Multimedia adventure tells New Zealand's story
25 Sep 2008
A spectacular multimedia experience opening on September 27 crowns the 10th birthday celebrations of Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand’s national museum.
Four years and $NZ6 million has gone into developing ‘Our Space’, an interactive exhibition featuring leading-edge hi-tech audio-visual and communications technology that’s set to enhance Te Papa’s reputation as a world leader in innovative museology.
"Our Space," according to Te Papa’s Chief Executive Dr Seddon Bennington, "engages visitors in ways a New Zealand museum has never done before."
Public contribution
The interactive experiences featured in ‘Our Space’ are built around material contributed by the public via a dedicated website. Anyone can submit audio-visual material, and the only criteria is that the images, photographs or clips tell local and regional stories, promote New Zealand’s identity and show experiences of Kiwi life.
Television New Zealand, Te Papa, regional museums, keen New Zealanders and even international holidaymakers have contributed over 7500 video clips, photos and artworks, a number that will continue to grow as the dynamic exhibition develops.
The television footage covers iconic events in New Zealand’s history, as well as lesser-known clips presenting everyday life, past and present.
Satellite map
A long luminous satellite map of New Zealand sucks visitors into the exhibition as hidden sensor tiles in the floor trigger waves of images on the media walls. Related to the region the visitor is standing on, the response creates an intriguing, dynamic montage of the country, and the more feet on the map, the more images.
Media wall
Next there’s ‘The Wall’, a massive canvas on which visitors can create their own expressions using media from thousands of images and sound in the database.
Using computer touchscreens, visitors choose media to be projected onto the media wall. Images can be stretched, animated, painted and moved, using wand-like remote controls. They can even be downloaded to USB sticks or burnt onto CDs to be taken away.
Rollercoaster adventure
The experience includes two motion simulator rides - the rollercoaster High Ride of adrenalin-filled New Zealand experiences, or the Deep Ride into the fascinating realm of an underwater volcano off northeast New Zealand.
Iconic building
Since its opening on Wellington’s waterfront 10 years ago, the high-profile national museum has often been the subject of public debate whether for its iconic but controversial architecture or its non-traditional take on what a museum should be.
The new major attraction replaces ‘TimeWarp’, an exhibition that was criticised by museum commentators for its flashing lights and fun park rides, but succeeded in clocking in over 4.5 million visitors.
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