A pop-up global moving image and projection art festival

PROJECT / FORWARD

Where Artists Get To Plan The Future
Micro Galleries' Project / Forward is a free micro moving image initiative and festival that brings digital and new media art to unique, unexpected, and under-served places and communities worldwide.

The initiative reimagines public spaces as a temporary canvas for the community, transforming walls, windows, temples, tiles, sidewalks and signs into screening surfaces for futuristic visions. All of the moving image content – whether it be video art, animation, digital storytelling, visual and soundscapes - they project how artists think the future could and should be envisioned.

The Audience – either proactively attending or fortunate passers-by, view a 30min–1 hour video package which is a series of curated works ranging from 10 seconds–3 mins long. These works are creative responses by artists from diverse backgrounds and region, all generating new blueprints on what our future could look like, and designed to engage and captivate audiences, and provide visual possibilities for new ways forward.

3 global events


117 artists


22 Countries


500K eyeballs


Key Elements

Artistic Innovation:

Showcase experimental and new media art forms in public spaces, making them accessible to a broader audience.


Community Revitalisation:

: Activate unexpected or underutilised spaces, fostering a sense of belonging and ownership amongst community members, and creating compelling new ideas for how to begin planning a better future.


Global Engagement:

Involve artists and audiences from various countries, promoting cultural exchange and diverse perspectives.


Building Blueprints:

All content and intention behind the initiative is focused on solutions-focused and blue-skies futurism, and building a visual map of better futures and ways of being for all our communities.

The Theme of the Works

Artists are now in charge.


You've been called up into an exclusive think-tank of creative thinkers and charged with designing the world as it will be in the future.


Everyone knows artists can imagine better ideas, futures, solutions and possibilities where most can't envision them. Your job is to make these amazing possibilities and visions come to life.


How will people live? What will their values be? What will the environment look like? What do people do? What will be important? What would have worked?


You are writing the plan and creating the script, the images and the narrative for the future. Building on the past, on the data we have, on those who went before us to be brave enough to envision a different, better world – what will you create? This is not a moment to predict doom and post-apocalyptic ideas. It is a chance to build a better tomorrow, forging possibilities and alternatives, where no one believes there are any.

How it works
Artist Callout
Via a hybrid of intentional curatorial invitation and open callout, we invite moving image artists to submit 10 second - 3 minute video works responding to the theme.
Selection
We curate a diverse collection of moving image artworks that reflect the theme, response to public space,diversity of perspective and creative practice.

Callout for Hosts
We have a key featured site and callout for people around the world who would like to feature Project / Forward on the festival weekend.
Select the Sites
Our hosts find interesting, unique, underutilised and accessible public space to feature the work. It could be a temple, a bin, a warehouse, a balcony.
Community Events
Hosts are encouraged to build a localised version of events in their public space to coincide with the festival, inviting community members to engage with the art, participate in discussions, connect with one another, and see how they can activate ideas from the package
Shout About It
All registered public spaces for the festival are promoted and mapped, accessible to the public.
Make it Accessible
Over the Global Festival Weekend, a schedule of screenings is mapped and circulated locally and to the broader community. We also have live online viewings for people who would like to register to view at home.
Killer Package
Our stellar tech and creative team collate a stunning 30 - 60 min visual package that is sent around the world.
Project / Forward Weekend
On the same weekend all around the world, our hosts screen our Project / Forward video package for free for communities
Documentation and Promotion
There is a free, downloadable online catalogue available to everyone to access the works. MG creates a wrap reel to amplify the work and locations throughout the social-verse.

Creative Leadership Team
  • Kat Roma Greer
    Artistic Director, Micro Galleries
    Creative Producer, Project / Forward

    Kat is a curator of public art interventions and community engagements; guerrilla creative business consultant for women.
  • Brian Luque-Marcos
    Artistic Director, Project / Forward

    Brian, based in Graz, is a spatial designer with special interest in modern production techniques. His works tend to use techniques such as 3D Printing, Laser Cutting and CNC drilling to create materialised pieces that can be described as art, but also functional parts and useful objects for serial production.

  • Rhiannon Hopley
    Digital Director, Project / Forward

    Rhiannon is a multidisciplinary artist based in Sydney. Through photography, moving image and installation, they explore the abstraction and stillness of time and place, considering our connection with placemaking, identity and the relationship between nature, the urban landscape, and the human condition.

    Instagram // Website
Our special sauce is that we are THE ONLY ONE! We are the only global, roaming, free, accessible projection art festival in the world. AND, we are future-focused artistic planning.
Impact
1
Seeding Better Futures
Enables creatives to imagine, map out and visually demonstrate possible better, more equitable futures.
2
Decentralised Art Access
The festival breaks traditional barriers by bringing experimental and new media art to public spaces, making it accessible to broader and more diverse audiences.
3
Community Revitalisation
Activates neglected, unexpected or underutilised spaces, transforming them into temporary vibrant cultural hubs.
4
Social and Cultural Awareness
By showcasing diverse perspectives through moving image art, the festival raises awareness about cultural, social, and futuristic themes. This stimulates conversations and action around these topics.
5
Global Cultural Exchange
The program promotes cross-cultural dialogue and exchange. This diversity enriches the artistic experience for audiences and highlights the universal nature of human experiences whilst celebrating cultural differences.
6
Educational Impact
Provides educational opportunities for participants to learn about digital storytelling, video art, and new media. This hands-on experience fosters creativity, critical thinking, and technical skills.
7
Digital Amplification
Archives and amplifies stories, creating a global resource and map for social and environmental issues and possible solutions.
8
Elevation of Artists
Project / Forward enables artists to share their unique visions with the world and elevates public perception about the role and significance of artists in our communities.
Locations
We've had three iterations of the program in 22 locations.
Project / Forward: 2047
11-13 December, 2020

The flagship event included 45 artworks screened across eleven featured locations:
Amman, Jordan; Sydney, Australia; Central Java, Indonesia; Patan, Nepal; Padua, Italy; Graz, Austria; Bogota, Colombia; Texas, USA; Nairoibu, Kenya; Chachapayos, Peru; Barcelona, Spain.

This project was supported by The Ministry of Culture, Peru, and Jason Stephenson.
Wrap Reel
Project / Forward: 2047 - Inner West Fest
11-13 December, 2022

This project had a second iteration in 2022 as part of the Inner West Fest in Sydney, supported by the Inner West Council which also included four new local, commissioned works.
Wrap Reel
Callout
Project / Forward: 2048
17-18 December, 2021

The event included 40 artworks from 25 countries screened across ten featured locations: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Colombia, Italy, Finland, Australia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Cambodia.


Project / Forward: 2049
17 February + 25-27 October, 2024


Launched on 17 February, 2024 in Chiang Mai across seven locations as part of The Good Lab initiative. This iteration is featuring 32 artists, with 40 artworks from 25 countries.

Catalogue
The Good Lab
How to Have Project / Forward in Your Community
1
Register as a Host
If you have a projector, some kind of small speaker and a place in your community you would love to revitalise with art, click and apply! You get a full info and promo pack, the PF package and put on the map! All free!
2
Invite Us
Do you have an arts festival or cool event coming up and you want to pepper some futuristic planning into it? Invite us to screen at your festival or event, with all proceeds going back into elevating the project for under-resourced communities.
3
Fund Us
Like the concept, have access to resources, and want to help us amplify it across the world? Let us know - we have a huge list pf places and spaces desperate for new media art and hopeful visions of the future who would love help and support in mounting a screening event.
Or...
Were so excited!