M4, Entry 2: Virtual Songlines Project

Brett Leavy, the creative mind behind the Virtual Songlines project, has spent several decades researching how to “take people back” to places from which First Nations people originated: his aspiration has been to create systems that represent the interactions between first settlers and Indigenous people in entertaining and engaging ways, in addition to VR products combining traditional knowledge with 3D pre-colonial landscapes embedded with cultural, linguistic, and community knowledge (acmi, 2020). Virtual Songlines enables the user to explore the historical and cultural heritage of Brisbane (Leavy, 2017). Users can “experience” the forests and rivers, juxtaposing the connection to nature with the harsh realities of colonialism and industrialization.

BRETT LEAVY. (2017, OCT 15). VIRTUAL SONGLINES [VIDEO]. YOUTUBE.

Virtual Songlines began as PC games, then AR games with VR experimentation in-between: Leavy’s primary motivation has been to enhance users’ sense of immersion and interactivity in the experiences he creates, resulting in the project becoming what he dubs as a “virtual heritage toolkit” (acmi, 2020). To me, this epitomizes the ideal intersection between Indigenous creativity, VR, decolonization, and even environmental stewardship. The “toolkit” Leavy has created provides a multifaceted, dynamic, and engaging educational resources through which this intersection can be experienced and better understood by users, relying on immersion and interactivity as the driving forces behind the learning.

References

acmi. (2020, Sept 21). Preserving Indigenous culture through VR: Brett Leavy’s Virtual Songline. acmi. Retrieved from https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/preserving-indigenous-culture-through-vr-brett-leavys-virtual-songlines/

Brett Leavy. (2017, Oct 15). Virtual Songlines [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJRHUcC0xa8