This is the view out my window right now, of the houses and market below the apartment building on Xihua Lu in central Guangzhou. We flew in to Singapore from Melbourne, where we ‘slept’ on the airport couches for 6 hours after a brief stint in towards the city, somewhere called Ali Jihuan. We then flew to Hong Kong where we met up with a friend, and took the train into Guangzhou.
We are planning to contact Vitamin Creative Space to co-ordinate a series of short interviews with artists living and working here in Guangzhou – We will be asking them about what its like to be an artist here. The output will be a video to tour New Zealand. An installation may also take place, but unsure of the logistics of this just yet. As far as here in China goes, we may be taking more of a documentary stance, due to the nature of how art is viewed here, and some issues with accessibility, and not being from here. This in itself is very interesting. Back in New Zealand/Aus, we may bring back a bit of Guangzhou along side the interview work.
Our experience here has been privvy to a lot of local knowledge and sights – as we are staying with a local family. We have been to temples, fruit plantations, ancient villages, a factory in a rural zone (where I think we were the first white people the girls in the local supermarket had seen before), local street cracker displays, plenty of Yum Cha, crazy driving and late night city walks. It’s amazing here, loud, vibrant, colourful, harsh, generous, on the edge, chaotic, working, constantly moving and alive.
Trip to Guangzhou with Art Collective FFFFFF.
Planning on completing an art project to bring back to New Zealand, yet to be decided what and probably won’t be known until we are there. 24 million people population, intense value and priority differences, life is cheap, labour is cheap, the industrial capital of the world.
I’ll be documenting our trip with my Lumix GH2, and aurally with my Zoom H4n recorder.
We will be staying in an inner city apartment for 6 weeks during Chinese New Year, when the 6 weeks are up, I’m back to Melbourne at the beginning of March 2012.
Guitar Wolf played at the gallery/venue I have been running since 2009. Setup the gig to host the Japanese Noise Band Guitar Wolf with Carmen Norgate.
The gig was a total success, and a great way to go out from my position as Venue Manager and Curator at None Gallery.
The gig had around 160 attendees, and managed to survive through broken microphones, blown amps and noise complaints, all in the name of Lock’n'Loll. The show involved sourcing gear, maintaining the space, crowd control, problem-solving under extreme pressure, liasing with the band and manager, and documenting the show.
“Guitar Wolf are Japan’s Greatest Jet Rock & Roll Band. They deconstruct rock and roll to its most basic elements.
The Guitar Wolf experience is hard to define. Imagine if your garage is occupied by a clanky old Toyota piled up with Ramones, Joan Jett and Link Wray records, half empty pomade cans, grade Z sci-fi monster movie posters, rusted Meccano sets, and tumbling fluorescent lightbulbs all soaked in gasoline and reignited with comically large matchsticks”
More photos here : View on Facebook
3d modelling for a Children’s educational tv show. Going from aerial photos and Google map I built up an area of the Corniche. Project involved 3d modelling, texturing, making textures (photoshop), and problem solving while working from photos of the area. Job done as part of a larger project for Natural History New Zealand.
Dunedin’s first Zinefest – August 8th 2011, held between Glue Gallery and None Project Space.
The one day event comprises of Workshops, Talks, Live Screenprinting, Screenings, Food, Exhibition, Stalls and the newly formed Zine Library. The zine library will then be donated to a public space where it will be fully accessible to the public to nurture zine culture and creativity in Dunedin.
This is none. I have been involved with this arts project space on and off since the start of 2004. Currently I maintain and organise shows and events here, and have for the last 2 years. Heres a link to the website I made a while ago now, with quite an extensive archive of happenings. click here
In September 2010 with Ali Bramwell, I worked on a new project for second year Electornic Arts students to get them out of the gallery and get them installing their work outdoors in public space.
The final outcome was a one night exhibition held in the central city of Dunedin in the area surrounding the Public Library.
As part of the art collective ‘FFFFFF’ (Dunedin/Wellington), I was part of the exhibition ‘Introduced Birds’ at the Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin in 2010. My work was a sound installation including acetate/vinyl construction, interactive sound device, projection and effected sound named ‘Storm Shelter’.
“Introduced Birds consists of a series of interlinked environments that conjure up a nervous tension and feeling of barren isolation. Visitors become performers are as they move through three minimalist environments, activating the space with movement and sound. Their psychological terrains tap into an undercurrent of individual alienation and anxiety symptomatic of the mechanisms of contemporary socialisation.
A large, dark, faceted form, reminiscent of a shelter or bunker, inhabits the first space. It is has been constructed from triangles cut out of vinyl records. The original record labels, with obsolete band names and forgotten song titles remain fully legible. These discarded efforts and ambitions, now relegated to a discarded medium, have been transformed into a feeble barrier for anything that might seek shelter there. Adjacent to this form, a dislocated arm from record player sits alone; beckoning. A simple touch to the pointed tip of the stylus sends out a rolling thunderous bass tone from below the mound of fractured records; layering further tension into the space.
Situated further into the gallery are a cluster of hollow geometric forms, which blend into the white gallery walls and mimic the odd angles of the space. Audience members can crawl into these structures, whose dark interiors quickly close in around them. These minimal isolation chambers can be simultaneously contemplative and claustrophobic, offering an introspective experience and the opportunity to contemplate the social forces at work behind our every action.
Walking into the final space, each footstep falls with a crunch onto a large mound of dirt. The soil that makes up this heap has been collected from schools and now defunct children’s homes and ritualistically deposited in the space at the exhibition opening. Photographs of the soil source locations line the walls at kneeling height, thus completing this archeology into New Zealand’s historical structures of socialisation. The exhibition runs until Saturday 2 October.”
FFFFFF – ‘Introduced Birds’ from Soft Systems on Vimeo.
“A fun and engaging augmented reality app to help you discover and explore Dunedin’s Heritage & Arts”
Augmented Reality is the overlay of graphics onto a live video stream. Like a window through time, you can now use your iPhone to discover and explore Dunedin’s heritage & arts using a combination of free wireless internet, seamless connectivity, mobile GPS and live video streaming, overlaid with historic photographs and audio narratives.
This entry was posted in Augmented Reality, Heritage, Otepoti Dunedin and tagged Augmented Reality, augmented reality app, discovAR, discover & explore, Dunedin, Dunedin Heritage, experience, free wireless internet, historic photographs, immersive expereience, mobile GPS, mobile GPS positioning, New Zealand, Window through time. Bookmark the permalink.
I will be buildling a 3d render of a Historic Building that nolonger exists on Moray Place in Dunedin. When the user holds up their iPhone to one of these modern buildilngs, they will see my 3d model build itself over the top and show what was there previously. I will be building this is Maya and working with the developers of this iPhone app to work in y looping animation of a Historic Buildling reconstructing itself in 3d space.
Read more here : http://www.discovar.in/augmented-reality/
Rice and Beans is a new gallery set up by Elle Loui, Gilbert May, Claire Ranui and myself.
I have full documentation of the transformation of the space on Flickr. Click here to view.
The gallery is open from 12-6m Tues to Saturday, solidly exhibiting different artists throughout 2011.