4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is thrilled to announce 4A Digital Hits the Streets, an ephemeral exhibition that will transform digital artworks into interactive street posters across Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney this summer. Programmed as part of 4A’s online commissioning platform, 4A Digital, this project features the mesmerising works of Joanna Frank and Spectator Jonze, and are accompanied by a custom-made augmented reality animation created especially by the artists for 4A.

Simply point your phone towards the QR code on the poster, download the Eyejack app (if you don’t have it already), and hover your screen to activate Joanna Frank and Spectator Jonze’s works.

Spot a poster? Let us know on Instagram via @4a_aus and #4ADigital for your chance to win 4A summer prize packs, including limited-edition artist prints, a 4A tote bag, and publications.⠀
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4A Digital Hits the Streets takes place in these locations and others:⠀

📍 Sydney: 23 Nov – 17 Dec
Alexandria, CBD, Darlinghurst, Leichhardt, Marrickville, Mascot, Newtown, Paddington, Surry Hills and more.⠀

📍 Melbourne: 23 Nov – 14 Dec
CBD, Southbank, Carlton North, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Footscray, Richmond, Box Hill, Thornbury, Preston, Prahran and more.⠀

📍 Brisbane: 27 Nov – 11 Dec
Airport, Fortitude Valley, Griffith Uni, Indooroopilly, Kangaroo Point, Kelvin Grove, Mt Gravatt, Paddington, Woolloongabba and more.⠀

To celebrate 4A Digital Hits the Streets, 4A curators Con Gerakaris and Reina Takeuchi invited Joanna Frank and Spectator Jonze to create new works that capture their vivid, character-driven aesthetics, with anthemic themes that celebrate the resilient and dynamic nature that comes with being a woman artist.

For the heroine-driven work, DEADALIVE, Taiwanese-Australian artist-musician Jonze tackles the taboo of coronavirus and maintaining creative stamina during times of unrest. Jonze explains: “For the poster, I wanted to capture the feelings of suffocation, isolation, health technologies and anxiety, but I also wanted to show that out of the rubble, I found the fighter, the survivor and also the amazing fortunes that 2020 has brought me as well.” 

Frank’s pulsating work, Face is the Index of the Mind, pays ode to the lived experiences of creative women of colour: “Having resilience as a migrant is parallel to being an artist: we have this ability to use limited resources and materials to our advantage, and I think this is pretty astonishing when it comes to making art,” says Frank.  “I created the work as a reminder of the value and power that women hold in this world.”

Around 300 posters will be prominently displayed in partnership with leading poster distributor Plakkit, and with support from the City of Sydney. To elevate the experience, these images are integrated with an augmented reality component custom-created by Frank and Jonze. Enter the artists’ conceptual worlds by downloading the Eyejack app on their smartphone, pointing their screen towards the posters, and activating their AR animation in real-time. 

Gerakaris says: “4A Digital Hits the Streets allows 4A to highlight contemporary artists in a guerilla-style exhibition. Alongside the augmented reality videos the project is a unique hybrid of street art, design and digital art showcasing the bold and psychedelic work of Frank and Jonze. Frank’s work, Face is the index of the mind, is a self-assertion of power and confidence, twisting science fiction aesthetics into a visage of a female-driven future.”

Adds Takeuchi: “Spectator Jonze is an evocative multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans across digital media, drawing, performance and sound. Having experienced the COVID-19 virus first hand, DEADALIVE speaks directly to Jonze’s strength as a fighter, artist and survivor in the face of adversity. It’s with great pleasure that we present her work alongside Joanna Frank’s as a part of our initiative.”

The posters are distributed at various sites via our partnership with leading poster distributor Plakkit, and with support from the City of Sydney.

Stay tuned for updates via Instagram from 23 November onwards.