has focused on neighbourhood-based work since 2007. DCA also promotes new technologies in community arts, including interactive media and digital arts.  darwincommunityarts.org.au

  • Dr. Ricardo Peach was born in Mpumalanga, South Africa and moved with his family to Australia in the 1980’s. He is Festival Partner Consultant for the Australian SituateArt in Festivals initiative. At the Australia Council (2006-2012) he  commissioned research on arts and creative industry partnerships with the QUT Faculty of Creative Industries; instigated an MOU with UNESCO; developed the Indigenous Experimental Art Fund; developed the Art in Festivals initiative; established the Australia Council’s AlloSphere artist residency at the California NanoSystems Institute in the University of California, Santa Barbara; developed the four year Splendid Young and Emerging Artist initiative with the music festival Splendour in the Grass; and developed the first government supported artist residency in a virtual world. Source:  ricardopeach.com

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, as part of the Broadband Arts Initiative. This project is supported by Arts NT and the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund. This project is also supported by Willoughby City Council and the managers of the Chatswood Urban Screen, Urban Screen Productions.