Aurora Australis Ultimo Choro – Trailer

A look at the scan collection we did and life on board the Aurora Australis on its last voyage to the Antarctic. We left port in Hobart just as covid hit and luckily no-one on board had contracted the virus. We voyaged through the Southern Ocean and spent time on Mawson and Davis stations on the Antarctic continent. Throughout the voyage we captured lots of data, scanned the crew and expeditioners and scanned the whole ship. Aurora Australis Ultimo Choro VR is one of the artworks we have created from the mass of data we captured. It has been exhibited at ACMI in Melbourne (though it was closed early because of a lockdown) and was part of Siggraph Asia Art Gallery at Tokyo International Forum.

antarctic arts fellowship


John McCormick and Adam Nash – Wild System were the 2019/20 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellows with the Australian Antarctic Division. We sailed on the final Antarctic voyage of the icebreaker RSV Aurora Australis, collecting data from the ship, the voyage, the scientists, expeditioner  and the crew for the entire six week voyage. We used lidar scanning, photogrammetry, drone videography, and ambisonic audio recording, among other methods to capture the energy and activity of the voyage. We were also fortuante enough to spend time on Mawson and Casey stations experiencing the icy continent and station life first hand.  What an incredible experience it was and we feel blessed to have had the opportunity. We collected so much valuable data and are working at transforming it into artistic expressions of the experience for others to enjoy. 

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artworks


antarctica breaking

multi screen video

 

Antarctica Breaking comprises glacial imagery and realtime 3D visuals and sounds from data captured on the last Australian voyage of the icebreaker RSV Aurora Australis to the Antarctic continent. It is a multi-screen journey across the timeline of the Antarctic expedition.

 

aurora australis ultimo choro

virtual reality 

Aurora Australis Ultimo Choro depicts the final Australian voyage of the RSV Aurora Australis to the Antarctic continent. An immersive visual and sonic feast of three-dimensional VR environments and spatial sound visualising and sonifying the last grand Antarctic dance of the Aurora Australis, crew and expeditioners.

   

aurora australis virtual tour

online 360 panorama tour

The Aurora Australis Virtual Tour allows you to take a virtual walk around the RSV Aurora Australis as it was on its last voyage to the Antarctic. Giving you unprecedented access to all of the icon that is the “Orange Roughy”.

enter the virtual tour

 

   

exhibitions


polar patterns capitol theatre march 2021

Taking over the mezzanine of the Melbourne’s iconic Capitol Theatre, Antarctica Breaking is our multi-screen video journey that tracks the voyage of the Aurora Australis across multiple screens. 

capitol theatre

siggraph asia art gallery tokyo december 2021

We presented a VR version of Aurora Australis Ultimo Choro, generated from the ship and crew scans taken on the voyage, for the Siggraph Asia Art Gallery at Tokyo International Forum.

siggraph asia art gallery

salamanca arts centre august 2022

We are presenting Last Dance Orange Roughy an immersive, large screen 3D stereo projection with multi-channel ambisonic audio at Salamanca Arts Centre for the Antarctic Festival and Salamanca’s own Winter Light. If you are in Hobart in August come along!

salamanca arts centre

acmi august 2021

VR version of Aurora Australis Ultimo Choro in the Swinburne Studio at ACMI. Like many exhibitions it was shut down early by a snap Covid19 lockdown.

acmi

anAT SPeCTRA LIVE april 2022

Coming up in April as part of Spectra Live Aurora Australis Ultimo Choro VR! will again be showing. Spectra was postponed in 2021 but will go ahead in venues across Melbourne in april.

spectra live

breaking through ice off mawson station – 360 cinematic vr

In order to reach Mawson Station we had to break through the sea ice off the Antarctic coast. This 360 degree cinematic video captures some of that part of the journey. You can drag to scroll around the view. If you have acces to a VR headet try viewing in  stereo VR mode with the Youtube VR app to get the most immersive experience. We used an ambisonic microphone to record spatial sound as we travelled through the ice. The sound along with the visceral impact ringing through the ship was an intense, unfogettable experience.

Gallery