MARIO IN THE DISTRICT | LONSDALE STREET, MELBOURNE CBD

I am always fascinated with urban phenomenon. One observation I made is to the Melbourne’s Law district area along Lonsdale Street in the CBD. One side of the street is strongly law reinforced with police station, law courts, and law companies, while directly located opposite along the street, are services rendered with red light activities.

In 2017 I collaborate with Harris Kwong on the project titled BLOCK PARTY trying to capture this observation. We came up with the idea to draw people’s attention along the urban panorama view frame by creating a playful animation replicating the gaming character – Mario exploring the Law district along Lonsdale Street.

As we are more and more connected via the virtual world. The virtual world has become the ‘reality.’ In our current daily mode, we are limited by the spaces and the abilities to create stories. In our acknowledgment of the physical presence, we tend to define spaces and areas into specific functions. This animation explores the possibilities for bringing in real-life physical fabrics and stitching the threads with the virtual experience and at the same time creating the interactions through the potential invisible physical interactions utilizing the virtual communication.

Would it be possible to bring the outside world in and interact with the audiences in various locations? What is this ‘world’ that we are referring to and how are we dwelling in it? The work draws the real-life stories into intangible creations. The world It is an interplay between the 2 existences. Through this exploration, it aims to create an environment and dimension for expression.