Title: Last Dance Orange Roughy 3D
Artist Statement
Last Dance Orange Roughy depicts the final Australian voyage of the RSV Aurora Australis to the Antarctic continent. The Aurora Australis has been carrying expeditioners and resupply to Antarctica for over 30 years. This final voyage was special in many ways. It departed with COVID-19 just a whisper and returned to a fundamentally changed world. The extra protocols instituted on the ship in response to COVID-19 reinforced the interdependency and collaborative actions of such a tightly knit microcosm, already essential for survival in Antarctica, but with a renewed sense of urgency in the emerging emergency. At that time Antarctica became the last COVID-19 free continent and we had a duty to preserve that status.
Using laser and photogrammetry scans and ambisonic sound recordings of the ship, crew and expeditioners, Last Dance Orange Roughy presents a virtual experience depicting the intricate choreography of ship and expeditioners. Using an artistic rendering of the ship along with choreographed impressions of the crew and expeditioners, Last Dance Orange Roughy portrays the final voyage as an intricate dance sustaining life.
Last Dance Orange Roughy is an immersive visual and sonic feast of three-dimensional environments and spatial sound visualising and sonifying the last grand Antarctic dance of the Aurora Australis, crew, and expeditioners. John McCormick and Adam Nash (Wild System) were the 2020 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellows on the final Australian voyage of the icebreaker Aurora Australis to the Antarctic continent.
John McCormick Biography
John McCormick is a technology-based artist and researcher with a major interest in movement. John has collaborated on works worldwide, including at ISEA, ZERO1SJ, SIGGRAPH, Venice Biennale, Melbourne Festival, Siggraph Asia, Ars Electronica Futurelab, Tokyo International Forum and Art Science Museum Singapore.
John’s current artworks investigate the developing relationships between human, digital and cyber-physical systems incorporating VR, AR, motion capture, AI, dance, and robotics. John is a former Australia Council Arts Fellow, ANAT Synapse residency recipient at the Deakin Motion.lab and visiting artist at Ars Electronica Futurelab and Neutral Ground. He was recipient of the Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship in 2019 / 2020 and together with colleague Adam Nash travelled on the last voyage of the icebreaker RSV Aurora Australis to Australia’s Antarctic research stations. As WildSystem, Adam and John have exhibited a number of Antarctic artworks inspired by their time as Antarctic Fellows.
John is director of the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology where he engages with creative robotics, immersive environments, and movement arts.
John and Adam would like to extend their thanks to all the crew and expeditioners aboard the final voyage of the RSV Aurora Australis to the Antarctic Continent.
We appreciate the generous support of the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies at Swinburne University, The Australian Antarctic Program and The Australian Network for Art and Technology.
Adam Nash Biography
Adam Nash makes mixed-reality playable art. He is internationally recognised as one of the most original artists working in digital virtual environments, sound art, performance, and extended-reality technology. His work uses virtual environments as a medium for generative programming, data and motion capture, composition, and live performance.
He has exhibited and performed in galleries, festivals and online in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Palestine, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Türkiye, USA and Wales, including at SIGGRAPH, ISEA, 01SJ, the Venice Biennale, the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.
He was an early innovator in mixed-reality and online performance and exhibition. He was the recipient of the inaugural Australia Council Multi-User Virtual Environment Artist in Residence grant. He won the SIGGRAPH Web3D Art jury prize three years running. He was shortlisted for the National Art Award in New Media. He has been artist in residence at Ars Electronica FutureLab, Neutral Ground and the Australian Antarctic Division.
He was awarded an Australia Council Connections Residency, with colleague John McCormick. For this, they founded Wild System, developing AI-driven mixed-reality performance collaborations between virtual environments, natural systems, and robots.
He has worked as composer and sound artist with Machine Movement Lab, Company In Space and Gibson/Martelli, exploring the integration of motion capture into real-time 3D audiovisual spaces. He has worked as composer for NYID, performer/composer for The Men Who Knew Too Much and performer for TN! Theatre Company. He has performed with many bands.
Antarctic Art Fellows: John McCormick, Adam Nash
3D Scans and Environments: Adam Nash, John McCormick
Ambisonic Sound: Adam Nash
3D Artists: Casey Richardson, Casey Dalbo
Choreography: Kim Vincs, John McCormick
Dancers: Valentina Dillon, Wendy Feng
Australian Antarctic Arts Program: Sachie Yasuda, Tiffany Brooks
Drone Filming: Simon Payne, John McCormick
3D Stereo development: Joshua Reason
Ambisonic sound consultant: Simon Maisch