Festivals and live events had to transform and adapt quickly in the 2020 climate. Social distancing and digital methods of engagement became major considerations when trying to adapt to the new normal. In July, staff from World Science Festival Brisbane (WSFB) worked with QUT students to develop engagement concepts. The key question was how could we continue to engage diverse audiences with science and creativity in a COVID safe format.

Student projects examined how to connect people with one another during COVID, with outcomes including augmented reality, gaming, QR code adventures and more. One Sky, featured in our Spotlight video, exemplified the core aims of the provocation, creating a fully operational prototype of their augmented reality experience.

Curiosity Quest

Created by Elena Ong, Beth Demartini, Matthew Swan and John Wong  

Curiosity Quest is an experiment-based board game that explores various areas of science through game play and storytelling to spark interest and curiosity in young minds.  The game follows 4 native Australian animals on a quest to find treasure stacked on top of a mountain, undertaking science experiments in order to progress. Each experiment has its own kit of materials, instructions and is accompanied by a scientific explanation to engage children in the science behind each activity, encouraging them to ask questions and opening a door to conversation.

    One Sky

    Created by Alexandra Reilly, Eli Megson, Yong Yi Tan, Ruo Xuan Goo, Emma-Kate Stevenson

    One Sky is an interactive augmented reality (AR) digital galaxy installation that provides an immersive experience to share heartfelt stories and messages in real time. The project has been developed around the WSFB theme of “extremes and adaptation”. People have had to adapt to the current rules of the pandemic with social distancing and masks becoming a normal everyday practice.

    Drowning Earth

    Created by Jessica Cameron, Gabriel Nugent, Bronte-Jane Poon, Macey Robinson-Stewart, Megan Su

    Drowning Earth is a cooperative board game that mimics the current global crisis and the real actions that can be taken to help solve this climate emergency.

    Sci City

    Created by Elouise Yann, Cher Ning, Peixun Li, Yu Liu, Deandra Blignaut

    Sci-City is an interactive web-browser hosted game that allows players to build their own city of science. Features and themes of the game will draw influence from actual WSFB festival programming. Game players will select their animal avatar and enter details like age, school and gender. Players then view a quick ‘how to’ tutorial, showcasing what game features can be accessed. Finally, the audience can begin to construct their own city of science by dragging and dropping buildings onto the map. Sci-City will be a browser based game to allow ease of access.

    Kids Corner: Quest to Digest

    Created by Eden Boath, Anthony Cuda, Demi Lay,  Ivy Noreen Resuello, Reginald Hck.

    Kids Corner is an interactive platform dedicated to teaching science and invites kids to learn about science through activities, videos, quizzes, at home experiments, attractions and upcoming events. One of the games is ‘Quest to Digest’ an interactive game that is just one of many elements that have been implemented on the Kids Corner. Quest to Digest targets the objective to teach kids about the human body in a fun and amusing way. This digital game consists of the user playing a game to differentiate good and bad things for your digestive system, and tracks the foods journey through the whole digestive process.

    The science of

    Created by Kate King, Lucy Price, Joel Ng, Zara Jobberns-King, Tiffany Willemsen, Emma Robinson

    ‘Science of…’ is a web series responding to the WSFB provocation to make the festival COVID-safe and global. We decided to create the web series as it focuses on targeting the younger audience as well as creating a global experience. The web series is structured so that people can pose questions toward a particular topic via social media so that the web series can curate panellists who can answer the questions. The panellists are experts in their field and will have a vast knowledge of specific sciences to be able to answer these questions.

    Science Quest Brisbane

    Created by Molly Sanders-Dwyer, Jessica Stacey, Natasha Sisanto, Ryo Matsubara, Kharma Scott

    Science Quest Brisbane is a reimagined city-wide Scavenger Hunt that offers a sense of fun and adventure to WSFB. It was designed with the organisation's values and ideologies in mind, as well as their specified consideration of COVID-19 considerations. Science Quest Brisbane is designed to work alongside the World Science Festival’s week long schedule as a physical and digital intervention. When using the Science Quest app, a WSFB attendee can select a location shown on the interactive map. From there, the user can follow the clues and the general path to find the location. At this location, the user can scan a QR code at our Science Quest Brisbane stand and discover facts and information.

    Art Lab

    Created by Daniela Rand, Sarah Peatey,  Arabella Sinclair, Ashleigh Hockings,  Francesca Pedrosa.

    The Science of Art project is a box of art supplies, but what makes it different is that it is instructive to create paints from natural elements and household ingredients. Each box contains ingredients to make 6-7 paint colours which can be made into paint with the help of some instructions and a scientific explanation as to why. Creatives will be interested to learn how paints are created and may even make their own afterwards on another project. They may be surprised at how easy it is to create paint and may become a little more interested in the scientific side of art. For those who feel they have little or painting ability, there is a paint-by-numbers provided to go with the paints at varying degrees of complexity, depending on the choice of the audience member.