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Lou Weis Biography

Lou Weis is a creative producer and consultant operating under the broad umbrella of the creative industries. His work spans creating large-scale interdisciplinary installation pieces for international arts festivals, to providing creative strategy consultancies within the public and private sector. Lou creates and manages the conceptual development of creative projects, then finds the necessary finances and partners for the realisation of the work(s). Get in touch lou@osinitiative.com

2006 – 2007 Business Development / Creative Strategy

Green Pages Australia (Sydney, Aus) (www.greenpagesaustralia.com.au)

  • Role: Creative and business strategy
  • Date: February – September 2007
  • Description: Green Pages Australia is a national directory of environmentally friendly products and services and a quarterly lifestyle publication.

Lou was editor of the 2006 edition, then moved into a creative adviser role in 2007. After assessing the business plan for the company, Lou brokered venture capital for the company and ushered in a new content & creative team for the delivery of the 2008 director.

Australia Council for the Arts (Sydney, Aus) (http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/the_arts/features/maker_to_manufactur...)

  • Role: Business Development and strategy
  • Date: September – September 2007
  • Description: Maker, Manufacturer, Market (MMM) was a three year (2005 – 2007) strategic initiative of the council to assist object designers with a grant enabling the realisation of a product prototype.

The Council was concerned that the last year of the grant would leave a vacuum in the support provided to the sector and engaged a consultant to ensure some ongoing, highly targeted, business development programs were put in place to assist the sector.

Lou conducted a national survey of object design via interviews with leading practitioners and the leaders of organizations that represent their interests. As a result of this research the MMM 2007 grant was altered and a higher level of applicant was achieved as a result.

Having identified business skills as the major skill shortage amongst Australian object designers, Lou established the framework for a national business skills mentoring program for the sector called The Australian Design Platform, funded by AusIndustry. The Australian Design Platform is being run by

Lima Projects (London, UK) http://www.limaprojects.co.uk/

  • Role: Business development and strategy
  • Date: January – August 2006
  • Description: Lima Projects creates and produces art events for corporate and public clients. Past clients have included Red Bull, Audi, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Westminster Council, Southwark Council, Port Eliot Lit Fest, Art Car Boot Fair, London For Sale & The Scope Art Fair to name a few.

Lou made an assessment of the company’s profile and business development strategies. Then worked with the CEO to craft new creative strategies and business plan to secure refinancing for the new vision of the company.

Lou Weis remains a creative associate of the London (UK) based company.

Projects

1999 St Kilda Film Festival

  • Project: Time-lapse installation piece
  • Collaborators: Daniel Crooks
  • Description: The St Kilda Film Festival is Australia’s leading short film festival. The opening night event was filmed on 5 time lapse cameras. The footage edited while the 3000 strong audience was watching the opening night movies. The resulting time lapse footage of the opening night was then screened at the opening night after party: an evening compressed in to 2 minutes on the fly.
  • Sponsors: Apple, Adobe, Panasonic

2000 Melbourne International Film Festival

  • Project: Microwave Nights video installation
  • Collaborators: Tao Weis, Rani Chaleyer, David Franzke, Toby Reed
  • Description: we decided to clad an existing walkway that runs between the two major theatre and concert hall buildings in Melbourne. The structure was clad with 20 metres of rear projection and block out material to create a media tunnel effect. 5 projectors and 5 surround sound systems were linked with frame accuracy to ensure seamless integration of content. The installation was curated around the theme of ‘time management’.
  • Sponsors: Apple, Panasonic, Pivod, Arts Victoria

2003 Singapore & Melbourne International Arts Festivals

  • Project: Joy Ride (motion control ride
  • Collaborators: Jonathan Mills, David Franzke, Tao Weis, Studio505 (architects), Geoffrey Nees, Act3 Animation, Motion Solutions, Pivod
  • Description: Joy Ride was a motion control ride, the audience were physically moved on a revolve – the speed and direction of their movement was controlled by the audiovisual content streaming device. Joy Ride had a maximum audience of fourteen people per ride and an average show time of six minutes.

Joy Ride was an investigation of what the carnivalesque can mean in contemporary society – it was a Church to displaced intimacy and the god of agitation which dominates the lives of anyone with too many network connections.

In Singapore the installation was seen by 10,000 people or 92% occupancy. In Melbourne the installation was seen by 4,500 people or 80% occupancy.

Sponsors: Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Pivod

2004 Sinagpore, Brisbane, Melbourne International Arts Festivals

  • Project: Sandakan Threnody
  • Collaborators: TheatreWorks Singapore, Jonathan Mills, Pete Brundell
  • Description: Sandakan, a town in Sabah (North Borneo), is the location of the worst massacre of Australian prisoners of war (POW) ever. Jonathan Mills wrote a symphonic work for orchestra and choir on commission by the Adelaide Festival. He then invited Lou to create a theatrical version of this orchestral work.
  • Lou devised a dramatic framework for the piece based on extensive research of the historical event and the media representation of prisoners of war. The project was then handed over to director Ong, Ken Sen.

Intelligent Home Show, Melbourne Exhibition Buildings

  • Client: Hannover Fairs Australia
  • Collaborators: Cassandra Complex Architecture Firm
  • Description: creation of a home of the future pavilion for The Intelligent Home Show. Cassandra Complex created a pavilion in the style of an origami piece. The idea behind the work was not to suggest an ideal living environment for the future, because this is too intangible, but to provide an example of how advanced design and manufacturing tools were allowing for the creation of radical geometries and forms.

The design perfectly allowed for the integration of numerous technologies – automated lighting, home entertainment systems etc.