From Friday 15th July, Melbourne’s Gertrude Street, will be bathed in light for ten days, courtesy of the collective of artists behind the Gertrude Street Projection Festival. Now in its 9th year, the festival transforms one of Melbourne’s best-loved streets into a large-scale outdoor art gallery.
Thirty-eight sites along or around Gertrude Street will be bathed in bright lights, videos and lively colours, transforming mundane shop fronts, laneways, windows and walls into daring artworks.
Under the guidance of Festival Director Nicky Pastore, and curator Amanda Haskard, the festival aims to highlight the connection between audience and artwork and through projections and new media explore the ways in which we inhabit our physical, social and metaphysical spaces.
The festival’s mentorship program will return again, following a successful first outing last year. The program aims to provide emerging artists with the opportunities to develop new work in collaboration with established artists, local businesses and the community.
Amongst this year’s featured artists and works are Nadia Faragaab with Gestural Intent and In Bloom by Brianna Hudson. Whilst, Uprising Youth Theatre will also present the second part of Wheel of Fate, a choose-your-own adventure performance work that uses mobile LED projector technology, allowing for an immersive and non-traditional theatre experience – which sounds great fun.
Festival Curator Amanda Haskard said “The 2016 festival program embraces ideas and projects from artists and communities that take risks both aesthetically and politically and aim to create conditions for the unexpected to emerge”.
The Gertrude Street Projection Festival runs from July 15th to 25th. Barring special events the festival is free entry and the projections are from 6pm to Midnight each night.
For more information on the Gertrude Street Projection Festival click HERE
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