Looking at this selection of pics just reminds me of how much enjoyment we felt as a small group visiting such a big place. Before we arrived in South Africa we really knew nothing about it. On arrival into Johannesburg, we grabbed a big breakfast, some much needed coffee and boarded our flight to Bloemfontein, located about 4 hours south in The Free State, this was to be our home for the next 2 weeks.
The people there were great and the smiles on the young children’s places that visited our project were absolutely priceless. Some of them had never even seen TV let alone had one in their home.
Admittedly they were just as excited about my camera gear as the installation I was there to document.

Curious Creatures is an interactive installation designed by Jimmy McGilchrist. After two appearances in Australia, the Lismore Lantern Parade and Splendour in the Grass Jimmy was invited over to South Africa for the installations first international viewing. I was lucky enough to be invited along by Jimmy to document the project from start to finish.
“Curious Creatures at Vryfees Festival” is a series of short videos that follow the crew behind Curious Creatures’ journey from Sydney to Bloemfontein South Africa, mainly focusing on the Festival itself, this video is where our journey begins…

The last few days has been pretty crazy but i’m hoping to get these videos up every few days. The installation itself is very impressive so I hope I can capture the experience in the videos.
So keep a look out, like Curious Creatures on facebook and check out the Curious Creatures website for more info.

Jimmy McGilchrist, creative director at Rezon8 has been working extremely hard on this project for over 18 months now. After it’s great success at Splendour in the Grass in 2011 (view the video below), the project has continually grown. Currently based in Sydney, after being selected for the Push Start program Jimmy, Luke and the rest of his team are busily preparing the next instalment which will take us to South Africa, where the Curious Cretures installation will headline one of their biggest annual festivals, held in Bloemfontein, Vryfees

Curious Creatures – interactive projection installation from Rezon8 on Vimeo.

NEWS
Curious Creatures is a SXSW Interactive Awards finalist!!!
Vote for us in the peoples choice awards
http://sxsw.com/interactive/awards/peoples_choice

Strange encounters are reported from the festival site as inquisitive and beautiful creatures venture in from the surrounding woods.

Curious Creatures is a large scale augmented reality projection project combining high end animation, sound design, gaming, installation art and electronic music. The work has been designed to reach new audiences in the festival environment. In 2011 Curious Creatures was installed at the Lismore Lantern Parade in Lismore NSW and Splendour in the Grass festival in Woodfordia QLD Australia.

Next stop:
Vryfees festival Boemfrontein South Africa to an audience of 250,000

FOllOW the Creatures and the team as they pack their bags
⫸ http://www.facebook.com/project.curiouscreatures

Press:
Splendid TV
⫸ http://splendid.org.au/splendid_tv.shtml
RealTime Arts Magazine – article by Jeff Khan
⫸ http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue105/10437
ABC Broken Hill – article by Noah Schultz-Byard
⫸ http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2011/08/05/3286521.htm#.Tq5GD1OToeA
The Brag – article by Emma Salkild
⫸ http://www.thebrag.com/2011/07/11/splendour-in-the-arts-2011-curious-creatures/
The Northern Star – article Jennie Dell
⫸ http://www.northernstar.com.au/story/2011/06/23/shadow-cast-on-lantern-festival-event-lismore/

This project was developed through the Splendid arts program and commissioned for Splendour in the Grass 2010. Splendid is a Lismore Regional Gallery project, in partnership with Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA), Splendour in the Grass and funded through the Opportunities for Young and Emerging Artists Initiative (OYEA) of the Australia Council.
⫸http://www.splendid.org.au/our_projects_curious_creatures.shtml