Presented as part of XR:WA Festival 2021
Hear from artists Dung-Chuan Wen and Janet Carter about the experience of working with developers and technicians to bring their concepts to life using AR/VR/360 video.
In the spirit of hackathons and game jams, over a 2-day Hackathon, the artists were provided with equipment and technical support to create their own XR immersive experiences. Facilitated by Natalie Marinho, Founder and Creative Director at Voyant Augmented Reality and Chair of Immerse Australia, artists Janet Carter and Dung Chuan Wen will share their experiences and some of the challenges and rewards of working with XR for the first time.
XR:WA artists will be joined by current PICA studio artist Hiroshi Kobayashi, whose works similarly engage with emerging and self-produced technologies. During his residency at PICA, Kobayashi has set out to examine relationships between personal memories and mass products through the development of a method that connects these languages while preserving their uniqueness, including responsive/interactive digital platforms and traditional paint materials.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Natalie Marinho is Founder and Creative Director at Voyant Augmented Reality. As an Augmented Reality (AR) Designer with an insatiable curiosity for people and technology, she believes that immersive technologies represents the next major shift in human computer interaction. She is particularly interested in how AR can be used to enhance user experience and develop new modes of political and artistic expression. With a diverse working background including augmented reality, user experience design, gamification, and digital content production, Natalie has also been an invited speaker and panelist on technology, games and augmented reality. She is currently Chair of Immerse Australia, a member-driven association representing the interests of the immersive technology industry in Australia and a committee member of DesignFreo. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Psychology with a minor in Anthropology) and a Masters in International Relations.
Hiroshi Kobayashi investigates time, duration and the perception of depth in painting via digitised photographic images and 3D models. The invention of his own production equipment form an essential part in the creation of his visual forms.
Hiroshi Kobayashi has a B.F.A from Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan) and a M.F.A from Brooklyn College of The City University of New York (United States). Since completing his studies in 1995, Kobayashi has exhibited in Taipei, Seoul, New York, Tokyo, Washington D.C., and Beijing. Recent solo exhibitions include Paper Mountain (2018), and Heathcote Museum and Gallery (2019). He has undertaken residencies in Canada, USA, France and the Netherlands. In 2015, Kobayashi migrated to Perth and currently works from the Artsource’s OCH studios in Fremantle. He has been a finalist in the 2018 Albany Art Prize, the Perth Royal Art Prize, the 2018, 2019 and 2021 Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award, and the 2020 Joondalup IAP.
Janet Carter completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Edith Cowan University in 2008, followed by Honours in Contemporary Arts in 2010. Carter’s practice embraces a range of practices and forms, including drawing, sculpture, performance, new media and installations. Since their involvement the Proximity Festival in 2012, they have been focused on creating collaborative, non-gallery based, transient participatory works that are concerned with building resilience in an increasingly precarious world. Over the last 3 years, they have been developing a large body of work around their evolving identity as a queer elder, working intergenerationally with their queer kin of all ages to consider how we create and sustain relationships of care and responsibility for one another when we are not connected by normative familial ties.
In 2018, they were a participant in ArtsHouse’s (Melbourne) Time_Place_Space: Nomad. They participated in Performance Space’s Queer Development Program in 2019, and was subsequently invited by them to join their Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art as Artist in Residence, to develop the performance work Transmission, shown in January 2020 at PICA. In addition to Transmission, they have created and shown work from their queer intergenerational project as part of Here & Now 20, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery’s annual showcase of contemporary West Australian artists (Drawn From Life), and for the Bunbury Biennale (We/Us/Ours).
Wen Dung-Chuan from Taipei, Taiwan (b. 1989), is an interdisciplinary practitioner and is currently studying a Master of Applied Design and Art at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Wen is supervised by Dr Andrew Sunley Smith.
Wen creative practice is focused on global warming issues in the Anthropocene era. He is exploring the residential crisis of global warming due to human activities. The concept and creative method were inspired by artist pioneers including Olafur Eliasson, Simon Starling, Isa Genzken, and Joseph Beuys. His work is inspired by the aesthetics of minimalism and assembled using local materials and digital technology. His creative practice includes installation projects, filming, and painting. His artwork often uses coffee as a creative material due to his previous experience as a barista, roaster, and ASCA (Australian Specialty Coffee Association) competitor and judge.
