Bioluminescence @ Darwin High School

Oh the places you will go! Bioluminescence was invited to work with students from Darwin High School on Larrikia Country and share the content creation through to public performance process. Our mission: build a site specific audio-visual installation in four days!

Day one saw ten young people from year 10, 11 & 12 sign up for the program, roll up their sleeves and get straight into it. We explored the coastline and got footage of black cockatoos, busy ants on beautiful flowers and even turtles swimming in the nearby pond of the Darwin Museum. Field recordings were taken of birds, the waves and anything this else they could find.

Back in the studio it was clip editing time and the students turned their raw videos into ever evolving abstract art works as they explored LumaFusion on the iPads. We explored the sonic space of Samplr and building soundscapes for the installation.

Day two was learning how projectors work, how to set them up, site selection, power requirements and safety were all touched on as we turned the art studio into a projection mapping paradise exploring how HeavyM can turn any space into a glowing moving art work.

Day three was setting up scaffold and the projectors in "The Tank" - a repurposed massive water tank that supplied the city of Darwin! The Tank gave us massive textured concrete walls to use as our canvas. The creativity of the crew shone as they drew fantastic shapes across the wall to show their video content.

Showtime! The tech was set up including a full PA with iPads running Samplr and a table of video tech to paint the walls with light and fill the massive tank with sounds. Sound and light filled the space and the crew turned on an amazing show that included opportunities for the audience to interact with the video microscope and add to the soundscapes by playing with the iPads.

The creativity, imagination and motivation of the Darwin High School students was impressive! Even the long days and long nights didn't dampen their enthusiasm and there were smiles all around at the end of the night after the pack up!

A big thanks to the Darwin High School arts faculty for the invitation and for hosting Bioluminescence!