Shipwreck Odyssey – interactive light and movement experience opens at the maritime museum
Take a plunge into the world beyond our shores in an interactive journey in light and movement as mysteries of the ocean depths are revealed.
With an environmental focus, Shipwreck Odyssey combines live storytelling, projections, and immersive experiences to create an aquatic playfield for all to enjoy.
The Lighthouse Gallery at the Maritime Museum is transformed into a wonderland of projection and light showcasing the beauty of our Oceans. Two large-scale walls – each 25m x 5m – are illuminated with spectacular interactive projections to create a large immersive play space. The room is fitted out with state-of-the-art projection and tracking technology that allows for individual interaction with the uniquely developed aquatic imagery.
Shipwreck Odyssey is a visually rich and fun experience to entrance participants to the wonders of our seas created by the team at Box of Birds/Stalker Theatre and writer Jenevieve Chang.
Shipwreck Odyssey has been commissioned by the Australian National Maritime Museum and is supported by Panasonic, Sydney Festival 2023, Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW and Epic Games MegaGrants.
Shipwreck Odyssey runs daily at the Australian National Maritime Museum from 28 December until 26 January. Performances daily (except Mondays) at 10.30am, 12pm, 1.30pm, 3pm
(1 hour playscape and performance)
The Shipwreck Odyssey story
On a bleak and bitter September evening in 1850, the Jenny Lind, named after the world’s most popular singer at the time, confidently slices through the fog and mist settling upon the coral reefs of the South Pacific.
The likeness of the ship’s figurehead to its human namesake was remarkable. One could be forgiven for thinking this figurehead looking out to sea was the Swedish nightingale herself.
But trouble brewed ahead. Only hours later, the Jenny Lind and her 26 passengers would be tossed over the crests of a howling ocean onto a submerged reef, snapping the hull in half.
While all passengers miraculously survived, the Jenny Lind figurehead sank to the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef, where she expects to languish and rot. Instead, she comes to life and discovers a wonderland like no other. A wonderland few humans could ever know. A wonderland where life is endless.
Shipwreck Odyssey is a surreal marine adventure which takes the audience from a 19th century ship voyage to the depths of the Pacific Ocean, guided by the ghostly figurehead of one of Australia’s most famous shipwrecks.
Join Jenny as she roams the oceans of the world upon which she once bravely sailed, exploring the call of whale song, the waltz of stingrays and vistas of plankton. But as the world of human civilisation begins to encroach from above, Jenny begins to realise she can no longer ignore the gradual ruin of her underwater sanctuary.
Will Jenny find a way to save the oceans, or is she destined to haunt the seas until the day humanity finally hears her call to action?
About Box of Birds incorporating Stalker Theatre
Box of Birds is a collective of artists working together to launch the virtual world off the screen and into the play spaces around us. Their live performance events have been seen by over a hundred thousand people globally.
They make large and small scale interactive projection works in spectacular 3D 360° live experiences.
They work alongside the Stalker Theatre team who incorporate dance, acrobatics, aerials and storytelling with interactive technology to create striking images, hypnotic atmospheres, and unique theatre experiences.
They have created three major installations to date: Creature, Mountain and Space Play.