Meet AUT's Artist in Residence

27 Jul, 2017

AUT welcomes French artist and designer Antonin Fourneau as this year's Te Ataata Creative Technologies Artist in Residence.

Antonin is Professor of Digital Arts at the acclaimed French school of art and design EnsAD in Paris. His work focuses on interactive art and popular culture.

For the next three months, he will be based at AUT's COLAB. As well as developing a digital art project that explores synesthesia by considering the voice as a paintbrush, there will be a host of opportunities for AUT students, staff and the public to check out Antonin's work and meet him.

Kicking off the residency is a Creative Technologist Meetup on July 26 from 6-7pm. Students, staff and the public will hear Antonin introduce his practice and an overview of his residency project, Sonoscritpum.

In early August, Aucklanders will be the first people in the Southern Hemisphere to see Antonin's brilliant interactive artwork. Waterlight Graffiti will be on show in Aotea Square from August 3. The art installation will be made up of thousands of LED lights that illuminate when they come into contact with water.

"It is a real pleasure to be here at AUT surrounded by students and researchers. Auckland's ecosystem is a perfect mix of nature and technologies and I'm looking forward to sharing Waterlight Graffiti with the city."

AUT students will volunteer as ushers at Antonin's Waterlight Graffiti exhibition and some will have the opportunity to shadow him for the duration of the residency. Antonin will also collaborate with staff from AUT's Play Interactivity and Games Lab on research around lucidity and gamification.

Colab Public Liaison Coordinator, Harry Silver said there will be a number of opportunities for students, staff and the public to meet the pioneering digital artist or simply experience his interactive work.

"This residency programme offers a unique opportunity to inspire the public, share knowledge with students and enable the development of new relations and collaborations with staff and local practitioners. We hope this residency will lead to a long term relationship between AUT and French institutions. We welcome anyone interested in making a connection with Antonin to get in touch."

"Our Bachelor of Creative Technologies students will get the opportunity to work alongside Antonin, gaining an insight into what it takes to be a successful digital artist from ideation and design through to development and execution," Harry added.

The Cultural Office of the French Embassy in New Zealand and AUT launched the Te Ataata residency programme in 2015. Since it launched in 2015, every year a creative practitioner from France travels to New Zealand. It allows for a French creative practitioner to be hosted at Colab in Auckland. Read more about the programme here.

To contact Antonin Fourneau during his three-month residency at Colab, contact Harry Silver: hsilver@aut.ac.nz.

Te Ataata Creative Technologies Artist in Residence free events.

Creative Technologists Meetup – Antonin Fourneau
July 26, 2017 | 6:00pm – 7:00pm | Room WG1103, Level 11, Sir Paul Reeves (WG) Building, AUT City Campus.

RSVP on Facebook or Meetup

Waterlight Graffiti
August 3 – 22, 2017 | Visit website for times | Aotea Square

Semi Permanent workshop on Interactive Art
August 10, 2017 | 12:10pm – 1:30pm | AUT City Campus
Free Registration essential

There will also be an exhibition of Antonin's prototype at the end of his residency. Stay informed on the exhibition dates and details by signing up to the Colab newsletter.

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