Provocative and witty artwork wins award

A project by College of Creative Arts staff member and fine arts graduate Bronwyn Holloway-Smith has won the Open Source Use in The Arts category at the New Zealand Open Source Awards.

The project, titled Whisper Down The Lane, was developed as part of this year’s major sculpture exhibition The Obstinate Object at City Gallery in Wellington. Ms Holloway-Smith created digital models and miniature 3D prints of other artworks in the exhibition in collaboration with Massey designers Antony Pelosi (lecturer in spatial design) and Nick Graham (Master of Design student), releasing the files online for free download. In doing so, her project played with notions of ownership, copyright and collaboration in the creative arts.

The judges’ citation said: “Creatively alert and provocative, Whisper Down the Lane is an example of cutting edge technology used seamlessly in a creative project. It highlights some key issues around open source and free culture, and the creative tensions implicit in the age of digital reproduction. And it does so with a wit and verve that would make the original free software hackers cackle with delight.”

Ms Holloway-Smith says artists have used open source processes for centuries, "even if they didn’t call it that".

“I think it’s vital we continue to acknowledge and protect this in order to live in a society that enables new and innovative ideas.”

The biennial New Zealand Open Source Awards were established in 2007 to recognise and promote the contributions of New Zealanders to free and open source projects or the promotion of free and open source philosophy; and exemplary use of free and open source by New Zealand organisations.

For more information on Whisper Down The Lane, including links to download files, visit: http://bronwyn.co.nz/projects/whisper-down-the-lane/