Action Figures is a year-long project that took place from October 2007 - October 2008. It was managed by the Royal Borough of Kensington, Chelsea Arts Service and facilitated by the Film and Video Workshop.
The project aimed to get local young people excited by the Olympic and Paralympic Games and inspired to get involved in arts and leisure activities across the borough.
The project commenced with a series of 'Drawn to Sports' sketching tours to sports venues in the borough. The drawings were then scanned and passed to an animator and software programmer to be turned into animated models which formed part of a spectacular interactive art installation at Kensington Town Hall on September 17th 2008 to mark the handover of the torch from Beijing Paralympics to London and the start of the Cultural Olympiad. The Drawings were projected several meters high onto the Town Hall and surrounding buildings and were able to sprint, pole vault, and swim across the sides of the buildings transforming the Town Hall into an Olympic arena populated with drawn crowds, projected onto the buildings, cheering as the projected athletes perform amazing feats!
Young people also had the chance to work with the animator to create their own 2D animated characters to feature in the crowd for the event.
The first half of the event will consisted of an animation tournament whereby young people involved in the drawing and animation workshops will be given specially adapted wireless games controllers to enable their drawn athletes to compete against each other across the walls, with live sports commentators (think Smashy and Nicey!) providing humorous coverage on the tournament over a PA system from the balcony above the Great Hall.
During the second half of the event, additional games controllers were made available to crowds watching the event to give as many people as possible the opportunity to interact with the animated models and projections.
In October 2008 the installation was scaled down and developed as both an online and interactive touring exhibit which will travel around youth centres in the borough to bring together the excitement and fun of the Olympic and Paralympic Games while incorporating art and technology in an entertaining and accessible way.