Collaboration #3

By Sharne Wolff

Just when the air is beginning to get chilly, the festival of ‘light music and ideas’ known as Vivid Sydney provides numerous reasons to get out and about in the city, especially after dark. The sandstone art deco façade of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia is the perfect back drop for this ‘live’ 3D mapped-projection display or, better still,  ‘architectural performance’ cooked up by the team of artist Gemma Smith and local technology whiz kids, The Spinifex Group.

The choice of Smith as collaborating artist was fitting – the artist’s two painted sculptures both entitled Adaptable, from 2008,are featured in Volume One: MCA Collection, a continuing series that celebrated the opening of the newly renovated MCAA space and runs until January 2015. The mapped projection activates the building with a kaleidoscope of bright colour and shifting geometric lines that form and collide in different dimensions. A multi-sided projection, reminiscent of the artist’s colourful abstract sculptures, arrives and then reimagines itself in multiple versions. Diamond shaped ‘jewels’ cast in light and inspired by Smith’s Radiant Boulder series appear to fall from the sky. While you’re viewing the MCAA, don’t forget to turn and check the luminous sails of the Sydney Opera House, another highlight of the festival by The Spinifex Group.

Until June 10

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (Circular Quay façade), Sydney

http://www.vividsydney.com

Pic: Gemma Smith and The Spinifex Group Collaboration #3 (Still), Mapped projection and light display. Courtesy the artist, The Spinifex Group and Vivid Sydney.