national museum of australia 2001

CDP Media was contracted by the Acton Peninsula Alliance to create three feature multimedia exhibits for this exciting new Museum project that opened to the public in March 2001.

Imagining the Country

‘Imagining the Country’ combined large scale data projection and thematically related touchscreen programs to successfully integrate a spectacular visitor attraction with detailed information delivery.

A 6.5 metre wide projection screen, laser-cut in the shape of Australia, was inclined toward viewers standing on a mezzanine level. Legible over three floors of the museum, different glimpses of the program drew visitors to this central point in the museum. Data projectors displayed 13 motion-graphics animations on themes such as Immigration, Early Exploration, Tourism and Aboriginal Mapping.

Four touchscreens offered visitors the opportunity to explore packages of in-depth information relating to the 13 display themes. The networked touchscreen programs react to visitor use by cueing the display of movies on the large projection screen according to the themes being researched by visitors.

CDP developed the concept with the Acton Peninsula Alliance, conducted the picture research, acquisition and writing, designed and produced the animations and provided creative direction to the production of the interactive elements designed and built by sub-contractor Massive Interactive, Sydney.

Eternity
The ‘Eternity’ exhibit brought to life the personal stories of 50 ordinary and extraordinary Australians. Located within a cul-de-sac corridor it comprised ten showcase displays based on emotional themes, such as Hope, Mystery, Loneliness and Passion.

An 18” LCD touchscreen was fixed to a graphics display rail in front of each showcase. The visitor used this to explore further information about the stories, including a short movie.

CDP Media produced the 50 short films presented in the interactive programs. Michelle Mahrer directed all 50 movies, the principal editor was Michaela French, with production management provided by Sonia Leber, Wax Sound Media.

Deep Time
The ‘Deep Time’ display chronicled 20,000 years of climate change as revealed in the extraordinary rock art found in Kakadu National Park in Australia’s Northern Territory. The display was set in a small discrete space just off the main circulation path and presents three synchronised video images viewed as reflections in a large sheet of glass.

Behind the glass was a ‘Trilon’ sign which displays three separate floor-to-ceiling landscape images of Kakadu. These digitally enhanced photographic images showrd how the Kakadu landscape would have looked 18,000, 6,000 and 1,000 years ago. The video images appear to float in space in front of the landscape images.

A multi-speaker soundscape combined field recordings of the natural environment of Kakadu with a descriptive voice-over written by Gary Warner and voiced by actor David Ngoombujarra.