Frankston Current

Background Large scale public projection sites are becoming an increasing feature of Urban spaces and the artist must be cognizant of the physical restrictions of the commissioning body, reception from the general public and the artists own creative aspirations. Subject matter must be carefully considered in order to successfully create a connection with both the site and the general public who will be subjected to the artwork on a regular basis, without being too simplistic or overly didactic. Works such as Rafaël Rozendaal's 'Worlds biggest kiss' exhibited in both Korea and Times square New York, exploits multiple large scale projection on an architectural scale with simplistic graphic animation, using the universal cultural motif of the kiss, humorously evoking themes of universality and togetherness. Within the realm of public projection, how can the artist produce something, meaningful provocative and even challenging and still abide by the limitations of the public space? Contribution The work itself responds to disparate aspects of Frankston's urban surrounds, as a simple cartoon landscape, sometimes bordering on abstraction, with an accompanying sound design by Camilla Hannan. The work suggested ways of working within the threshold of abstraction and representation on an extremely large scale and to both challenge and engage an audience . Significance The animated work 'Frankston Current' was commissioned for the Art After Dark program for the Cube 37 projection space at Frankston Art centre. Cube 37 is a unique architectural projection space which makes use of large-format continuous projection onto two sides of the glass building walls, and unlike many public projections, is projected from the inside rather than the outside. Cube 37 is highly visible, partly due to its scale, (it can be seen from a distance) but also because of its proximity to both passing pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The work was well received and was on exhibition for 6 weeks.