Illuminate is a new, permanent art experience at the WA Museum Boola Bardip. The stunning projection experience lights up the historic Old Gaol each night with vibrant storytelling and a rich soundscape.
The project was formed in partnership with Minderoo Foundation and an eagerness to activate the Museum after hours. Through extensive collaboration and consultation, it has exceeded expectations and resulted in a spectacle of kaleidoscopic projections, highlighting Western Australia’s unique landscapes, people and history that have shaped our collective identity and place in the world.
Illuminate: Timescapes is 20-minute feature that references the Nyoongar Six Seasons and presents a surreal and magical narrative featuring the unique plants, animals and stories of Western Australia.
The work was produced by award winning design studio, Sandpit, who specialise in bringing stories to life through immersive technology. The team worked with Aboriginal representatives, the WA Museum and Minderoo Foundation staff to create the six acts where flowers explode out of windows, dinosaurs roam the land, numbats crawl over logs and radio antennae turn to the skies.
WA Museum Boola Bardip Manager Helen Simondson said the project utilises advanced data projection and architectural mapping technologies, and is a format that has endless opportunities for content to come to life.
“The artwork is intricately mapped out and responds to the unique architectural features of the Old Goal,” Ms Simondson said.
“The great thing about data projection is that it allows buildings to transform into something else. Timescapes is presented as six acts which work together as a lyrical narrative. You can see the land creating rivers, rivers that craft themselves over the landscape, huge frogs, beautiful seahorses, stromatolites and meteorites, and moving objects from the Museum.”
Objects from the Museum’s collection can be found popping in and out from the architectural features of the building and weaving through the six acts of Timescapes. These concepts reference birth and renewal within the Nyoongar Six Seasons.
“What was really important considering the history of the building was to identify and acknowledge its complex history, as well as to honour that space without necessarily being didactic about it,” Ms Simondson said.
“The six acts relate to coastal life, the night sky, water, renewal and regeneration. Overarchingly, Illuminate is a story of hope.”
Structures have the possibility of being transformed beyond their architecture, into canvases for art. This is not to say that transforming traditional structures solves all issues, but it does contribute to recognising their complex histories as well as thinking about space differently. As a live artwork, Illuminate offers the opportunity to progressively think about how we view and interact with the Old Gaol by inviting you into its surreal narrative, a collective space.
“It’s a great experience to come and see Illuminate: Timescapes as part of an evening in the city,” Ms Simondson said.
Illuminate: Timescapes is supported by the Minderoo Foundation and is on daily from sunset till late at the Old Gaol.
https://visit.museum.wa.gov.au/boolabardip/illuminate-timescapes
