Images (L-R): Lithographed sketch of Queen’s Theatre, Adelaide, located at the corner of Gilles Arcade and Playhouse Lane. Drawn by C.W.C.; engraved, printed & published by H. C. Jervis, Adelaide.State Library of South Australia,B 4502.

Guildhouse in partnership with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, are pleased to announce the successful recipients of the Queen’s Theatre Interpretive Artwork Commission.

Acclaimed theatre and production designer Mary Moore will work in collaboration with experienced design studio Sandpit to bring to life ‘A Living Wall’, celebrating the historical significance of the Queen’s Theatre site.

The concept design uses five windows from the original wall and two proscenium doors from the Queen’s stage to create seven portals to key moments in the life of the building from 1841 to the present day.

The artwork will captivate passersby and simultaneously allow for a deeply immersive digital storytelling experience through interpretive panels mounted on the wall. Using your smartphone, you will be able to time travel through the wall and engage with the stories behind the images through virtual reality, soundscapes and immersive imagery.

About the recipients:

Mary Moore

Mary Moore was one of the youngest members of UK team that won the Gold Triga at the 4th Prague Quadrennial International Theatre Design Exhibition (1979), since that early success, her set and costume designs have been seen by audiences on four continents.

She trained at the London Central St Martin’s School of Art, where she received a grounding in the European modernist tradition which has lived on in her designs for major UK and Australian theatre, opera, and dance companies. In contrast, her experimental research has led to ground-breaking site-specific, interactive and promenade performance; an installation practice; and even interactive museum design.

She was supported by a two-year Australian Council fellowship to make two intercultural Australian/Japanese performance works commissioned and presented by the Adelaide, Perth, Shanghai, and the Sydney Spring festivals.

Her work has been the subject of major academic publications (Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Rodopi, Palgrave Macmillan). Recently she completed two commissions to design virtual reality immersive environments for AusStage, the Australian National Performing Arts Database, and the Centre of Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo. She has a Star on the Adelaide Festival Centre Walk of Fame and has received a Premier’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sandpit

Sandpit is an award-winning experience design studio. We bring our passion for creating inspiring, inclusive, one-of-a-kind experiences to every stage of the design process; from masterplanning to design, install, and beyond.

We work closely with every client to gain a deep understanding of what stories they want to tell and what their audience’s needs are. We then work to bring that vision to life with spectacular interactives, immersive environments, custom software; whatever the project needs, we can make it happen.

We have an incredible team of designers, developers, artists, and storytellers excited
to take on their next challenge and see what we can create together with you. In everything we create, the needs of your audience are front of mind.

Now that you know what we can do, let’s get together and start laying the foundations for something incredible.

Sandpit have created visitor experiences for ACMI, Museums Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Reece Group, the National Museum of Australia, Melbourne Holocaust Museum, the National Sports Museum, Back to Back Theatre, Australian Children’s Television Foundation, Art Science Museum Singapore and Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust in Stratford-Upon-Avon.