Donna Kendrigan & Chris Henschke

ViSual support material

Project 1 - HYPERREALIA

Australian media art collective, Hyperrealia, uses mixed reality media to creatively engage with cultural heritage objects.

Hyperrealia includes Donna Kendrigan, Chris Henschke and John McCormick. They co-founded Hyperrealia in 2021, developing augmented reality (AR) interventions for State Library Victoria. This was initiated by Donna’s 2018 State Library Victoria Creative Fellowship where she researched the Library’s realia (object) collection, creatively responding to a collection of compelling yet mostly forgotten objects and their stories. A pilot project was developed, comprising three prototypes, which used 3D scanning and modelling to digitise the realia objects, creating expressive and poetic AR experiences. The first iteration was exhibited at Melbourne Design Week 2023

The collective is currently developing a series of experimental artworks with rare and unique items selected from the collection of a major Australian museum. With support from Creative Victoria, the processes and outcomes of this project will manifest questions about our increasingly technologically mediated relationships with each other and the world.

Hyperrealia - This video captures the augmented reality intervention featuring a 19th Century toy cork horse found in the vaults of State Library Victoria and the Library’s famous ‘Elephant lift’.

PROJECT 2 - season of the orchid

Season of the Orchid is a multi-screen animation and installation commissioned by State Library of Victoria for the Handmade Universe exhibition, 2022-2023. Donna Kendrigan’s animation responds to Victorian naturalist, Edith Coleman (1874–1951), who made a key discovery about orchid pollination from observing orchids and wasps in her garden.

Quadrophonic soundtrack by Chris Henschke.

project 3 - demon core

Demon Core is a site-specific installation commissioned for the DARK MOFO international arts festival in Hobart 2019. The installation was designed site-specifically for the ‘Queen Victoria Powder Magazine,” a 19th Century munitions building built to house explosives. The project explores and manifests the energies that lie within the heart of atomic matter, and is activated by energetic emissions from the decay of subatomic particles. Comprising a 24 channel sound system driven by a customised analogue synthesiser setup, UV lighting, and cymatic sculptures, the installation creates a darkly contemplative space, expressing the misuses of scientific knowledge.