Making Art with 0s and 1s
To a millennial, it probably doesn’t feel like it deserves its own story, but go back to the beginning 25 years ago, and the purchase of the first computers for staff was making the front page of the annual report. However, our story sits here at #22 to acknowledge the explosion of digital activity in our regions around 2012, and a seminal moment in our major theatres as digital and 3D cinema systems were installed.
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Eyes by Sandpit. Co-produced by Sandpit and Country Arts SA, this brand new work was developed and presented in Mount Gambier and Whyalla as part of the 2017 and 2018 Adelaide Fringe Festivals. Image: Chris Herzfeld -
Under My Feet was a collaboration in film, dance and music exploring site specific practice and performance by local artists from the regional community of Port Elliot, produced by Country Arts SA as part of Just Add Water. It was produced in several stages over two years and launched in 2013. Collaborators were Heather Frahn, Jeni Lee and Dianne Reid with Rebecca Bainger, Beverly Grace, Rachel High, Frodo Krochmal, Maggie O’Moore, Evie Photakis and Belinda Sanders. -
Presented as part of Country Arts SA's Arts on Screen program, Exhibition on Screen is a ground breaking series which allows art lovers worldwide to enjoy, marvel and delight at the works of some of history’s exceptional painters on the big screen, in stunning high definition. -
Presented as part of Country Arts SA's Arts on Screen program, Peter Pan was captured live at the National Theatre London and screened in South Australia's regional Arts Centres. -
The Democratic Set: Back to Back Theatre's THE DEMOCRATIC SET is a residency model for creating short films and performances, to explore the belief that all people are, in principle, equal and should enjoy social, political and economic rights and opportunities and uses a custom-made film set, a neutral room with two opposing doors. Their Residency ran from 30 May to 31 June 2012 during Just Add Water 2012 and was launched publicly at the Kumuwuki / Big Wave Regional Arts Australia National Conference, in Goolwa later that year. -
Presented by Country Arts SA and Intimate Spectacle as part of the 2017 Fringe in Mount Gambier, We Are The World collected stories and information through face to face interviews, to create a new analog internet live on stage. -
Telling our Stories in partnership with History SA as part of Just Add Water, engaged community historians Madeleine Regan and June Edwards to work with filmmaker Malcolm McKinnon to create five artefact based films about community stories -
Wooden Boat Exchange – a Just Add Water partnership with Guildhouse in 2013 which brought local artists together with boat builders, with the backstories to the works captured on five short films for smartphones to accompany the exhibition at the South Coast Regional Art Centre. Similarly the backstories for the exhibition Tough(er) Love. Image: Chris De Rosa and James Edwards at Armfield Slip. Photo: Grant Hancock -
For the first time since its inception in 1972, a video work has won the Whyalla Art Prize in 2017. Regional South Australia-based artist CJ Taylor won the $25,000 Prize with a video artwork titled The Hut (5/4). “Video art has claimed its own place in contemporary art. It’s extremely gratifying that video work is now included in this respected award. Video has long been exhibited and collected since the 80s. The moving image has become an important art form, communication channel and storytelling platform for the 21st century.” CJ Taylor -
Organised by the Riddoch Gallery, the Inaugural International Limestone Coast Video Art Festival will kick off in 2018. The Festival celebrates the creation of Video Art and places special emphasis on innovative and ground-breaking Video Art internationally, as well as on the work of South Australian artists, and artists throughout Australia. -
COLLECTORS/COLLECTIONS: WAIKERIE FILMS focuses on the preservation and presentation of 8mm films made by local Waikerie residents of historical community events. A large-scale film / community event will be held in Waikerie as part of the 2018 SA History Festival to present these fascinating works as well as the creation of a 3dvd set of edited films and booklet that unearths the who’s who and what’s what in each film. -
A film residency in Raukkan with Aboriginal filmmaker Allan Collins and film mentees, resulting in the short film Coming Home launched in Raukkan on 23 April and the Mercury Cinema on Anzac Day 2017 and screened at Black Screen events at 11 venues throughout South Australia.
The binary number system makes it possible for computers to represent data simply by using 0s and 1s which are translated into electrical on and off signals that a computer can understand. Digital data is text, numbers, graphics, sound and video that has been converted into sets of 0s and 1s.
That’s it, that’s all it is.
But its transformed the way we can experience, produce and document the making of artworks.
We can now experience productions from the greatest art houses of the world on our own screens, we can value-add to the public experience of the artworks we and others create, its given us a whole new platform for making new artwork, plus there’s an entry level somewhere along the expertise continuum for most people to participate.
To a millennial, it probably doesn’t feel like it deserves its own story, but go back to the beginning 25 years ago, and the purchase of the first computers for staff was making the front page of the annual report.
However, our story sits here at #22 to acknowledge the explosion of digital activity in our regions around 2012, and a seminal moment in our major theatres as digital and 3D cinema systems were installed.
Arts on Screen, Black Screen and School Screen became permanent fixtures in our Arts Centres, written project reports were transformed into engaging stories about life-changing experiences and film and digital technology became a staple in creation of new works.
It’s now not uncommon for us to present work captured live in London, Moscow or New York, for live theatre to require you to determine the action through digital selection, for you to experience an orchestra through Virtual Reality or to paint with light.
Bringing the digital into the real is expected and delivered.
