PluginHUMAN 2-Minute Showreel
THRIVING: Preliminary Sketch of the Proposed Artwork
Projection-mapping onto microscope imagery with sketched contour lines and 3D elements that extend out from the artwork’s surface
THRIVING will be an immersive, multi-sensory, interactive artwork that explores the wild spaces that exist within and around us. It’s expected to be exhibited at Shepparton Festival April 2022. This site-specific CovidSafe artwork will snake around the walls of a public outdoor area. It will feature a large printed 2D mural (approximately 40m long), 3D elements that extend out from the surface of the mural, Augmented Reality (AR) audience interaction and tactile Braille narratives. At night the mural will transform into a light experience with illumination effects and projection-mapped moving imagery. This artwork will unearth aspects of ourselves, and aspects of nature that are not perceptible without the use of electronic and scientific equipment. We will invite audiences to consider a symbiotic relationship between our inner-worlds and the urban/natural forces that surround us. The above image is a mock-up sketch of this proposed artwork.
DREAM 2.2 [2018]. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, TAIWAN
Immersive audio-visual installation controlled by audience members’ brainwaves in real-time.
Hand painted acrylic, EEG sensors, projection mapping, audio, mixed media.
13m x 6m x 4m (high).
DREAM 2.2 is an immersive, interactive art installation.This projection mapping artwork gives form to our mind’s ephemeral data. Audiences wear an EEG headset. They use their neural activity (brainwaves) to alter the installation’s audio and visuals. In doing this, audiences experience their dreams come alive. They can also, in a poetic sense, walk in the dreams of others. Details www.pluginhuman.com/dream.
BREATHE [2019]. White Night Festival, Melbourne Museum, AUSTRALIA
Immersive, environment-controlled LED light installation.
LED lights, printed acrylic, mixed media, audio.
9m x 5m x 2.5m (high).
Breathe is an immersive art experience. It is inspired by organic structures. This artwork features recycled acrylic tubes, printed with images of microscopic elements from natural environments. Inside the tubes are led lights. The colours and patterns of the lights are controlled by environmental changes that occur in significant international ecosystems. This immersive installation was created by PluginHUMAN in response to their research and field trips in the Amazon, Panama and Australia. Details www.pluginhuman.com/breathe.
CONCEAL [2019]. Luminous Festival, AUSTRALIA
Single-channel, rear projected video artwork.This image shows two people walking in front of the artwork.
Photo-microscopy, projection mapping.
8.5m x 3m. Duration 6:24 minutes.
CONCEAL is a video artwork that features a fusion of digital and organic materials and processes. The artists used digital methods to highlight hidden organic structures. CONCEAL affords audiences the unique opportunity to experience and engage with layers of physicality not often available to us in our daily lives. This artwork features photographs taken under microscope of biological samples that were collected from significant Melbourne (Australian) ecosystems. The video is formed from generative computer animations of the biological imagery. Ultimately, CONCEAL reveals hidden structures from our surrounding natural environment. Details www.pluginhuman.com/conceal.
THE ART OF CONSTANT CHANGE [2021]. Sheparton Festival, Shepparton Art Museum, AUSTRALIA
A large-scale video artwork controlled by brainwaves.
35m x 9m. Duration 6:31 minutes.
The Art of Constant Change is a video artwork. The fractured visuals are driven by the artists own brainwaves. This artwork highlights how our neural function is affected by constantly changing global conditions. Details www.pluginhuman.com/the-art-of-constant-change.
[ i miss your touch ] 2020. WINNER Good Design Award 2020
Participants collaborate with PluginHUMAN to create a live interactive video artwork.
Real-time online virtual environment.
Ephemeral web platform.
[ i miss your touch ] is real time art. This virtual interactive video experience transports two people who are in separate locations into a shared virtual environment. This award-winning online platform launched in March 2020 as a rapid response to pandemic conditions. It helps people maintain meaningful social and physical connections and provides a personalised art experience. It also provides the experience of virtual touch. [ i miss your touch ] makes people feel as if they are together in one space. Details www.pluginhuman.com/your-touch.
CAPTURE [2021]. A Carbon Negative Research Project and Video Artwork
Single channel projection-mapped video artwork. Showcasing the microscopic qualities of environmentally responsible biopolymer materials.
Biopolymers, photo-microscopy, projection mapping.
13.5m x 3m. Duration 10:34 minutes.
PluginHUMAN were the recipients of the 2019 Rupert Bunny Visual Arts Fellowship. Their 1.5 year fellowship project was called CAPTURE. It was an investigation into carbon neutral and carbon negative materials and working practices. During the fellowship they created a series of compostable biopolymers. The biopolymers were a plastic-like substance that can break down in domestic compost systems. They will use these biopolymers in their future installation work, replacing commercial plastics and many metals. The majority of their biopolymers are made using seaweed. The CAPTURE project involved a video artwork that featured generative computer animations of the microscopic qualities of PluginHUMAN’s biopolymer materials. Details https://pluginhuman.com/art/capture.