The brief for the Back O´Bourke Museum in Australia was to bring the stories of Outback Australia to life. For the important historical character of ED Millen, considered by many to be one of the first environmentalists in Australia, we created a motion tracking installation that allows visitors to interact with the writings of Millen in a playful, yet informative way. In the 1880s, Millen wrote extensively warning about the effects of European man on the land. For the Bourke installation we created an interactive concept inspired by these writings. Millen´s writings were displayed on the walls of the museum and also projected on the floor. As the visitor walks through the ED Millen installation, they can kick away words that are projected in front of them on the floor. If a visitor kicks a word strongly it will be dispersed and illuminated in the writings on the wall. The idea behind this approach was to encourage the viewer to interact with the text in a playful and entertaining way but at the same time drawing their attention towards the text on the wall, which they will hopefully read. The exhibit is based on an advanced camera tracking system which was custom developed for this project. The interactive animations of the letters and words have also been custom developed using sophisticated computational design techniques to achieve a very fluent and organic aesthetic which sets this installation apart from comparable interactive floor projections.

Produced at Spinifex Group Sydney for the Back O'Bourke Museum in Australia