Projected artwork of Jude Hostchkiss

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

From the Vault: Where did illuminart get its name?

Marrickville Artists and Projection“illuminart streets” in 2004 was one of the first outdoor mobile projection projects in Australia. It provided a platform for visual artists to explore projection art and public space intervention as a new form of public art.

Directed by Cindi Drennan, the “streets” project was the second illuminart-named project, and explored community arts and technical processes leading to establishment of the arts company illuminart in 2007.

Illuminart Streets followed on from a previous projection art project, also called Illuminart, held in Marrickville NSW in 2002, on the annual artists night.

Illuminart Streets invited local visual artists to explore the potential of projection art as a medium for their work, and therefore paintings, drawings, etchings, prints and animations by Marrickville artists came to be projected onto walls and surfaces in public spaces as a form of public space activation and intervention during 2004 and 2005, culminating with an event at Stone Villa in November 2005. The process combined invitation to local residents through letter box drops, and unannounced pop ups in public areas. The most popular sites were parks that were normally spooky after dark, which became spaces for informal picnicing and temporary friendly gatherings around the experimental light and music shows.

It was supported by a Marrickville NSW Small Arts Grant. Contributing artists included Jan Blake, Corrie Ancone, Gillian Gates, Tara Morelos, Lou Steer, Pierre Cavalan, Seraphina Martin, and many others; the project was produced/directed by Cindi Drennan with support of TRL.