INTER Antarctica: Interactive exhibition puts climate change at fingertips
18 November 2009
The interactive exhibition aims to convey the scale of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
A large-scale 3-D walk-through exhibition about climate change and the Antarctic, which opens this Friday at the University, is a visually sophisticated means for conveying critical information about climate change.
With three giant screens, the installation interAntartica gives the viewer the sensation of being surrounded by Antarctic ice cliffs while it engages multiple senses – sight, sound and touch. Once inside, the viewer hears a musical soundscape composed using organic sounds from Antarctica such as ice cracking, ice melting, iceburgs rubbing together, and the sound of wind.
Viewers can also interact with the installation to create different soundscapes and through various processes of user interactivity, the installation aims to convey the scale of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
“The concept is focused on the largest ice mass on planet Earth, Antarctica,” says artist and lecturer onacloV (Dr Caitilin de Bérigny Wall), who led a team that included 12 design students, and sound designer/composer and lecturer Michael Bates.
“Our motivation stems from an urgency to understand, what has been labelled humanity’s greatest challenge and our greatest threat: climate change.”
Dr onacloV says the project has allowed students to develop and demonstrate leading skills and knowledge in Tangible User Interface (TUI) technologies.
“Students have gained an amazing level of competency in TUI placing them at the forefront of the future of information installation and interaction design.”
Event details
What: InterAntarctica: Interactive Installation
Where: Design Lab, Sentient, Faculty of Architecture. 148 City Road, Level 2.
Public opening: Friday, 20 November, 6pm
Exhibition Dates: 23-26 November, 12 pm-5
Media inquiries: Jackie Chowns
Phone: 02 9036 5404 or 0434 605 018
j.chowns@usyd.edu.au