FOREST HAS EYES

An interaction exhibition sees the works comes to life at Murky Waters Studio

Murky Waters Studio is coming alive with mysterious creatures for its latest exhibition. The Forest Has Eyes is an interactive exhibition created by artists Benny Mac and Michael Pope, complete with inked trees and sculptural roots.

Pope said this will be the first augmented reality exhibition for the city.

“There’s 28 sets of eyes poking out from tree limbs and nooks and crannies,” Pope said.

“We’ve created tree roots on the floor that will guide people around.”

The audience is then invited to scan the yellow monster eyes with augmented reality app Artivive to reveal the hidden creatures.

Benny Mac and Pope have collaborated with 32 local artists, both established and emerging as well as children to create monsters what lurk in the forest on a digital platform.

The forest section of the work was originally painted during the PUNQ 2021 arts festival, where the artists envisaged extending it with digital animations and sculpted tree roots.

Both Benny Mac and Pope wanted to extend the invitation to other artists within the Townsville region to help populate the forest with their quirky, imaginative and, sometimes scary, monsters.

“We invited local artists who work in the creature/monster medium to do a monster, we also have about six children who have participated,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun. Everyone got a set of these eyes and was told to create the creature behind them. Sometimes the eyes are blinking, then something crawls out and sometimes it’s a static image.”

Pope’s previous works also include forest themes with his piece, Scarewood (a collaboration with artist Tszar – Aaron Ashley), awarded The People’s Choice Award in Ephemera 2021.

Artists include Carly Sheil, Rob Donaldson, Rob Douma, Sonia Ward, Katya Venter, Ashleigh Jane and Nick Williams, Tszar, Emily Hamilton, Jonathan Stigter, Danish Quapoor, Grace Jefferson, Luke Ede, Marc Roth, Michael Pope, Benny Mac, Jan Hynes, Luke Duffy, Jeax and Jarrah, Robert Crispe, Barat one, Prudence Terry, Kirsten Walsh, Shane Keen, Emily Hamilton, KATÖ, Imogen Mcleay, Alyssa Mcleay, Georgie Edwards, Amelie Edwards and Ella Edwards.

Everyone got a set of these eyes and was told to create the creature behind them

The exhibition runs until April 24. Murky Waters Studio is open to the public on Sundays from 9am-12pm. Download the Artivive app from the App Store or Google Play