Local QUT industrial design student Tom Emmett’s award winning artwork for the façade of King Street’s new five-storey car park at the Brisbane Showgrounds has come to life.
Tom’s design inspired by the continual flow of people, ideas, producers, livestock and culture through the Brisbane Showgrounds over 100 years is now transformed into a pixelated design using 57,500 white diamond-shaped pixels, which were installed in five days by over 100 volunteers.
This specific pixel mechanism was created by The Buchan Group and the car park façade will be the pilot canvas for installation and the first artwork of this nature in Brisbane.
Brisbane Showgrounds Project Director Andrew Hay said he was extremely proud of the collaborative venture between The Buchan Group, RNA, QUT and Griffith University.
“At the Brisbane Showgrounds we are place making from the ground up taking into consideration the needs and desires of our workers, our residents and our visitors.
“Public art is about community and this project gives those involved a chance to leave a legacy for both Brisbane and the Showgrounds community,” he said.
Paul Watson, Senior Associate, The Buchan Group said Tom’s artistic sketches worked extremely well with the pixel design.
“The King Street façade started with the idea of a stylised and rustic metal screen that replicates the agricultural language of a farm gate and then using the mesh as ‘canvass’ for some form of art.
“This simple idea gained traction to create a system in the form of the pixel that could be readily used as the medium for the artwork competition.
“Many dedicated hours of development followed by volunteer installation has resulted in a significant Brisbane urban artwork that The Buchan Group is proud to be associated with,” he said.
The new 380 bay cark park at the Brisbane Showgrounds will open in time for Ekka.
The Brisbane Showgrounds is one of Brisbane’s most well connected and walkable neighbourhoods, a lively entertainment, retail and events quarter providing an inner-city lifestyle like no other.