It’s a jungle out there, even in Orlando, where French artist Julien Nonnon transformed the cityscape of downtown into his Urban Safari this past weekend.
Urban Safari is part of Snap! Space’s Wild in The Wind series that provides its viewers with an unconventional visual experience of freedom and innocence. Snap! Space has invited both international photographers and contemporary artists to exhibit their work.
For their first and only planned trip to the U.S., Nonnon and his producing partner Hicham Benjellon traveled from France to showcase the artist’s work. Benjellon described Nonnon’s work saying, “Urban Safari is like ten years of reflection about art, visual art, digital instillation, and interactive installations. How we can take the street, how we can say the city is ours, and reinterpret the city. His work is to play with the architecture of the city.”
Holly Kahn, Co-Curator and Exhibition Coordinator of Snap! Space was very happy that both Nonnon and Benjellon were able to safely attend the opening after the events that transpired last week in Paris.
On the evenings following the opening, Nonnon and Snap! Space invited attendees to participate in a behind-the-scenes view of the making of the next Urban Safari. Locations and times were posted the day of the event on Snap! Space’s Facebook page turning the event into a sort of scavenger hunt. If those seeking to view the projections were more than 10 minutes late, they risked missing certain images.
The transient nature of the art made it more intriguing for Scott Chastain, 29, an engineer for the army, who attended both Saturday and Sunday said, ”The coolest things is [Nonnon’s projections] are so temporary and fleeting, and that how street art is, temporary. It’s only up for a couple of years but most of it just a few months and then it’s gone. With his work it’s even shorter, it’s up for just the night, for just ten to fifteen minutes.” Chastain, armed and ready with his camera, was eager to capture Nonnon’s work for the photographer’s Instagram called @streetartOrlando, where he enjoys posting photos of the local street around Orlando with its GPS coordinates.
Nonnon and his team make the art permanent by photographing the projections using long exposures and painting with light to further embellish the image. Those same images are then used for display in galleries. The Urban Safari Orlando series will soon be available trough Snap! Space’s Facebook page.
Julian Nonnon’s other work can be found both at his website, www.juliennonnon.com and by visiting the Wild in the Wind exhibition at Snap! Space from Nov. 21- Jan. 30, 2016. Gallery hours are Thursday – Saturday, from 11 AM – 4 PM. More information about the other artists from the Wild is the Wind exhibit and future events is available through www.snaporlando.com.
Photo Credit: Aileen Perilla
