shemza.digital #3, 2021
Aphra Shemza, Stuart Batchelor & Peter Todd in collaboration with the public
Materials: Interactive digital painting application and real-time animation
Dimensions: Variable
shemza.digital #3 is an interactive digital artwork that invites visitors to become active participants in the creative process. Inspired by the work of her grandfather, the British-Pakistani artist Anwar Jalal Shemza, Aphra Shemza collaborated with Stuart Batchelor and Peter Todd to develop a bespoke digital painting application that enables audiences to create their own geometric compositions.
Visitors use their mobile phones to produce digital paintings inspired by Anwar Jalal Shemza's visual language. Each artwork is immediately added to a live animation, where individual contributions combine to form an ever-evolving collective artwork displayed as a large-scale projection or on a digital screen. By transforming audiences from passive viewers into co-creators, shemza.digital #3 explores ideas of participation, authorship and shared creativity while introducing new audiences to Anwar Jalal Shemza's artistic legacy.