AWARD YEAR
2019
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Trust, Tolerance & Empathy
KEYWORDS
Community Engagement, activists for change, collaboration
COUNTRY
Australia
DESIGNED BY
Konstantin Dimopoulos is an Egyptian born conceptual and social artist whose art practice is grounded in his sociological and humanist philosophies. He investigates globally relevant questions related to ecology and the human condition through his socio-environmental interventions and conceptual proposals, which argue for the potential of art as a means of social engagement and change.
Konstantin Dimopoulos was born in Port Said, Egypt to Greek parents and grew up at the mouth of the Suez Canal until the age of eight, when the family moved to Wellington, New Zealand to escape a political upheaval. Inspired by this diverse cultural and political history, the artist has addressed various issues including emigration, environmental ecocide, homelessness, and genocide. Konstantin lives and works in New York. http://kondimopoulos.com
WEBSITE
http://kondimopoulos.com/the-purple-rain/
The Purple Rain
Public perception of homeless people is highlighted through our immersion in mobile technologies.
The Purple Rain is a social art engagement about homelessness.
Through the repetitive saturation of colour created within defined urban spaces the artist makes visible the often unseen and unheard.
The Purple Rain integrates this saturation with our immersion in mobile technologies, and QR codes that has the viewer engaging with the installation.
Homelessness does not mean hopelessness. The Purple Rain allows the individual to be introduced using their first name, telling their stories of a future less adverse.
You as the viewer can choose to merely browse or take action through your mobile phone; at the very least to suspend judgment.
The Purple Rain is a collaborative project, the artist working with the Institute for Advancing Community Engagement, Australian Catholic University; City of Yarra, St Mary’s House of Welcome, STREAT; and Fehily Contemporary Gallery.
