Interactive digital wall a big hit

May 2017 saw the opening of The Centre for Democracy, an exciting new collaboration between the History Trust of South Australia and the State Library of South Australia. Adelaide’s newest gallery brings together historical objects and the latest digital technology to showcase our state’s history of democracy and challenge its visitors to contemplate the issues of today.

Keen to work with an Adelaide animation studio

When The Centre for Democracy wanted to create their main display, they wanted something really special — a digital wall. Here’s what their Digital Manager, Kristy Kokegei had to say,

“We really wanted to establish a relationship with someone local that we could use for the museum projects. Talking to some of the industry leaders, here and internationally, they had quite a prescriptive way of working but when there’s such a rigid process, it doesn’t work well. Molten were collaborative and creative and we had confidence they could deliver.”

A truly multi-faceted interactive experience

This unique project required us to create much more than just a website. The client wanted a truly multi-faceted interactive experience that would entertain and educate people of all ages. Our challenge was to present an interactive timeline from 50,000 years ago to the present day. We needed to incorporate a massive amount of information and thousands of images, telling the story of Australians who have made a significant impact on our democracy.

The digital wall incorporates many components, including animation elements, custom animation, 3 special event videos, live elements from Twitter and much more, and offers a truly immersive, interactive experience to The Centre for Democracy visitors.

The digital wall had to engage young and old

We were briefed that the target audience was everyone from primary school children to professionals to retirees, which meant we had to really think outside the box and come up with a solution that was extremely versatile.

Great collaboration

The Molten team worked closely with the client’s digital manager and two curators. Work-shopping it and going through a number of revisions, we were all very aware that with such a short deadline, there was no real time to agonise over decisions, which is quite often a good thing. We brought in exactly the right specialists to expand our core team, were able to turn things around very quickly, and it all worked brilliantly. Molten Director, Dorothy Di Stefano explained the process,

“We had to source the hardware, the screens and overhead speakers, organise the building of the frames, installation — everything from start to finish. It was one of Molten’s more unusual projects, which we absolutely love. When our animation clients bring us an exciting challenge, we thrive. For example, when the client told us they would like to use a particular software that was new to us, we said that’s not a problem. Our animation team was happy to learn it, fast.”

Launch success

The Centre for Democracy was officially launched on May 23rd as part of South Australia’s History Festival. At the launch, we were amazed to watch the various ways that different people were interacting with the wall. Playing, exploring, it was really great to see our creation come to life.

Layers of information to explore

At almost 4 metres wide, the digital wall is very impressive and everyone really got the ‘wow’ factor. The client has told us that people are staying longer at the exhibition, obviously enjoying the novel interaction the digital wall offers. They are getting wonderful feedback from school teachers, including one Year 12 teacher who commented that their students loved exploring the layers of information.

The installation will be up for 3 years

To experience the full wow factor of the new digital wall for yourself, visit The Centre for Democracy. Located in the Institute Building, corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue in Adelaide, the centre is open 10am to 5pm every day except public holidays. Admission is free.

Read more about our animation studio here.

hello@moltenstudios.com.au

p: +61 (8) 8394 2581

Written by Karen Zaskolny