Sunday, 25 August 2019
The Travelling Light tour, planned for over a year, continues here into the fourth leg of the tour, on the Limestone Coast and Fleurieu Peninsula. (If you missed our previous three blog posts, you can review them here – here – and here.
The 13th stop of our projection art tour was in Beachport, a coastal town in Wattle Range Council district. One of the Port to Port artist mentees, Caroline Hammat, lives in the region and attended the event to see projects she has been involved with, showcased at the event.
The site for the projection was the solid stone Beachport Old Wool and Grain Store National Trust Museum, which glowed vibrantly with the projection of 2 high powered projectors mounted in Moby the projection bus. Hundreds braved the cold clear night to see the spectacular animations illuminating the building, and we were thrilled with the turnout.
We especially thank the Wattle Range council for their brilliant support of the event, closing the road and involving local businesses to support this event.
We also thank the local Beachport Hotel who kept meals hot for us so we could have a decent meal after the projection. Its so lovely to be taken care of especially on a cold winter’s night.
Stunning photos below provided courtesy of local photographer, Steve Chapple.
Our next tour stop was all the way south to South Australia’s greenest triangle and bluest lake; and here we faced one of those very tricky projection mapping challenges – as there had been no actual site recce for this leg of the tour and we had relied entirely on photos and advice.
The very complex location was chosen because it was interesting, and different, and also because it was in the Mt Gambier Railway Lands park, which offered a suitable public space with toilets and easy to get to. We were really thrilled to have media coverage of the event and support of the City of Mount Gambier to promote it. In the end we were entirely delighted and astounded to have over 800 people attending the event, many more than we had expected!
The projection on to the old fuel tanks was an exciting challenge and came up beautifully in photos.
The 15th stop took us to Goolwa on the Murray River Mouth, where we had been invited to project onto the buildings of the Wharf precinct by our sponsor and presenting partner, the Spirit of Australia Cruises.
The night was balmy and clear and we had a fantastic turnout with over 200 people on the foreshore and many more on the hill behind.
We were delighted to present a film about Mary Heritage, made by local producer Nisa Schebella as part of her Port to Port menteeship, which was featured in the compilation curated especially for Goolwa and played at every following event.
This was the first night that multiple buildings had been illuminated in the precinct and it gave the council and local businesses a taste of how projection could work for future events and tourism.
Fantastic photos taken by Michael Selge of Craftypics.
For our creators of stories in light, it is a dream come true to project onto a lighthouse, and it was also a dream come true for the residents of Cape Jervis who have been talking about this idea “forever”.
The event was supported by the District Council of Yankalilla and the Australian Maritime Board, with fantastic help and support from local creative and mentee, Sammi Lane.
The cold, clear day led to a slightly windy and very chilly night but this did not daunt the extremely happy community who rugged up and lugged down chairs and snacks for the show.
The lighthouse projection was a true highlight of the tour. Not only did it look achingly gorgeous being illuminated with stories and visual art as its powerful navigation light pulsed to the horizon, it provided us with deep satisfaction as stories of the area were projected onto its most significant landmark, including a story made about the Lighthouse itself, illustrated and animated by Michael Rostig working with Yankalilla and Normanville students.
The beautiful event came to a close all too quickly, but we continued onward to the final shows of the Travelling Light Tour at Aldinga and Port Adelaide with fingers crossed that we would be able to come back and do this again sometime soon. You can read about the last shows and find more details about artists and contributors to the project here.
With a passion to develop and consolidate the concept of a collaborative regional touring project of Stories in Light under the stars, illuminart, in partnership with regional South Australian councils, and with support from Arts SA and National Science Week, are now pleased to present Constellation Stories in Light Trail, a collection of new Science+Art themed feature animations that connect simultaneously at five spectacular permanent projection sites in regional South Australia, 1st – 31st August 2022. Grab your picnic, your rug and chair and watch the countdown while you enjoy the sunset!
Thanks to all our partners, cohosts and supporters:
and the Progress Association of Booleroo, Progress Society of Wilmington, The Falie Ketch, Uniting Church of Aldinga