Immersion

Continuing research and development of a long term partnership with Museums Victoria

By focusing on the physical and perceptual quality of the senses and the phenomenological aspects of space, the Immersion studio considered how a museum’s collection can be brought to life through sensorially immersive experiences.

The final brief sought proposals for an immersive and interactive ‘pod’, sited in the plaza forecourt of the Melbourne Museum. These environments were intended to heighten the visitors appreciation of the cultural significance of a single selected object from the museum’s collection.

A note about this studio…

In week 2 of the course, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, giving us 4 days to take all teaching online. This studio went from a site specific investigation of sound and immersion at Melbourne Museum, to an online course.

As Melbourne progressively shutdown, Ross McLeod adapted the design briefs so students could complete the course on laptops with little or no access to materials and technologies, such as 3D printers and sound recording equipment. We had intended the course to build on work by the Sonic Immersion Working Group, and investigate visual-spatial experiments in immersion using SIAL Sound Studios facilities.

For a brief period just before the course completed, Stage 3 restrictions were eased and we met the students on site (see images below) where we could step out and ‘sketch’ their final assignment pods, housing an object from the Melbourne Museum collection in an immersive environment.

Lecturers: Ross McLeod, Lawrence Harvey
Semester 1, 2020

Poster image: Jorge Arreola Rosendo