Kingdom of KindnessHOTA

Abdul Abdullah is an Australian multidisciplinary artist working across portraiture, photography and painting. As a self-described ‘outsider amongst outsiders’, Abdullah’s projects have engaged with marginalised communities, exploring the disconnect between perception of identity and the reality of lived experiences.

In a collaboration with the artist, HOTA, and spatial designer Vania Contreras, Inkahoots helped bring Abdul’s work to life for children at HOTA’s Kingdom of Kindness exhibition. We created a huge three channel interactive projected drawing installation allowing visitors to digitally reimagine Abdul’s paintings. A custom drawing app is linked to one of the artist’s rock characters (‘Reunion’) which we animated to react in real time to participants’ drawings projected on either side – pointing, clapping and waving, or when there is a lul in activity, being bored or nodding off.

RESPONSIVE ANIMATION, BASED ON ABDUL'S PAINTING (‘REUNION’, OIL ON LINEN, 2022) WITH GESTURES TRIGGERED BY PARTICIPANTS’ OWN DRAWINGS.

VIDEO COURTESY HOTA

Children can also play with with motion triggered talking upholstered rocks. When they pick up the cushion-rock, recorded voices of local school-children offer friendship and engagement... ‘Hello, will you be my friend, do you want to play with me?’

The exhibition identity was based on the artist’s own handwriting as featured in his paintings. A custom font, AA Sans, was developed and applied across a range of signage, participatory activities and communication materials.