RHYS TURNER

RHYS TURNER, Heard an Experimenta Commission

Artist Statement
Emerging Sydney based artist Rhys Turner merges art and technology in hope to enlighten through the viewer/user/author experience of his art. Completing a Masters of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts in Media Arts in 2005 and winning an Australian Postgraduate Award for the degree, Rhys Turner has been interested in new media modes since exhibiting in the students section of 2001: A space Odyssey: Sensation and Immersion, NSW Art Gallery 2001. His work moves through different new media forms form Web, Video, NetArt, Interactive Sculpture and Interactive Installations.

Turners Masters work Video Stereo and Tracer was a part of his body of work Etherscapes. Video Stereo uses a 1200 Technics turntable, a computer system and a modified 1960s stereo unit to allow the audience to physically interact with video and sound. Tracer takes another step and uses a web camera to track audience movement in the space and then triggers different video clips. Both these pieces explores how the influence Media effects society and attempts to reverse that process by giving control of the Image to the audience. Other themes of his work develop the idea of non-linear, chaos and micro narratives as well as alternative interfaces and the digital aesthetic. Turners work challenges traditional modes of perception in hope of promoting thought and ideas of current social trends and Image.

During a residency at CESTA in Tabor, Czech Republic, Rhys Turner met EU and A little Mistake, a performance group made up of 4 dancers and has wanted to work with them to create engaging art ever since. Turner work, during the stay, was an interactive tunnel with help from his collaborators using sensors, which triggered sound and light through physical computing. Eu & a Little Mistake, during their stay, demonstrated a synergy of contemporary performance, dance and narrative which captivated the audience with its innovative physical language boasting a true uniqueness and seamlessness between the artists. Their work begged to be explored and extended with media art by Turner. Though Turner and Eu & a Little Mistake didnt get to collaborate at CESTA a fusion of ideas and an investigation art project grew out of the residency. The ideas are in proposal form in hope of realizing the project during a collaborative process and residency soon. The idea explores communication and awareness of contemporary social culture through explorative a performance/dance/narrative with an interactive system involving the audience and the artists. The Project is called Move. Play. Find.

Turners most recent work, Heard, an Experimenta Commissioned Artwork, showing in Melbourne Brood Box Gallery 12th February 2010 uses a complex tracking technology where visitors wear a headpiece and become a character both physical and virtually on a projected 3d environment. Each character has a story to tell through conversations that are heard by moving around the space and interacting with the work. The artwork explores online culture in physical space and is a new non-linear narrative form.

Websites: www.rtek.com.au | www.gogetheard.com | www.cubicpear.com

Art Forms