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In 1871, a school of girls scorned by the rest of society were banished to a decaying prison on the grounds of Cockatoo Island, long considered too inhospitable for criminals. Be transported back in time and discover their stories as you explore the island's surrounds...

HELLO!

We're a group of artists from a range of backgrounds including film, theatre, radio and the digital and visual arts and we're proud to announce that we're going to be a part of this year’s Underbelly Arts Lab and Festival. We're making an augmented reality, geo-locative GHOST STORY prototype set right on Cockatoo Island, where the Underbelly Arts Festival takes place! 

We're taking part in this initiative alongside a bunch of other great Underbelly Arts projects – find out about them here.

We're exploring the island's history by building an interactive geo-locative story app prototype for smart phone users. It’s a fictional drama set in the Biloela Reform School for Girls - an institution in the late 1880s built from the remnants of the old prison that housed a congregation of wayward girls, both orphaned and delinquent, who suffered greatly at the hands of this ill-conceived government program. This ghost story transports users back the 1870s, following a young girl as she struggles to survive the harsh conditions of the school and dreams of her escape. 

It’s a hugely ambitious project and we’re grateful to receive the support of not only Underbelly Arts, but Screen NSW’s Interactive Media Fund and Metroscreen as well. But we’re just a bit short of our funding goal. Specifically, we need $4000 that will cover a few really important parts of our production.

And thanks to the Keir Foundation, this is a matched funding campaign. We’re setting our target at $2000 so this means that for every dollar you give, you are actually giving us two! So we’re already halfway there (kind of!). With your help, we’ll be able to do the following:

Edwin, our developer extraordinaire, is based in Holland, and our awesome writer Anna Barnes is in Melbourne. This Pozible campaign goes directly towards getting us all in the same place so we can make this project happen. 

Geek artist Fee Plumley is also part of our team, and this Pozible campaign will also cover the cost of getting Fee's bus Home James onto the island for the duration of the Lab and Festival. Home James will be our island HQ for festival goers to visit and learn more about our project and talk all things digital art.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

“Biloela appears, from the evidence, to have been simply a hell upon earth; the abominations & acts of cruelty there practised being for the most part utterly unfit for publication” Brisbane Courier Mail 12 June 1874.

Our project, Cockatoo Island Ghost Story, explores a fascinating and important part of the island's history, the Biloela Public School and Reformatory for Girls. This interactive audio drama works through the geo-locative story app we're developing so you can explore the island as you like and direct where the story goes.

What’s a geo-locative story app? Well, imagine activating the app as you land on cockatoo island, putting your phone in your pocket and exploring the island. As you walk, your GPS location triggers a series of stories and sounds.You decide how the story unfolds in a ‘choose your own adventure’ style audio drama.

Our time on Cockatoo Island during the Underbelly Lab and Festival is all about mapping the environment, and programming our story and sounds into our prototype app for festival goers to play with. When we land on the island we will set up base in Fee Plumley’s reallybigroadtrip HQ/bus acting as our headquarters, a space that audiences are welcome to visit and where we (and especially geek artist Fee) are ready to talk all things digital. Bring your smart phone and a set of headphones in order to download and play with the app and prepare to be scared out of your wits!

UNDERBELLY ARTS

Underbelly Arts exists to uncover Australia’s next great artists.

Since 2007 the Underbelly Arts Lab has provided opportunities for more than 600 artists to develop and create in a unique and supported environment where, over two weeks, audiences are invited to watch art unfold and take part in the process.

In 2013 Underbelly Arts is once again taking over Cockatoo Island and giving artists the chance to create and respond in one of Australia’s magnificent settings. These works will then be showcased as part of the Underbelly Arts Festival, a two-day art party that celebrates process, new ideas and the best emerging and experimental artists across Australia.

The Underbelly Arts Festival will take place on August 3 & 4.

WHO ARE WE?

We have a great team of passionate producers and practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds coming together to make something cool that marries traditional forms of storytelling with new technologies - in this instance, geo-locative augmented reality. At a glance, the team includes creative producers & co-​directors Que Minh Luu (writer/film editor) & Jesse Cox (radio producer/artist) who will work in collaboration with an inter​disciplinary creative team including Luke Mynott (sound designer/composer) Anna Barnes (writer/playwright) Fee Plumley (technoevangelist/geek artist) & Edwin van Ouwerkerk (app developer/coder).