Transient Threads
Transient Threads is a participatory installation about unravelling your emotions. Participants are invited to reflect on their feelings in response to world events that have been happening in the last six months, and then weave their emotional journey using biodegradable tape around the six pillars of the pavilion: Courage Care Anger Fear Sadness Surprise After unravelling their emotions in the space, participants can choose to complete an intention card by writing down a simple action they can take to address those feelings. Over three days, the installation grows to become a visual snapshot of the community’s spectrum of feelings, captured one thread at a time. Presented at MPavilion Parkville from 21–23 May 2024. Collaborator: Chad Toprak Photos credit: Emma Byrnes
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Stack a Snack
Stack a Snack is a multimedia game where players can make bizarre and whimsical cakes by mixing unexpected ingredients. What happens when you mix green grass, red lava, grey concrete, and brown worms together? Each cake generated in Stack a Snack is unique to the ingredients chosen. Players get to take home their digital cake creations by scanning the QR code at the end of the game. Created in collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) for their Up, Down and All Around: Daniel Emma for Kids exhibition in the Children’s Gallery from 2 June 2023 – 8 October 2023. Over 57,000 cakes were made during the course of the exhibition. Game Development Team: Chad Toprak (Game Design), Helen Kwok (Animation) & Hsin Yang Ho (Programming)
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Make a Creature
Make a Creature is a multimedia game inspired by artist Remedios Varo, the Surrealists, and the game Exquisite Corpse – a drawing game that invited players to create strange creatures from different objects and body parts. In Make a Creature, players get to create their own creature by taking a photo of their face and augmenting it with a random objects for heads, bodies and legs. They can then scan the QR code to take their creation home. Created in collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) for their Making Art exhibition in the Children’s Gallery from 10 June 2022 – 9 October 2022, Make a Creature was also installed at Chadstone Shopping Centre for a month. Nearly 60,000 creatures were made during the course of the exhibition. Game Development Team: Chad Toprak (Game Design), Helen Kwok (Animation) & Hsin Yang Ho (Programming)
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Musical Monoliths
Musical Monoliths is an interactive installation consisting of four musical pillars, each a distinct musical instrument. Players can create a harmonious musical symphony together simply by waving their hands or moving their bodies in front of the monoliths. Commissioned by City of Melbourne especially for narrm ngarrgu | Melbourne Knowledge Week 2022, the installation was presented at the Keith Murdoch Gallery at the State Library of Victoria. Across the week-long festival, nearly 3,500 participants played the installation. Collaborators: Chad Toprak Fabrication: Swinburne University’s School of Design and Architecture
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A Walk in the Bush
Created in collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre, A Walk in the Bush is a videogame based on the artworks of Ms N Yunupiŋu, and inspired by the land and sea of North-East Arnhem Land. Children are introduced to the six seasons of the Country as they walk in the bush, spot hidden animals, collect bush food, and listen to stories. A rich learning and visual experience, the game concludes under the stars. Presented as part of The Gecko and the Mermaid exhibition in the Children’s Gallery at NGV from 17 December 2021 – 25 April 2022. Game Development Team: Chad Toprak (Game Design), Helen Kwok (Animation) & Hsin Yang Ho (Programming)
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PaintMixer 3000
Made in 24 hours for an online game jam, PaintMixer 3000 is a 2-player alternative controller game where each player has to mix red, green, and blue colours to match a randomly generated base colour. Inspired by the infamous TikTok paint-mixing videos, PaintMixer 3000 is not just about accuracy, but also having fun when players are way off the mark. Not only do players have to match colours from memory, but also do it blind – the paint buckets are “hidden” while players are mixing colours, and only revealed in a final hilarious showdown. Who will match their paint bucket closest to the target colour? PaintMixer 3000 was first showcased as part of the Talking Heads #09 – 藝術 X 遊戲 Art X Arthouse Games and Playful Media event run by Cultural Masseur from Hong Kong and A MAZE. from Berlin. Created in collaboration with Chad Toprak for the A MAZE. @ Home – Alt.Ctrl Online Game Jam 2021.
