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Students create digital exhibition for Matariki Festival 2018

Over the past month, Year 1 Bachelor of Media Design students have been working on a live brief for the Auckland Council.

Typically, our Bachelor of Media Design students do not tackle live briefs until their second year of study, as they first need to foster and nurture their design thinking and skills. This year however, the narrative changed. After seeing great potential in this year's cohort, lecturers threw an Auckland Council live brief their way. The challenge? To create a digital innovation exhibit for the annual Matariki Festival.

In consultation with Jo Diamond, our Maori Student Liaison Officer, students and lecturers worked with the Auckland Council to respond to the brief and actualise it. Although they were given pointers on how to navigate the cultural aspect, they were also encouraged to give their own perception, their own vision of Matariki.

As depicted in the brief, they were given haikus written by South Auckland students, and it was their job to take those words and transform them into digital animations. Although the process was strenuous and challenging at times (especially considering that for many of them, this was their first real brief), they took the opportunity and ran with it.

From the first pitch alone, the Auckland Council were captivated by the students' conceptions. This only further ignited the creative fire within the students' minds, and they then worked tirelessly to rework and refine what they had created until the deadline sat right above them. Now tonight, the digital installation is set to go live. Running from Thursday 19 July - Saturday 21 July at the Manakau Civic Building, it will play from 6.30pm - 11.30pm on a one hour repeating loop. Best of all, it's completely free. 

Read more information about the event here, and discover what else is happening during the Matariki Festival here.  

Matariki
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