About
Storybox is a site-specific video installation project that explores layers of history, culture and the interconnections of themes through time.
At each location where the Storybox installation is placed, we explore notions of identity, cultural displacement and “emotional migration” from around the site. Each Storybox has focused on a different aspect of the cultural and sociological interaction specific to that place.
The final work is multi screen projection utilizing shipping containers stacked on top of each other with screens that are placed in the door-frame of the container. Imagery is then back projected from inside the box.
To date there have been three different and unique Storybox projects in New Zealand - Wellingotn, Auckland and Christchurch. The most recent a collaboration with the Christchurch Arts Festival and Ngai Tahu Iwi of the South Island of New Zealand.
For more information please about the project please email Rob Appierdo.
For more videos from other Storybox projects visit our us on Vimeo.
Storybox Process
Each Storybox is a unique expression of historical and/or cultural stories of the area where it is installed. Our process is combination of influences from video-art, sound design, documentary film, vj performance and interactive digital art.
We are interested in working closely with different communities to create an interactive, site-specific installation that retains its format but has content tailored to tell the unique stories of each place.
The content is researched and presented to reflect themes and narratives that are particularly important to the location and the institution, community or group who collaborate to realize the work.
The project can be created through a co-commissioning process, for instance working with local councils, museums, art galleries, libraries or indigenous peoples. There is also the potential for collaboration with local artists.
Costs include installation and commissioning of the visual content.
Storybox Team
The production of each project can involve a diverse range of people to realise the concept but at its core are director and producers Robert Appierdo and Jess Feast.
The Storybox project is realised through a collective of people brought together through the passion to create inspiring and engaging documentary-installation works.
Since starting work on this project in 2007 we have been consistently developing our process and approach to enable each project to be unique.
About our latest work - Storybox Waharoa 2009
For the 2009 Christchurch International Arts Festival we worked with the Māori tribe Ngai Tahu who co-commissioned the work. We began with a series of discussions about our own research and creative process and heard from members of the tribe about issues that were important to them. A creative development phase followed and ideas for the installation were presented and discussed. As a result of this collaboration, the idea for two separate gateways - one dealing with the past, one with the future - was conceived.
The future gateway featured a four-screen documentary work exploring notions of the future from the perspective of 4 people over the age of 75 and 4 people under the age of 13 from Ngai Tahu. The work was presented as a collage of woven statements about the past, present and future of Māori society.
The past gateway used openframeworks to create a generative programming work that
re-visioned the area around the containers, examining objects that have passed through the space since before human habitation. It explores themes of cultural displacement and consumption.
The gateways were placed at opposite ends of Cathedral Square, the main hub of the Christchurch Arts Festival’s Winter Garden. Taking the architecture of the location where the containers were positioned, we created two works that existed in isolation but also spoke to each other across space and time.
More detail about the Christchurch project
Future Gateway: Mō Tātou
For this 4 screen documentary work, we wanted to look forward through the eyes of eight people from Ngai Tahu who live in and around Christchurch. What they see is presented as a collage of woven statements about past and present experiences from contemporary Māori society.
These statements and observations relate to our current social climate and landscape from a distinctly Ngāi Tahu perspective with a leaning towards thoughts on the future for Ngāi Tahu whānau and the wider communities of Canterbury.
Four young people aged 7 to 12 and four elders aged 75 to 87 shared their thoughts, fears and hopes for the future of whānau (family), of technology, of te reo (Māori language), of environment, of Ngāi Tahu, of our country and of our world.
Past: Recalling Puāri
Past: Recalling Puāri observes how an abundance of things – people, objects, buildings, flora, fauna - have occupied and passed through Cathedral Square since the beginnings of time, creating an interactive whakapapa (linage) of events and objects that have grown out of this place.
Before Cathedral Square was established, the landscape was once a large area of interconnected waterways, abundant in native flora and wildlife. The Ngai Tahu people lived there for generations and established Puāri Pā (village) as a place for seasonal food gathering.
The work demonstrated how ‘objects’ have been culturally displaced by progress, time and political power throughout New Zealand’s history. It starts peacefully at the beginning of time, and progresses, towards a state of chaos – in current times. It consists of familiar icons that float and fall through space. As they descend, links between specific objects are formed and so points of connection or displacement are established. At each connection point indicated by a red line a sound relevant to the icon is made creating an interactive sound-scape as the work evolves.
Developed using openframeworks, a unique creative-programming language, the work is subtly different every time, creating dynamic links from pre-history through to modern day New Zealand society.
Storybox project team
The development process is collaborative and relies on the co-operation and integration of local residents, Iwi, museums and research institutes. Together we bring together stories of past and present into a relevant and re-interpreted context.
Creative Director / VJ - Robert Appierdo
Robert Appierdo is a designer and new media artist who develops live video performance and installation works. He has performed in Australia and China, and toured New Zealand as a VJ. He runs a creative studio Dnation at Toi Poneke, Wellington Arts Centre.
www.dnation.co.nz
Research/Documentary - Jess Feast
Jess is a freelance documentary film maker. Her directing credits include two series of the award-winning Cokesmokefree Rockquest, Gather Round, a one-hour documentary about one of New Zealand’s biggest music events and Flight of the Conchords - A Texan Odyssey.
Her independent feature documentary Cowboys and Communists (4 stars, Dominion Post) premiered at the 2007 International Film Festival and won best documentary the Cassels film festival in Germany.
www.myspace.com/cowboysandcommunists
Music and Sound Design
Rhian Sheehan has released 3 albums internationally. Lately he has been writing music for film, movie trailers, television commercials, documentaries and various audiovisual installations. He recently spent 3 months in India recording and collaborating with some luminary musicians. Rhian has also been involved as a co-collaborator in New Zealand synth-pop band The Blush Response. He currently spends all his time learning how to master the art of the Glockenspiel.
www.myspace.com/rhiansheehan (Cafe Del Mar, LOOP Recordings)
Andy Cummings/Hummel is a well established Wellingtonian purveyor of orb-style dub ambient and frippertronic guitar treatments. He combines field recordings, broken beats, atmospheres and acoustic guitar in a live audio collage, weaving an intricate blend of folk and glitch-click electronica into an organic latticework, from downbeat to beyond.
“a sonic journey from lo-fi beginnings through spoken-word samples, live guitars, gentle songs, and techno-static. experiments never sounded so fruitful.”
(4 stars, New Zealand Herald) www.myspace.com/hummelmusic
Creative Programming /Damian Stewart
Damian is an artist, interaction designer, and creative software programmer, originally from New Zealand and currently based in Vienna. His installation and performance works are driven by a desire to explore and communicate new kinds of experiences, and are based on a solid understanding of the history, material properties, and engineering qualities of the technological and digital systems he works with. Recent work includes projections, light performances, iPhone applications, custom electronics development, and environment sonification projects.
Damian has a diverse background that includes study in electroacoustic music, interior architecture, and computer science; professional software programming work on interactive museum installations and PlayStation2 games; and various music performances including free-jazz orchestras, solo electroacoustic improvised performances, and an electronica/dub band. He is a member of the New Interfaces for Performance (N.I.P.) and Polar Produce collectives, has performed internationally alongside artists including Biosphere and Deadbeat, collaborated on projects in UK, Netherlands, Austria, France, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, and New Zealand, and has been artist-in-residence with the Modulate collective in the UK and at the Home residency with André Gonçalves in Portugal.
