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It’s big, interactive and on Gertrude Street
Kit Webster, feature artist for the 2010
Gertrude St Projection Festival, is creating a building-sized
interactive digital projection that will transform the exterior
of the Gertrude Hotel.
‘It’s TEXTAVISION,’ he explains, ‘which
offers passers by the chance to get involved with a bit of
street magic, all controlled by SMS via their mobile phones.
The work reflects on the appropriation of cutting-edge technology
for seemingly simple and comical means. It’s designed
to appear totally spontaneous and haphazard, like some kind
of traveling gypsy magic show. I like the idea of the work
being a bit laid-back, as it fits with the easygoing nature
of Gertrude street.’
People walking by the site will be able to SMS a number displayed
on a billboard and text any word (be it a place, feeling,
style or their favorite cartoon character) and associated
images will be emblazoned across the hotel. ‘The concept,’
says Kit, ‘builds on the festival theme “Me You
Us”, as the texted choices will give onlookers an insight
into a whole range of individual personalities’.
TEXTAVISION will be part of the nightly Gertrude St Projection
Festival, which runs 9 – 18 July along the length of
Gertrude St Fitzroy.
Kit Webster is a Melbourne artist who has been gaining wide
recognition for his creative combination of cutting-edge digital
projection and sound. He developed the site-specific projection
Pub Crawl for last year’s Gertrude St Projection Festival,
and his installations Dataflux 0.1 and Scribbluminous, were
selected for screening at the Lange Nacht der Musik festival
in Munich, Germany.
Earlier this year, MARS art gallery in Port
Melbourne commissioned Kit to create an immersive light and
sound sculpture Engimatica, and he will be exhibiting Enigmatica
II at the McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park in Langwarrin
from 11 July.
Kit recently returned from a residency in
Vienna, Austria, and he goes to Brazil in August to participate
in Rojo@Nova, a contemporary art event involving 100 selected
artists from around the world. Kit's projects can be viewed
on his website: www.kitwebster.com.au.
Kit Webster is the 2010 recipient
of the Gertrude Association RMIT Arts Union artist prize.
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