Children interacting with the Glow Worms in Arboreal (Photo credit: Jonathan Pow)

Families are getting the chance to step into an interactive digital forest, Arboreal, when it opens at award-winning Eureka! The National Children’s Museum in Halifax this Saturday 18th January 2020. The brand new experience, created by artists from the USA especially for Eureka!, invites children to interact with an array of digital plants and creatures. Arboreal is a feast for the eyes; a playfully immersive space designed just for kids. 

Arboreal is a brand new exhibition created by US artists David Glicksman and Moses Journey, where children can interact with large-scale digital projections on the walls and floor, from posing for selfies as fireflies swirl and settle onto your body, creating a looping ambient soundtrack by triggering stalactites and fungi, stomping on giant buttons to engage with magical creatures from frogs to monsters, and propelling creatures around a giant woodland game of pinball. Visitors can attempt to sneak up and startle an array of creatures clinging to the forest fauna and discover the owner of the eerie eyeballs watching you from the bushes.

Posing for a family photo amongst the Fireflies (Photo credit: Jonathan Pow)

The visual design of Arboreal is inspired by the illustrations of American artist Eyvind Earle, whose stylings for many of the Walt Disney classic 1950s productions – most famously Sleeping Beauty and Lady and the Tramp – shaped the visual tone of animation for generations to come.

Playing an interactive game to feed digital monsters in Arboreal (Photo credit: Jonathan Pow)

Arboreal is the second collaboration between Eureka! and Lumen Art Projects following on from the success of their exhibition Fusion: Adventures in digital art in 2018, with state-of-the-art technical equipment and support provided by Universal Live.

Ruth Saxton, Eureka! Arts & Projects Manager said “We can’t wait to welcome families to Arboreal. Visually, it’s like stepping into a cross between Avatar and a classic Disney movie, with playful interactions and surprise creatures to discover. We know that children are going to love it - if they can get their parents to stop hogging the games!”

Artist Moses Journey – Creative Director of Arboreal, who travelled to the UK for install (Photo credit: Sophie Ballinger)

Moses Journey, Co-creator and Creative Director of Arboreal, said: “We strive to create magical experiences, and see Arboreal as our most magical piece yet. Watching Eureka's visitors enjoy the piece has been one of the greatest joys of our careers. I’ve never felt more creatively fulfilled. It would not have been possible without our brilliant creative team, who worked countless nights and weekends to bring our vision to life. Thank you Lumen and Eureka! for giving us this incredible opportunity, and thank you Universal Live for your expert hand in installing the piece!”

Neil Clappison, Commercial Manager of Universal Live, said: “We were delighted to partner with Eureka! and Lumen Art Projects on Arboreal. We all brought different knowledge and expertise to the project, and together we produced an engaging and technically innovative experience for a broad age group.”

Carla Rapoport, Executive Director, Lumen Art Projects, adds: "Lumen's goal is to bring the excitement of art created with technology to everyone. We work with artists from our network - all of whom are finalists and award-winners of the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology - so we know we're getting the most exciting work being created with technology globally. This collaboration with two Lumen artists, Eureka! and Universal Live is our most ambitious project yet and we're delighted to see that Eureka's visitors are already in love with it. Hats off to Eureka! for commissioning the UK's biggest and most ambitious immersive digital art experience. Long may their innovative approach to bringing cutting edge art to their audience continue!"

Arboreal is open to the public from Saturday 18th January, in the ground floor Spark gallery at Eureka! in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Admission to Arboreal is included in the price of visiting the museum, or free to current Eureka! annual pass holders.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/_Nr_wEiQYOM

ENDS

For additional photos, video or press information please contact Sophie Ballinger on 01422 330069, or email press.office@eureka.org.uk  

About the Artists: Moses Journey and David Glicksman

Instagram: @mister.journey (Moses Journey) @AppliedEsoterics (David Glicksman)

With nearly two decades of experience combining art, technology, and storytelling for some of the world’s largest brands David Glicksman brings a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to his work. He moves comfortably between diverse industries and media and is often described as the glue that holds projects together. He is passionate about bridging the divide between art and technology, and has dedicated his career to turning real places into imaginary ones. He is currently working as Technology Lead with the international architecture firm, Gensler, helping to build their new experience design studio in Los Angeles.

Moses Journey was brought up in a deeply artistic household and began his creative pursuits at an early age. He graduated from UCLA’s Design|Media Arts program in 2002 and has worked in advertising and motion graphics ever since. Currently, he works as an animation director and lead creative technologist at world-renowned creative agency, Buck Design.

Together, David and Journey have created several works of multimedia art, one of which -- a kinetic sculpture called Ad Infinitum -- earned the Lumen Prize Placemaking Special Commendation Award in 2017. While working together at Buck Design, they led the creation of Ventanas Malas, a large-scale animated LED sculpture, and were instrumental in creating the #buckuback wall, a modular kinetic sculpture.

About Eureka! - www.eureka.org.uk

Based in Halifax, next to the main railway station, Eureka! is the UK's only national children's museum. Since it opened in 1992, Eureka! has brought smiles to the faces of 8 million visitors.

During that time, it has attracted £22 million of capital investment, employed more than 2500 people, won 60 local, national and international awards and changed the face of the sector by spearheading a more immersive and interactive approach to traditional museums throughout Britain. The 4500sqm building features 400 hands-on experiences over six main galleries, including the newest space, Spark gallery.

In 2019, Eureka! boasted its highest visitor numbers in more than 20 years with 313,538 people coming through the doors, boosted by new developments such as the innovative programme of digital art exhibitions host in the Spark Gallery (opened in 2017).

Eureka! is currently undertaking a £11m project in the Wirral to create a second attraction located on the site adjacent to Seacombe Ferry Terminal, set to open in 2022.

Eureka! is a charity which is entirely dependent on earned revenue to sustain operations and ensure families from all backgrounds can benefit from the play and learning opportunities offered.

About The Lumen Prize - https://lumenprize.com

The Lumen Prize celebrates the very best art created with technology. Founded in 2012, the annual juried competition has since awarded more than $80,000 in prize money and draws entries from artists globally. 

Run by Lumen Art Projects, a not-for-profit organisation based in the UK, it has staged more than 45 exhibitions worldwide in cities including Athens, Amsterdam, London, New York and Shanghai. The team have 20 years of experience working with artists from around the world, creating high impact and diverse exhibitions. International from its start, Lumen has attracted artists from as far afield as Israel, Iran, South Africa and across Asia, with past winners from Brazil, Sweden and Ecuador. 

The Lumen Prize works in two broad areas: Raising awareness about appreciation of art created with technology and creating opportunities for artists that make it. It works to provide digital artists with greater opportunities such as exhibitions or networking events, to allow connections to happen with groups that might not otherwise have met. 

About Universal Live - https://www.universal-live.ltd 

Based in Yorkshire and the North West, Universal Live is a technical event production company providing full technical and creative solutions to the events industry both in the UK and across the globe since 1990. They are experts in all disciplines of live technical production; sound, light, vision, interactive AV, stage, power and media. 

The team of technical specialists, operational professionals and creative designers have hundreds of years of collective experience to combine the best technology and audiovisual equipment. Known for innovation and collaboration, they provide creative ideas, support, experience, and back up to deliver innovative event solutions to some of the world’s biggest brands and high-profile agencies.