Visitors to Horsham and readers of The Weekly Advertiser will gain insight into the world of developing animation art and technology as part of an Art Is… festival project.

Festival leaders are busy organising the Future Surface project, designed to open the door for artists and young people to explore animated story-telling and presentations through mobile Smartphone applications.

A $15,000 Regional Arts Victoria grant has allowed Art is… to take the project from concept to reality.

The basic idea is based on unlocking a static image into an animated piece of art through a Smartphone application – technology in its infancy in commercial advertising.

Providing an opportunity for youth aged between 12 and 25 to create an augmented reality trail in Horsham next year will anchor the project.

The young people will work with art tutor Hannah French for 10 weeks and learn how to create Smartphone animations with computer software to establish a trail through Horsham.

The concept will ultimately mean people will be able to visit strategically placed billboards in Horsham and view the billboards through a phone app, bringing an animation to life on their phones.

The youth project, starting in March, will involve the artists developing animations based on their perceptions of either climate-change adaptations or possible future technologies. The trail is likely to be in place for public use in June.

The program will also feature a separate project where adult artists will create animations accessed by comic strips that appear weekly in a 10-week period in The Weekly Advertiser.

People reading the newspaper with an EyeJack application on their Smartphones will be able to bring the comics to life. The comic series will start in late March and follow the theme Art is… the unexpected.

Art is… festival manager Sarah Natali said the project represented an exciting exploration into a new world of art and animation.

“It shows where art and technology meet and provides a wonderful medium to continue the art tradition of capturing mood, while highlighting issues that confront young people of today,” she said.

Ms Natali said people keen to get involved or who wanted more information about the program could visit website artiswimmera.com.

The entire December 18, 2019 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire December 18,, 2019 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!