Incursion 2010 multi channel synchronized digital video projection customized rear projection screen Riverside House, Mackay, Queensland Image courtesy and © the artist Photo: Craig Walsh
Check out the latest images of Incursion as part of the Digital Odyssey project in Mackay! The strange tentacle/vines forms grow and change colour, filling the window and then receding. A great sight for any unsuspecting Mackay locals on an evening stroll!
Latest
Incursion 37:20:15.71” N - 121: 53:09.51” W 2008 12 channel synchronized digital video projection customized rear projection screen SJ01 Biennial, San Jose, California Image courtesy and © the artist Photo: Craig Walsh
If you are in the lovely (and warm!) town of Mackay over the coming weeks, check out the installation of Incursion Craig has set up in the windows of the Digital Odyssey project hup at Riverside House. Details below!
INCURSION
6pm – 10pm NIGHTLY
Until 10 Sep
Riverside House
43 River Street, Mackay
Incursion is part of a series of works, which transform architectural sites into unexpected habitats. This installation was originally commissioned for The Zero One Bienalle, San Jose, California in 2008. Incursion continues a series of large-scale projection installations which occupy specific sites and responding to contrasting environmental contexts. These urban interventions provide surreal visions of organic forms dominating architectural sites and altering their perceived function. This surreal vision emerges through the manipulation of scale and the creation of video content, which directly responds to the architectural space. Audiences watch as this alien form slowly grows to fill the space before receding back into the unknown.
Digital Odyssey officially starts today in Mackay! Presented in partnership with Artspace Mackay, Craig will be set up in a large empty office space in Riverside House 43 River St, Mackay, which will operate as the project base for Digital Odyssey and the Hiromi Hotel Mackay Art Farm project. The Hiromi Hotel Mackay Art Farm project will see Hiromi working closely with the community on her collaborative project with Craig, HOME, offering creative exchange and professional development to participants, which can then be applied to future creative projects in Mackay.
As before, the community are invited to contribute materials to the collective screen, or get involved with the creation of specific textiles and sculptural elements. Visitors and people from the local community will then be filmed sharing what their perception of home is, and these videos projected onto the screen creating a large-scale video and sculpture installation.
Craig will be working closely with Hiromi on the project, and also displaying other works in and around Mackay, including in the windows of Riverside House. In addition to this and other public programs, Craig will be presenting a short talk at the Regional Art Awards this coming weekend, and then presenting an artist talk to on Monday 22nd August. Keep tuned for further details on the talk or contact Artspace Mackay on (07) 4957 1722, and come along next Monday to find out more about Digital Odyssey in Mackay.
The Hiromi Hotel Mackay Art Farm project has been made possible with assistance from the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF), and the Building Supportive Communities program. The RADF is a Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and Mackay Regional Council partnership to support local arts and culture. Building Supportive Communities is an initiative of the Queensland Government through Disability and Community Care Services.
Images from top: Craig Walsh’s Humanature; Splendour in the Grass; Craig inspiring the Splendid team; ‘Where The Party Is’ by Mish Grigor and Lauren Brincat (with Lauren shooting the balloons), Lauren Brincat and Dominic Finlay-Jones 23 metre wrought iron staircase; Carl Scrase’s large inflated hand, which from different sides was either giving you the finger or a big peace sign; Mimi Kelly braving the sun; the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains.
Well after a bit of recovery, it’s time for a quick update on all things Splendour in the Grass, and Splendid!
Prior to the start of the Festival, Craig with the help of his assistant Steve, set up 3 Humanature projections in the grounds of the festival. Two were to the left of the entrance of the large pathway to the main amphitheatre stage, and another a little more hidden for people to discover on a nearby hill.
As Project Coordinator for Digital Odyssey, I arrived on the Friday night and Craig and I went to look at the artwork setup. As there were literally hundreds of people walking past the duel works, it was a great opportunity to hear their reactions, which were all pretty much amazement (as well as quite a few screams from the more overly happy revelers “it’s looking at me!”, “I thought I imagined it last night!”!, “that’s so trippy!”).
Covering two huge groups of trees, the enormous faces loomed out of the darkness. Many people tried to photograph the projections, which proved extremely tricky (I tried too with my happy snap, but failed dismally). When I interviewed people for the vox pops (coming soon – with the naked person who desperately tried to get in camera edited out), it was great to hear one person who had been at the Woodford festival 10 years ago and seen the original Humanature faces, and was amazed to see them again. Many people had never seen outdoor projection artwork, and everyone commented on how they wanted to see more art in alternate display contexts – which is great to hear, particularly as encouragement to Splendour in the Grass who has commitment to developing art as an important part of the festival.
Crag was also busy overseeing artworks on display by young Splendid artists, as part of his role as memberof the Splendid Curatorium. I have included some images of artworks by some of the artists who participated in last year’s Splendid lab, and whose work was selected for development and display at this year’s festival.
With hundreds of thousands of people attending the festival, it was a great opportunity for Craig’s work to be enjoyed by many people at once, and by people collectively. The unique setting the work was displayed in also contributed greatly to the experience of viewing the projections – and of course contributed to peoples overall Splendour adventure.
I thought it would be nice for people to see an image of the mysterious MCA person who updates the blog – me, the Digital Odyssey Project Coordiantor, so I have included an image of myself sitting on the side of a hill looking out over the Splendour valley.
Our sincere thanks go out to Splendour in the Grass for inviting Digital Odyssey to be part of this year’s festival. It was also great to meet some of the Splendid artists and team, and see some of our other Digital Odyssey friends there including Annmarie Kohn, Connor Obrien and the Australia Council reps.
Digital Odyssey 
