Over the past six months we’ve had the most fantastic time meeting, exploring and collaborating with the wonderful Storydive, based in Hamburg, Germany. Our collaboration, funded by the Cultural Bridge programme, was Playing with Audio Walks, looking at how we can bring together Produced Moon’s practice in scavenger hunts and outdoor play, and Storydive’s audio walk technology and approach to audio-focussed narrative.
We’ve met in three places: on zoom, for initial chats, plans and project reflections. In a grey Glasgow, hosted by Platform, to explore trees, alternative worlds and past practice, and again in a very sunny Hamburg to walk the city and investigate audio walk tech and the story of F - the very best or worst audio walk Hamburg has ever seen.
A week at Platform Glasgow
We began our collaboration with a short residency in July at Platform Glasgow. We shared past practice and were inspired by worlds crafted in virtual reality and through stop motion film. We walked around the local area and imagined possible audio walk and scavenger hunt experiences; we looked at some of the science and fiction of trees, imagining a multiverse of tree worlds we could invite audiences into to explore.
In Glasgow we were joined by Libby Odai, a creative technologist, roller skater and theatre maker to share practice and explore possibilities.
At the end of our week we ran an open workshop for young people and families at Platform Glasgow. Together we imagined a multiverse of worlds through the prompts
What! There’s no such thing as _____________. But don’t worry there’s loads of _____________.
Ears are __________. Everyone has 3 ____________.
We had wonderful worlds where ears were the sea, and everyone had 3 ants. Or there was no such thing as school but loads of lions. We gathered pictures, sculptures and stories of these worlds to build a mini multiverse together.
We left this time feeling inspired by open creative exercises, the wonder of trees & mycorrhizal systems and the joy of collective play.
Images from Produced Moon and Storydive's Instagram feeds captured during the Platform Glasgow workshops
A stint in sunny Hamburg
We met again in early September in Hamburg, this time joined by Esther Kaufmann, a writer, creative and consultant with a background in work for and with young audiences and writing for games. Together we experienced a collection of audio walks that took us through the streets of Hamburg, and we reflected on the possibilities of live data to meaningfully shift and impact storytelling.
We spent a day at Kampnagel investigating a live approach to podcasting, recorded as a group walk through a site or location. Together we imagined the story of F, the best or worst audio walk/scavenger hunt ever created, so impactful and effective it resulted in the city of Hamburg being shut down. You can listen to our podcast and hear the story of F here.
We spent time considering how to share our practice, explorations and process with our audiences, the groups of young makers and artists we often collaborate with, but also the wider creative communities that we’re a part of. We imagined a project together, one that brings together the imagined worlds of our workshop in Glasgow and the live podcasting we did in Hamburg. We hope to bring groups of young people from Hamburg and Glasgow to create together.
What next?
We leave this phase of our collaboration buzzing with ideas, and inspired by new ways to explore public spaces, and craft alternative realities.
We’re now imagining what comes next: and delving into the process of trying to make that happen: getting the funding, partners, and support to explore our new approach of making scavenger hunt audio walks, and how we can collaborate with young people between Hamburg and Glasgow to create them.
