Discover how I activated public space and digital culture

Collectively, my work demonstrates a rare ability to connect concept, technology, and cultural relevance. I excel at leading multidisciplinary teams from initial vision to finished installation, delivering impactful experiences that transform spaces, engage the public, and earn industry and institutional recognition. This blend of strategic thinking, creative leadership, and technical execution enables me to drive innovation and digital transformation.

At Kenke+Trefz we’ve contributed to academic discourse through co-authored peer-reviewed papers, including “The Art of Data Portraiture: Enabling a Public Debate on Self-surveillance,” presented at the International Symposium on Machine Learning “Art Machines 2021”. We’ve also mentored interdisciplinary student teams, bridging art, engineering, and urban design, and have developed custom hardware solutions for all projects, from rapid Arduino prototyping to professional PCB production and offshore manufacturing.

Across these projects, I’ve driven innovative vision and delivered technically ambitious outcomes. My practice blends artistic insight with robust technical expertise, demonstrating the capacity to lead groundbreaking projects from concept through large-scale execution. Positioning Kenke+Trefz as a creative innovation lab operating at the nexus of art, technology, and urban placemaking.

Burns Lane Cloud

I Led the creative and technical development of an interactive LED balloon sculpture installed in Singleton, Australia during the Firelight Festival. To realise this vision, I designed bespoke electronics and developed sensor-driven software that reacted to people’s movements. As pedestrians passed beneath the inflated “cloud,” proximity sensors triggered dynamic shifts in lighting and colour, transforming Burns Lane into a playful, responsive environment. The project was drawing large public engagement during the Firelight Festival and earning multiple Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) awards in Multi-sensory Installation, Spatial Design, and Innovation categories.

AGDA Spatial Award: https://agda.com.au/awards/results/1671/

AGDA Digital Awards: https://agda.com.au/awards/results/1587/ and https://agda.com.au/awards/results/1671/

I Engineered custom hardware using EasyEDA, including a custom “Ballooino” PCB and developed sensor-driven Arduino software that converted real-time human activity into dynamic light patterns, sensing user input and controlling LEDs inside of a balloon.

We assembled the final installation in collaboration with partners from the University of Newcastle in Singleton’s Burns Lane.

Burns Lane Cloud served as a major attraction at the Firelight Festival, drawing continuous public participation by visitors and sparking discourse on adaptive urban design and public space activation.

Selfie Factory

Winner of the National Portrait Gallery’s 2017 Digital Portraiture Award 

Kenke+Trefz conceived and led the design of an innovative media art installation for the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia. This project transformed Instagram’s digital flood of selfies into a live, physical experience, using a custom-built network of Raspberry Pi devices and thermal printers to continuously download and print posts tagged #selfie. The installation won the National Portrait Gallery’s Digital Portraiture Award, featured in national media (ABC, Art Almanac), and sparked debate about digital identity, privacy, and the aesthetics of online self-representation.

The concept for Selfie Factory emerged from a curious dissonance: while people willingly share photos on social media for the world to see, the idea of someone printing and displaying those same photos in a gallery might feel intrusive or unsettling. Why does this dissonance exist if the images are already publicly available?

To explore this phenomenon Kenke+Trefz conceived and engineered a multi-sensory installation at the National Portrait Gallery that transformed social media activity into a physical “data portrait.” Five networked Raspberry Pi systems continuously harvested and printed Instagram posts tagged #selfie on receipt paper, creating an evolving display of collective digital identity.

To bring Selfie Factory to life, we installed five thermal printers in parallel, generating a continuous stream of photo prints that were placed in the gallery space for visitors to view and interact with. The thermal printers are connected to RaspberryPi computers that I programmed to download and print all Instagram posts tagged with #Selfie. Posts tagged #SelfieFactory received priority, enabling interaction for visitors to see their own images appear in real-time. This #SelfieFactory interaction bridged online identity and physical presence, turning visitors into co-creators and elevating public discussion around digital privacy and the aesthetics of self-representation.

Selfie Factory creates a visual experience of online behavior. It delves into the current state of human identity, examining the divide between online spaces and physical places as well as the duality of individual and collective experiences inherent in our telematic world. Selfie Factory was honoured with the prestigious Digital Portraiture Award from the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

Selfie Factory was featured in major national media outlets including ABC News and Art Almanac, amplifying its cultural impact:

>> National Portrait Gallery: Selfie Factory, 2017 by Ralph Kenke and Elmar Trefz​

>> Art Almanac: Ralph Kenke and Elmar Trefz win the Digital Portraiture Award

>> HerCanberra: Selfie Factory wins Digital Portraiture Award​

>> ABC News: When selfies become high art

>> Publication: The Art of Data Portraiture: Enabling a Public Debate on Self-surveillance

Selfie Flâneur

Selfie Flâneur is a media art installation that finds your Doppelgänger on social media. It uses artificial intelligence to use a photo that is taken on-site and match that photo with all photos on social media that use the #selfie.

To realise Selfie Flâneur we indexed all social media selfies and used an AI machine learning model to match selfies taken on site with social media selfies.

This way we built a novel interface allowing users to wander or “flâneur” through selfies in an exploratory, non-linear manner. The project interrogated critical themes of of data privacy, online identity, and the personal narratives embedded within digital archives. It was presented at the prestigious TEI 2020 conference and published in the ACM digital library, cementing Kenke+Trefz’s role at the forefront of research-driven creative technology.

Impact & Recognition

Kenke+Trefz has been recognised for redefining the possibilities of creative technology and experience design, earning accolades such as the National Portrait Gallery’s Digital Portraiture Award and multiple AGDA awards. Co-Directing Kenke+Trefz underscores my ability to lead at the intersection of creativity, technology, and public engagement, delivering transformative experiences that generate cultural impact and strategic value.