Interactive Catenary Lighting Display

Backgrounds

Lake Macquarie City Council is seeking creative contributors to develop a public art response along the Speers Point Promenade that experiments with interactive, digital and multi-media approaches to art making and placemaking.

MAP / Mima has been designed as a one-of-a-kind facility, a high-tech creative canvas, constructed not only to host future art and art media, but to offer a fully immersive visitor experience. The dual naming – MAP, short for Lake Macquarie Multi Arts Pavilion, and Mima (pronounced me’ma), an Awabakal word meaning ‘cause to stay’ – signals an intention that it become a site for conscious intermingling of ancient and emerging cultural expressions.

A purpose-built cultural venue, flexible in form including a hybrid stage and multi-arts space that serve in duality to present national and international contemporary art installations, digital art screenings and audio presentations, live theatre performances and music.

User research

Two main words can represent the interview result “Community and the environment”. These two common trends amongst interviewees were that all interviewees expressed an enthusiastic appreciation, care, and respect towards Lake Macquarie's beautiful environment. And that locals of Lake Macquarie commonly express that they have great respect for, and pride in being a part of, the Lake Macquarie community and its activities.

Story

In Australian Aboriginal culture, the Rainbow Serpent is believed to be the protector of water and the great life-giver. Also, Rainbow Serpent is the controller of weather and the deliverer of water and moves throughout the land underground through waterholes and storm clouds.

Emerging cultures of Lake Macquarie have a meaningful relevance to this story dating back to ancient cultures with a common appreciation for Lake Macquarie’s Lake and surrounding nature, and a common strive to respect, care, and maintain this environment.

Concept

Our concept is to represent the Rainbow Serpent carrying water to irrigate the Land of Lake Macquarie, symbolising the best wishes of giving Lake Macquarie’s people and all species a greater environment to prosper in.