The Storyboxes

Esem Projects created The Storyboxes as part of our artist commission for the Barangaroo Delivery Authority's Welcome Celebrations.

Project Details

’The Storybox’ introduces a new approach to place-making and digital storytelling. It is both a physical container and digital platform, enabling stories and collections to be shared, experienced and created by diverse audiences in temporary settings.

STORYBOX is now a major platform launched by Esem Projects in 2020. Learn more at https://storybox.co

Team

Project Leads: Dr. Sarah Barns & Michael Killalea

Esem first developed the Storybox concept as part of our public artwork for Barangaroo Delivery Authority as part of the Cutaway Welcome Celebrations. More recently, we've launched STORYBOX as a new public space media platform.

Our first Storybox program began in 2015.

Referencing the now invisible history of the site as a former hub for containerised shipping, we used shipping containers as 'Storyboxes', curating a range of sounds, vision and community perspectives relating to different chapters in the post-settlement history of this East Darling Harbour precinct.

Each Storybox created a space that allows audiences to engage with different stories and collections across diverse media: from listening booths and soundscapes to typewriters, from digital projection to animation. The Storyboxes also invited new contributions from audiences.In one Storybox, we invited visitors to play with an old fashioned typewriter to share stories and reflections on arrival into this newly christened space in Sydney.

The program proved highly successful with some 60,000 visitors attending the Arrivals and Departures installation over a one-month period.

Learn more about the Arrivals and Departures public artwork here.

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