Three NFSA staff seated on stools and holding artefacts from the collection: an Oscar, a platform shoe and a video game
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/event/asset02-2020/hive_event_1_storywall_2.jpg

NFSA to share its secrets in Hive, a new interactive space

Media Release: NFSA to share its secrets in Hive, a new interactive space

Media Release
Published 29 July 2020
 

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) will use interactive technologies to provide visitors with an insight into its collection - and the experts tasked with preserving it - in a new public space called Hive. 

Hive will open in Canberra on Saturday 1 August 2020; entry will be free. Hive will give visitors an opportunity to explore stories about the treasures in the NFSA’s vast collection, and hear from the people who love and care for more than three million items preserved by the national institution.

The centrepiece of Hive will be a new interactive display titled Storywall, produced by the NFSA and SBS Digital Creative Labs.

Storywall will feature a life-size projection of six NFSA experts ‘waiting’ for visitors to interact with them using their mobile devices. Once selected, they will tell a story about themselves and their passion for Australia's audiovisual history, as well as digitally showcasing items from the NFSA collection.

The Storywall will feature:

  • Collection Management Team Leader Belinda Hunt and Australia’s first Academy Award won by Kokoda Front Line! in 1942.
  • Curator Chris Arneil and the 1993 video game Halloween Harry – one of the first eight Australian video games to be preserved by the NFSA.
  • Documents and Artefacts Conservator Shingo Ishikawa and the platform shoes worn by Hugo Weaving in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1995. 
  • Curator Tamara Osicka and a unique 1930s aluminium record made by a woman wishing her granddaughter a happy birthday.
  • Indigenous Connections Manager Tasha James and the hat worn by Justine Saunders in the 1986 Bruce Beresford film The Fringe Dwellers.
  • Video Preservation Specialist Richard Vorobieff and a VCR - a reminder of the urgent need to digitise hundreds of thousands of hours of television, radio, music and more, before they're lost forever.

The stories are available in English plus six other languages: Arabic, French, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish. 

Two of the original items featured in Storywall will also be on display at Hive: the Priscilla shoe, and The Fringe Dwellers hat. 

In addition to Storywall, Hive will include other interactive displays, such as a trivia game featuring NFSA collection footage (to test visitors on their knowledge of Australian culture and history), highlights from the Sounds of Australia registry to date, and more stories from the NFSA collection. These will be refreshed regularly so there will always be plenty to explore.

The free Hive experience will be open Monday to Sunday from 10am-4pm, from 1 August 2020.

For interviews and further information, please contact Gabrielle Wilson, 0433 972 915 or gabrielle@thepresssociety.com.au

 

ABOUT HIVE

A new public space at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, featuring the interactive display Storywall, a trivia game spanning decades of NFSA collection material, the Sounds of Australia, and more.
When: Monday to Sunday 10am-4pm, from Saturday 1 August 2020
Where: NFSA, McCoy Circuit, Acton ACT 2601
Tickets: Free; no bookings required. To help keep everyone COVID-safe, please plan your visit in advance: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/visit-us  

ABOUT THE NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIA

As Australia’s ‘living’ archive of more than two million collection items, we not only collect and preserve but also share the nation’s diverse and exciting film, sound and broadcast heritage. From wax cylinders to MP3s, from flammable celluloid film to the latest multiplatform digital works, we capture and make accessible the nation’s creative output, including a unique Indigenous collection.

ABOUT SBS DIGITAL CREATIVE LABS

SBS Digital Creative Labs is an award-winning studio committed to creating experiences that bring SBS’ purpose to life, to tell stories otherwise untold and give a voice to those often unheard in new and innovative ways. They partner with a range of organisations and creatives to build collaborative and enduring projects that celebrate diversity and inspire audiences to see the world in a new light.