Ali Kadhim - EPIC07

Ali Kadhim is a Sydney-based new media artist who focuses on digital art and multimedia.

The emerging young producer has been creating his own digital artworks and short films since early high school.

Ali is a self taught digital artist and has completed a certificate IV in Digital Media through the Western Sydney institute of TAFE in 2005. He also completed TAFE accredited training and a range of digital arts skills as a participant of the Information Cultural Exchange’s (ICE) Originate: Multicultural + Multimedia + Mentorship program (supported by The Australia Council for the Arts).

Ali is also Australia’s foremost practitioner of the French urban body-movement art form ‘Le Parkour’. In 2006, he was mentored by ICE and the Bankstown Youth Development service to undertake a Parkour-focused youth development project and make a short documentary about the form. Ali’s Parkour crew ‘9 Lives’ have performed for numerous community events including Loud! The Sydney Arab Film Festival, Bring it On Youth Festival, Spectrum for Something Fresh, Big Rigg and the launch of Artfiles 2006.

Ali’s short films ‘Irrational Security’ (2005), Escape from Fairvale’ (2004), ‘Le Parkour’ (2005) and ‘Invincible Twin Fighters’ have been included in a number of film festivals including Auburn on Screen 2005, Shortcuts Western Sydney Short Film Fest For Young People (finalist both 2005 and 2006), and the Originate Showcase (2005)

The organisation

Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE) is a dynamic community, cultural, information technology and arts organisation working across the Greater Western Sydney region in New South Wales, Australia.
ICE manages SWITCH, Western Sydney’s state-of-the-art multimedia and digital arts access centre. ICE produces the critical publication and online resource Artfiles, the Arts Directory for Western Sydney. ICE has expertise and success in developing new media, community cultural development, professional development and arts programs that access thousands of individuals, artists and communities annually. ICE also works with community groups, governments and libraries on innovative programs aimed at broadening community access and capacity in information and communications technology (ICT) in order to bridge the digital divide.

The project

EPIC07 will provide Ali with a twelve-month internship opportunity with ICE, to produce Layers of the Map - a new media arts project involving digital video, sound, animation and web design and physical performance. It will creatively engage young people from diverse cultural backgrounds and involve them in the production of an interactive map of public spaces in Western Sydney.

Viewed via a specific website and created using GPS technology, the map will feature numerous locations where users can view information and add their own experiences related to specific locations - creating a rich multimedia reference for the community.

The EPIC Initiative has been assisted by the Australian Government's Young and Emerging Artists Initiative.