features

	18/9/2003
	Excerpt from noise magazine

�Basically the idea was to gather 31 artists and ask them to submit a digital element. It could be a word on a screen or a photograph, a scan, a design, anything they wanted. It didn�t have to be neat or finished � we just wanted something raw.� Justin Fox, from online design portal Australian INfront (www.australianinfront.com.au) is busy talking to noise about �Elements�, an online project you can witness this October where talented young artists have joined forces to create a slew of collaborative works. �We put the original elements on a master file, redistributed it to the artists and said, �You�ve got 31 pieces of art: you can scramble them, remix them, use whichever ones you want, use them all � but we want you to create a new piece of work from those elements.� What we hoped for in the end was to see 31 different ways of using the same source content. At the same time you would be able to see similarities because they�ve all used the same template.�

Having teamed up with noise this year for �Elements�, Australian INfront is a site which proves that, when it comes to design, Australia is busy producing creative and innovative work. INfront�s original design content was predominantly web-based when it first began back in 1999. Just a few years later the site introduced visual response and visual dialogue projects in which anyone could participate, and began a forum to create an online design community which would soon become very popular indeed.

The artists chosen to be part of �Elements� were selected on the basis of work they�d previously submitted to INfront, the 31 having worked across fields such as animation, graphic design, digital video, interactive web design, illustration and photography. �It�s great, we�ve quite a few girls involved in this project,� Justin smiles. �In the past we�ve had hardly any coming to INfront, which is interesting because if I remember back to design school, at least 50 per cent of the course was made up of girls! A lot of girls love illustration which has become huge over the last year or two. There�s a lot more art in design these days.�

Here�s how some of the participants summed it up�

�Elements� is:
Glen McClay: A slice of pizza. What you put on it is up to you.
Anthony Newman: Complete artistic freedom and the luxury of starting with a canvas full of goodies.
Justin Maller: fucking awesome!

To find out more about �Elements� check out Australian INfront, noise online and the full story and designs in noise magazine.