Knowmore (House of Commons) 2009–2010

An embodied interactive installation investigating the cultural dimensions of sustainability. A large circular table spun by hand and a computer-controlled video projection falls on its top, creating an uncanny blend of physical object and virtual media. Participants’ presence around the table and how they touch it is registered, allowing up to five people to collaboratively ‘play’ this deeply immersive audiovisual work.

SHOWINGS:
2: 'Beyond Mediations', Mediations Biennial of Modern Art, Zamek Centre For Art and Culture, Poznan, Poland, September 10 - October 30, 2010, Curated by Ryszard W. Kluszczynski. 

1: Infozone New Media Residency and Exhibition Project, 21 Feb-24th May, 2009, Infozone Artspace, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Curated by Queensland Artworkers Alliance.

TEAM: Keith Armstrong (Artist director), co-director Chris Barker. Darren Pack (Quest 3D programmer) Luke Lickfold (Interactive Sound Design) and Stuart Lawson (Designer). Quotes by Tony Fry, Table design Fred Howie, Howie Engineering.

PARTNERS: The work was conceived and produced as a  collaboration between artists Dr Chris Barker and Dr Keith Armstrong.  Institutional and industry partners were the State Library of Queensland, Queensland Artworkers Alliance, Australia Council For The Arts, QUT Creative Industries, Arts Queensland,  RMIT Centre for Animation and Interactive Media and E2E Visuals.

MORE: In an age that has come to celebrate cultural difference Knowmore (House of Commons) considers the urgent need for us to also better celebrate and care for that which we share in common: the cultural and biophysical environments that fundamentally sustain all life today. This critical shift in thinking and action requires us each to envision new ways to re-orientate our everyday life choices in ways that better respect that which is shared by all: 'The Commons'. The work therefore asks what kind of resources and knowledge might be necessary to move us past simply knowing what needs to be changed to instead actually embodying that change. It further suggests this idea by focusing on the power of embodied learning implied by the works' strongly physical interface (i.e. the spinning of a full size table) alongside the complex field of layered imagery appearing upon that table top which hints at other deeply relational ways of understanding and knowing the world.