Digital colony at Docklands
Colony by Dr Troy Innocent at Docklands
An interactive digital public artwork titled Colony has been established at Docklands by a Monash expert in electronic media art as part of a landmark project within the Australian technological industry.
Dr Troy Innocent from the Centre for Electronic Media Art in the Faculty of Art and Design was commissioned to create the artwork by Digital Harbour complementing his interest in bringing invented digital systems out into reality.
The public artwork is part of the Digital Harbour, which is described as a dynamic technology based community surrounded by amenity and lifestyle. Digital Harbour is supported by all levels of government within Australia.
"Colony is illuminated at night and has this kind of sculptural presence during the day," Dr Innocent explained. "The idea of it was that it was a giant piece of three-dimensional graffiti or a set of tags from these invented culture's dynamics. It’s a bit like rock, paper, scissors because there are three colours and they interact using similar rules."
The system of colours in the artwork reflects three buildings on the site and each colour represents different communities or systems of architecture.
"There are a lot of digital based businesses and industry based at the Docklands. There are also a lot of people living there, so there’s a social aspect," Dr Innocent said.
"Each colour represents a tribe in this community. Green represents a tribe that sits outside the mainstream business culture there -independent, innovators or people looking to develop start up companies and so forth. So, the tribes are loosely connected to these communities as well as being connected back to an earlier project of mine called, Ludea, where you’ve got the three cultures each represented by a different colour."
Having the artwork situated at the Docklands precinct provided Dr Innocent with a great chance to experiment with interaction, allowing visitors to play a part in the sound and light formations with the use of an iPhone.
"In the environment you can select one of them and then you play it," Dr Innocent explained. "By tilting the iPhone you get different colours, so you can make the totem go green, orange or blue and then when you are playing that, it raises the picture sound from left to right. It changes the character of the sound, then your iPhone and your totem become a system of a like musical instrument."
Dr Innocent has organised events where visitors are allocated a totem each and play together like an orchestra. The idea behind Colony is an urban art environment connecting the built environment, the natural world, and a digital ecosystem.
For more information about Colony or Digital Harbour, please visit: