Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) has announced award-winning Wiradjuri Scottish artist April Phillips as the recipient of the inaugural boorda yeyi Immersive Arts Commission
The Commission, valued at $75,000, is part of PICA's new three-year boorda yeyi immersive arts program, which supports artists to expand their contemporary practice through the use of technology.
Merging art, science, tech and the natural world, Phillips' artwork Under Waters will be an interactive digital immersive installation that invites the viewer to enter—and stay—in a pocket of deep time.
Building a multi-sensory experience through projection, immersive technology and poetic computation, Under Waters will present a parallel universe, one that celebrates the metaphysical connection between our oceans and stars; diving into a speculative past and travelling upwards towards a celestial future.
Phillips is part of newly formed artist collective Friends with Computers and has been incorporating technology into her practice since 2019, positioning herself at the forefront of immersive art in Australia. Her work explores the role of human creativity and effort, both in the making of the artwork and in the audience's experience.
"Under Waters prioritises people at every turn," she said.
"We are committed to working with local talent and creating an experience that feels restorative and energising. The work sets aside fast-paced digital experiences that lack resonance or generosity. Instead, viewers will be invited to stay longer in this rich sensory world, rewarded by its wonders and transformative connections."
Under Waters will be created by Phillips, alongside artist collaborators Pat Younis and Jordan East (co-founders of Friends with Computers).
The team's most recent immersive arts project, commissioned in partnership with Now or Never Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival at ACMI, was kajoo yannaga, a 14-metre, three-part interactive story of the spirit realm developed with First Nations artists Warren Foster Senior and Warren Foster Junior.
For Under Waters, Younis will deliver virtual art direction, bringing his international experience as Virtual Art Department Supervisor for Warner Bros' A Minecraft Movie, along with East, who has exhibited in leading galleries, museums and festivals nationally and globally, to manage the project's technical direction.
A range of cutting-edge technologies will be harnessed in the creation of Under Waters including Unreal Engine*, artist-made virtual clay, photogrammetry (3D photo scans), image composites, virtual cameras and simulations of light and ultra-dynamic skies.
The work will also incorporate creative coding, depth mapping, real-time body tracking, field recordings, digitally altered body percussion, and a combination of synthetic and live instrumental recordings.
"The immersive technologies will generate real-time data collected from human attendance rather than derived from artificial intelligence data. The experience will therefore be rich, textured, unique and a little different every day," Phillips said.
"We are known for taking the long way around to produce innovative and ethical digital works, this boorda yeyi commission will be just that—made with human creativity in the new wave of 'Digital Handmade'."
As part of the methodology, locality and social impact of this Commission, Phillips will also invite a group of First Nations collaborators from regional Western Australia to be part of her creative team.
The 2025 boorda yeyi Immersive Arts Commission judging panel brought together Ngarluma dancer and filmmaker Perun Bonser, artists Lisa Reihana and Sophie Penkethman-Young, Helen Simondson (Manager, WA Museum Boola Bardip; Founder, ACMI X) and Ricky Arnold (Executive Director, ART ON THE MOVE), and was convened by Hannah Mathews (CEO/Director, PICA).
"This Commission marks a very exciting beginning for us, where April and PICA now embark on a collaborative journey that brings technology to the forefront of contemporary art," Mathews said.
"We can't wait to share Under Waters' immersive experience with the community."
This sense of significance was echoed by the judging panel, who noted that the Commission arrives at a critical time when society must urgently reflect on our relationship with technology and the wider world.
"We selected April for her ability to move beyond spectacle, creating work that is immersive in form while interrogating how audiences connect with both technology and Country. Under Waters will draw on Xenophora [marine snails] fossils in the WA Museum Boola Bardip collection and will be realised through emergent technologies in collaboration with other Indigenous artists," the panel said in a joint statement.
In addition to the Immersive Arts Commission, Phillips has recently been announced as the recipient of Creative Australia's 2025 Emerging and Experimental Arts Fellowship. Last year, she also received the Uncle Jack Charles Award, an Australian film award presented by the Melbourne International Film Festival and Kearney Group to honour outstanding Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander screen creatives (the first time an experimental / XR work received an award in the 73-year history of the film festival). In 2022 Women in Digital awarded Phillips their Emerging Star of the Year.
Under Waters will be exhibited at PICA in early 2026 to align with the Bunuru season program (6 February – 29 March 2026), before touring regional Western Australia with boorda yeyi's touring partner, ART ON THE MOVE.
Meaning 'future now' in Whadjuk Noongar language, boorda yeyi is curated by PICA and supported by The Ian Potter Foundation (Founding Patron), along with the Feilman Foundation and Lotterywest (Principal Patrons).
