Take a playful journey through the smart phone lens with Out of Viewfinder coming to Ringwood

Take a playful journey through the lens of the smartphone and other devices with Out of Viewfinder, a new exhibition and activities program coming to Ringwood arts precinct.

Out of Viewfinder is a playful way of scoping out how we see the many things we are yet to notice.

For six weeks in August and September, ArtSpace at Realm will become a site of creation, inspection and tongue-in-cheek humour, inviting visitors to creatively engage with their environment using reconfigured viewing devices.

Drop in any time during the exhibition to see the viewing systems or step into the ‘virtual square’ and interact with the image making station.

An installation of 26 constructed viewing devices will line the walls of ArtSpace, representing the letters of the alphabet, while a filming station will invite a new form of ‘selfie’.

The exhibition and activities in Ringwood Town Square and Eastland is the brainchild of Melbourne-based Public Assembly, an experimental laboratory of creative artists Lynda Roberts and Ceri Hann. Working at the intersection of art and design, this collaborative pair devise innovative workshops and immersive installations that generate ideas through action.

The artists will be on-site at Realm each Saturday in August from 11am encouraging interaction and interplay.

You’re also invited to take part in workshops, from 2pm to 3.30pm. This will involve playful experiments with smart phones and optics in ArtSpace. Participants will use looking devices built from a range of found objects – mirrors, lenses, tripods and familiar domestic items – which will then be walked throughout the Ringwood arts precinct.

A show-reel of images displaying workshop participants in action will also be screened on the big Ringwood Town Square screen for the duration of the project and there will be an interactive screen at Shop 1141 in Eastland where you can see yourself in new ways!

Out of Viewfinder can be seen from Thursday 1 August to Sunday 15 September.

Come along and take part in a series of workshops at ArtSpace at Realm every Saturday from 3 August to 31 August, from 2pm to 3.30pm.

The workshops will involve playful experiments with smartphones and optics and then taking assembled viewing devices out for a walk to survey the areas surrounding Realm.

Bookings are now open, participants must be aged 12+. Participants are asked to bring along a smart phone if they have one.

Meet at ArtSpace at Realm, Ringwood Town Square, 179 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood.

Book online

Alternatively call 1300 88 22 33 to book.

The community closing event will take place on Saturday 7 September from 2pm to 4pm and will be held in ArtSpace at Realm. This fun and informal event will share the outcomes of the activations and creative workshops that have taken place throughout Realm, Town Square and Eastland.

Ringwood Town Square (opposite Ringwood Station) 179 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

Shop 1141