Kauhanga spatial interface
Installation design + creative coding
My role
Experience design and creative coding
Team
Harmony Repia — Experience Designer, Kaiārahi Te Ao Māori, Sound Designer
William Philipson — Composer
Exhibition
Aotea Centre – Te Pokapū Auckland
Overview
This project was a collaboration between Harmony Repia’s investigation into the undocumented narratives of Māori wāhine in World War One and my exploration into generative design and embodied interaction. Kauhanga (sacred passageway) is spatial interface that facilitates an embodied experience through an indigenous mode of storytelling. The Kinect sensor gives access to the unseen spectrum of infrared light. This technology allows a blurring of the boundaries between the physical and non physical.
Awards
Best Awards Gold Toitanga, Designers Institute of New Zealand
Best Awards Gold Spatial, Designers Institute of New Zealand
A spatial interface
Integral to a Māori framework is the reality of these two realms Te Ao Kikkiko (realm of the physical) and Te Ao Wairua (realm of the spiritual) as inherently interconnected. As energies pass through the audience's digital shadows they activate sounds. These small clips represent the incomplete narratives of the Māori wāhine. The imagery is generated through a series of algorithms that respond dynamically to the audience's movements. Kuahanga won gold in the Toitanga category and bronze in Spatial category in the 2016 Best Awards.
“Kauhanga provides a visceral experience through an immersive collision of modern technology with traditional sentiment that is both playful and engaging.”
“Kauhanga gives us a glimpse of the future experiential design that is far beyond the static and didactic modes of last millennia.”
— Judges of the 2016 Best Awards