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Rainbow Paths
Freeplay Independent Games Festival Awards 2024: Finalist (Non-Digital Game Award) Rainbow Paths is a series of installations that transforms the ground into modular and site-specific playscapes. Each activation invites children, families, and adults to play the mini-games embedded into the installation and follow the colourful branching paths. The mini-games encourage the public to play, sing, dance, clap, listen, and observe their way through the installation, searching for hidden objects and noticing the environment along the way. Each marker is socially-distanced, with the game’s rules written on each marker. No props or devices are needed to play the games. Simply bring along a playful mindset, pick a starting point, and let your imagination guide you through the branching paths. Rainbow Paths have been commissioned and installed in the following forms and locations: Rainbow Bird Playground – Bunjil Place Plaza Rainbow Laneway – Degraves St (as part of Moomba Festival 2021) Rainbow Paths – 4 Ballarat St, Brunswick (as part of the Assemble Papers Mind the Gap Party) Rainbow Paths – State Library Victoria (as part of Playable City Melbourne) Rainbow Paths: Library Edition – Elizabeth St Pop-Up Library Rainbow Paths: Dinosaur Edition – Perth Cultural Centre Rainbow Paths: Love Edition – […]
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Street Tape Games
Freeplay Parallels 2020: Official Selection A direct response to COVID-19, Street Tape Games is a temporary installation that invites the public to play beloved street and playground games redesigned with social distancing. Using social-distancing tapes to create playful markings on the ground, Street Tape Games is about reactivating public space and encouraging the community to come out and play again after lockdown. Through facilitated play sessions, imagine playing childhood favourites such as Foursquare, Tunnelball, and What’s the Time, Mr Wolf without body contact or touch. Initially conceptualised as part of the Test Sites Online 2020 program, Street Tape Games was presented at the following: Siteworks (Melbourne, 2020) Fawkner Festa (Melbourne, 2021) Freeplay Independent Games Festival (Melbourne, 2021) JUMP Festival (London, 2021) Young V&A’s Play in the Pandemic virtual exhibition (online, 2022) Read more about the conceptualisation and design of Street Tape Games at the Play Observatory and in our JUMP Festival interview. The project is supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants and Festivals Moreland Development Program, and created in collaboration with Chad Toprak.
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I Spy in the Dark
Remember those childhood times when we would read books under our bed covers with a flashlight? I Spy in the Dark is a physical hidden object game that tries to capture that same feeling of childhood wonder. Inspired by the original ‘I Spy’ book series, this game prototype is played in the dark with a torch. As the player reads a custom-designed storybook, they are prompted to find hidden objects within a paper diorama using their torch. The story is about a witch named Penelope Nightflower, who needs to collect five different animal sounds in the forest to complete her magical spell. Created for the Make Things Interactive elective course as part of my Master in Animation, Games & Interactivity degree at RMIT University. Collaborators: Chad Toprak (Storybook)
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Heartree
Freeplay Independent Games Festival Awards 2021: Finalist (Experimental Game Award) Heartree is an interactive tree installation that reconnects players to the natural and Indigenous histories of Brunswick through touch, audio and play. It is a part of a bigger project called Playable City Brunswick that was completed in collaboration with the Moreland City Council and Dr. Troy Innocent. The purpose of the project is to reconnect people to the “lived experience” of Brunswick through urban play. Different soundscapes play when players physically touch the tree trunk (to feel the “heartbeat” of the tree), or the six ropes that hang from the branches. Multiple players can play Heartree simultaneously to create different layered soundscapes. Heartree plays on the idea that it is only through our connection with the land, does it reveal its past stories to us. What if every tree had a story to tell? Heartree was completed as part of my third semester studio project for the Master of Animation, Games & Interactivity program at RMIT University. Collaborators: Israel Carter (Sound Design)
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