“One of the most beautiful elements is that world renowned artists are exhibiting alongside emerging artists, artists that are just stepping out into the realm of public practice.”
Hilary first got involved in the festival while working for the City of Yarra eight years ago. It was there she met co-founder Kym Ortenburg, working closely with her as a grant recipient through the council. When she finished her role, Ortenburg invited her to join the board, where she was drawn to the festival’s hypnotic visual charms.
“It celebrates an artist’s vision. An artist’s capacity to explore, shift and change spaces that people take for granted in their everyday journey,” she says. “It has a real sense of community. At any time you can walk down a street that’s really vibrant and full of lots of people, who’ve all come from different places and walks of life for a whole lot of different reasons, to look at the artwork, make friends, [and] celebrate artists they might know who have work in the festival. It’s a beautiful way of highlighting a really diverse street.”
2017’s Projection Festival has seen huge expanses to its possibilities and program. This year, the festival appropriately invited artists to imagine the ethereality of multiple futures, by drawing from the past and present for the shape of things to come.
The massive projection that usually occurs on the Atherton Gardens Estate towers will this year be reconfigured to fit not just on the edge of the estate, but within it – inviting people to step into the Gardens, where a whole range of installations and works will be installed for people to engage with. The work itself, as well as being visually arresting, addresses socially important discussion such as the gaze of inequality.
“I think that it invites an urban audience to see an urban streetscape in a completely different kind of manner,” Hillary says. “Engaging with the imagination and creating whole new imaginaries. When you’re on your daily journey, spaces become familiar and you take it for granted. But when artists engage in spaces and create projections, it allows people to see the space differently. Engage in the space and wander down a laneway they’ve never wandered down before, or talk to someone else about a work they’ve never spoken to before.”
Volunteers tirelessly contribute to the project, inspired by the love of their craft and community. Their dedication speaks as testament to the impact of the festival over the past decade, and the growth of its public interest and importance since its inception. With a Festival Hub offering respite from the cold with bands and DJs, a virtual reality cinema sprawling across the streets and approximately 30 all-important projection sites and artists, numerous skillsets contribute to what make Gertrude Street Projection Festival such an enthralling spectacle each year.
“One of the things that I think is really important about a festival like the Gertrude Street Projection Festival is that it really is unique in its existence as the first projection festival in Australia,” says Hillary. “It’s hard to describe. It’s like a moth to a flame. It draws people in, and I hope that we can maintain that across the ten years. I hope that we get better and better at what we do, so that people can keep coming back to it.”
