The ‘Network of Site’ was made by Software Engineer Cat Kutay to show connections between Hubs of Knowledge and Posts in this Blog. Over the next three years as the project evolves, Posts will indicate the co-creative process. The map was drawn by Scientist/ Architect/ Cartographer Dan Bowles to show the region where the project travels, between Antarctica and Australia.
The ‘Antarctic heritage’ video (below) shows a prototype Pedestrian Puppet being manipulated by scientists and other artists to travel through a virtual landscape in the Data Arena of the University of Technology, Sydney.
This three year project will travel from place to place to engage people in telling stories of relationship to the natural world. Their stories will join ours to create a Virtual Journey through lands and waterways between Australia and Antarctica. Animations will be made and collected give voice to ocean creatures and their relatives on land. Animated voices will reveal connections between Dreaming stories and Western science.
Project co-creators and followers can post their own stories to a Living Data Library and so contribute to sharing and growing knowledge. The virtual journey will reflect experience of country and open up possibilities for reimagining the world as a whole, and of understanding the Antarctic Treaty, and all treaties, as agreements people make for sustaining life together.
L-R: Cat Kutay, Lisa Roberts, Michael Lynch, Bonita Ely
The prototype Pedestrian Puppet began its journey on the sea floor of Antarctica where Euphausia superba (Antarctic krill) are mating. It then made its way through the Southern Ocean to Australia.
On 25th Jan 2019, co-creators and invited guests immerse themselves in the UTS Data Arena with the interactive Pedestrian Puppet.
Music: Dougald McLaren, Code: Cat Kutay & Mike Lynch; Science: Australian Antarctic Division; Animation: Lisa Roberts; Photography: Sandy Edwards
This project supports two approaches to the language of knowledge sharing from an indigenous perspective. This is done through a web system that allows users to engage remotely with animations represented on country.
The first is the narrative style that the user will experience through each animation and which binds the scientific approach into a memorable thread that can be revisited at greater depth throughout the users interactions with the stories. The site will allow young contributers to build this story up over time by providing new animations as the online community grows in understanding of the concepts of sustainabilty.
The second is the way a game interface displays the animations on country where the player can collect knowledge and collect the stories within the body of the avatar. These can be performed and shared in new locations. This will be represented by a puppet avatar that will gain knowledge through encountering stories on location on a 3D map. The young player can replay the story of their journey as a retrospective collation of the player’s past experiences.
Cat Kutay, Software Engineer
University of Technology Sydney
