Water, water, everywhere

Art and technology combine next week in Melbourne's Batman Park, on the banks of the Yarra River, to offer a ground-breaking multimedia art presentation on water and climate change issues.

The event, to be held on the evening of Thursday, 9 August, on the north bank of the river near Spencer Street, will light up the river bank with video, sound, sculptures and other creative works.

The works have been produced as part of the Spatial Dialogues public art project supported by the Australian Research Council, RMIT University, Grocon Construction and Fairfax Media.

The event is being produced by an international team of artists from Japan and Australia, including Philip Samartzis (RMIT), Simon Perry (RMIT), Dominic Redfern (RMIT) and Haco (Japan), with assistance from students at the School of Art, RMIT. Further support is coming from the City of Melbourne.

An invited audience will watch the unveiling of the multimedia exhibit, which will remain active at the site over coming months. The opening is also open to the public.

According to the Leader of the Spatial Dialogues project, Associate Professor Linda Williams of RMIT's School of Art, the program "evokes the insecurities people feel about the instability of the world's climate and the relationship that people have to water".

An artist in the Spatial Dialogues team, Dr Dominic Redfern, praised the contributions made by Grocon and Fairfax, describing the cooperative venture as a "worthwhile collaboration between art and industry to address contemporary issues using contemporary means.

"We want more people to understand the sites and the issues underlying the artwork, including issues of climate change, urban ecology and innovation in public art."

Similar events have been occurring this year in Tokyo and Shanghai, as part of the Spatial Dialogues project.

The event is being documented and this will form part of the ongoing research in the Spatial Dialogues project.

These works will be available for view on the project website and on the Fairfax Media video screen opposite Southern Cross station in the coming months.

Organisers expect the project will be of interest not just to art lovers and students but also to people interested in the history and environment of Melbourne.

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