Around the world, journalists put everything on the line to challenge those in power. For its permanent exhibition Trust, Power and a Free Press, the Museum of Australian Democracy cast a light on the importance of trusted media sources in a healthy democracy.
The museum commissioned us to produce a storytelling experience that gave a platform to Australian journalists whose passion and sacrifice are often on the front line in the battle for truth.
The outcome is an immersive 7-foot-tall audiovisual installation where 12 of Australia’s leading journalists tell the audience why they do the work they do, reflecting on the courage it takes and the responsibility they feel for reporting fairly and fearlessly.
Our Truth to Power installation serves as the exhibition’s centrepiece and marries responsive audio technology with documentary storytelling in a powerful yet incredibly approachable way.
We built a team of technologists and creatives around the project to service the museum’s desire to create an earnest and authentic storytelling experience.
Shot over two days, we facilitated an intimate space for filming luminaries such as Kerry O’Brien, Adele Ferguson, and Hamish Mcdonald. So used to being stoic voices of authority, the invitation to our journalist-contributors was that this would be an opportunity to talk from the heart to an audience in a one-on-one moment.
A soft portraiture treatment to the image, and at lifesize 4K, the subjects appear real when they stand and look you in the eye. To achieve this, our UX and development team built a robust technology solution underpinned by our Storyteller platform. It powered a total of 16K display technology, both in an interactive mode allowing eight concurrent users simultaneously, and a ’broadcast’ mode for school children that enables educators to dial in a linear experience for large groups.
Infinitely configurable, the project has been reimagined at media and marketing events to be transportable, and powered by a user’s phone speaker, rather than relying on on-site AV.
The piece’s conversational style provides viewers of all ages and backgrounds with unique insights into the professionalism of those who influence public opinion and discourse.
Surveying the audience, the overwhelmingly positive response testifies to the effectiveness – across filming, software and hardware – of our close, authentic approach to presenting human stories in the museum context.
