For 19 years Emily Fernandez has worked as a choreographer and media installation artist. Emily’s work utilises technology to create a unique relationship between dance and visual projection, which is powered by the use of intelligent, computer-generated interactivity. The strength of her work draws on our perceptions of the two-dimensional image when juxtaposed with live, human movement, conceptually exploring ideas of liminality, time and space – the moment. Beyond this we cannot forget humour; a strong aspect of Emily’s work. Humour enables the audience to readily engage with her ideas and creates a space where the audience is willing to take part in her work.
This use of interactivity and live projection is always performative, however Emily’s work raises questions about our respective roles in the traditional performer-observer paradigm. By building audience participation into her work she is able to blur what it means to be performative, empowering audiences to become performers while her performers join the audience.
A career highlight for Emily Fernandez was her successful delivery of the work Sense in 2005. This interactive dance installation was funded largely by the Australia Council, elevating Emily’s practise and providing a platform for her invitation to the Gothenburg International Biennale for Contemporary Art. She has also exhibited her work to diverse, international audiences in Japan, Singapore, the USA and throughout Europe in countries such as Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland and the UK.
Through her work with live, interactive projection and movement, be it with professional dancers, the public or audiences, Emily’s work has always caused a reaction – ranging from thoughtful to violent. The projected models and the life-like artificial intelligence connect the performer-participant with the visual image, engaging them personally with the work. Emily seeks to work as a unique creative practitioner, enabling her to bring together a diverse range of themes, media and performance styles that have separately been part of her creative framework for almost two decades. Her current goal is to further elevate the unique creative methods and output she has developed, creating a work that is exciting for its audience and that is conceptually exciting as the culmination of her creative practise.