Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine
BIENNIAL LAB ARTISTS
Biennial Lab project: Out In The Open
Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine have collaborated since 2001 on animated works that explore personal autonomy in physical and social environments. Their work investigates new ways of engaging viewers physically and emotionally through technology, narrative and interaction. They work with stop-motion film, interactive installation and most recently collaborated to create an outdoor audio-visual performance work that engaged with communities in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Dwelling, their most recent work, was nominated for a 2015 Green Room Award for Design and Realisation in Contemporary Performance. Their 2011 work, It’s a jungle in here, won an Award of Distinction in the Interactive Arts category of the 2012 Prix Ars Electronica. Their installation You Were In My Dream won the 2010 Premier of Queensland's National New Media Art Award, Australia's most significant prize for new media art.
In 2004 Knowles and Sowerwine made Clara, a stop-motion animated film. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Official Selection, where it won a Special Mention. Clara went on to win a Golden Hugo for Best Animation at the 2005 Chicago Film Festival. In January 2006 Clara screened at the Sundance Film Festival.