Amsterdam - MultiTouch, Ltd., developer of the world's first modular multi-touch LCD screen for large-scale displays, today announced that it has collaborated with Sydney, Australia-based interactive design firm Lightwell for the installation of a massive multitouch table at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. The 'One Road' interactive multimedia installation is an integral part of the exhibition 'Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route,' one of the most important collections that the Museum has yet acquired, as well as one of Western Australia's most significant cultural and artistic endeavors.
Ten 46-inch MultiTouch Cell units are arrayed in what is the first asymmetric multitouch installation for a museum exhibition. The combined units are more than 7 meters long, and enable visitors to stand around corners and collaborate with the cells as a single, connected display. The display uses the MultiTouch asymmetric design, and is developed for use by more than 20 people simultaneously.
The exhibit reclaims the Aboriginal history of the world's longest stock route, which runs for 1,800 kilometers through the deserts of Western Australia. The art and objects were produced by the Canning Stock Route Project, a four-year program developed by FORM, an independent arts organization based in Perth, brokering partnerships among the nine art enterprises and communities with direct connections to the Stock Route region. The project involves artists, traditional custodians and emerging Aboriginal curators and filmmakers whose contributions have built a powerful social and cultural repository of remote Western Australia.
The innovative experience of the MultiTouch Cell enables visitors to trace the Canning Stock Route with multitouch access to both historical and contemporary detail, including paintings, film and other cultural works, as well as a rich oral and visual record. The exhibit features more than two hours of video, more than 70 paintings, and roughly 100 separate stories by artists from the countryside surrounding the Stock Route.
The MultiTouch-Lightwell multitouch experience will be on display at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra from 30 July 2010 until 26 January 2011. The National Museum will manage its subsequent tour to selected national and potentially international venues.
MultiTouch's patented computer vision system, which reads up to 120 frames per second in bright daylight or dark environments, is complemented by software that elegantly translates touch into the programming experience, creating multitouch displays that can read unlimited touch points, including hands, fingers, fingertips and 2D Markers. The products are ideal for broadcast, retail, advertising, exhibitions, museums, education and design.
"The museum experience is greatly enhanced by multitouch applications, and we think we've hit a new mark with the Canning Stock Route installation, thanks to the flexibility of the MultiTouchCells," said Michael Hill, founder and director of Lightwell. "The Cornerstone software from MultiTouch enabled us to create an experience that is uniquely tailored to multiple hands touching the display."
Introduced to the global market in 2009, the MultiTouch Cell product family has been sold in more than 30 countries. Lightwell is a reseller of MultiTouch products in both Australia and New Zealand.
"We are fortunate to work with visionary developers who inherently understand our product's capabilities, and provide their keen insight to making it a more engaging conduit for the public's interaction," said Petri Martikainen, CEO of MultiTouch Ltd. "The Lightwell team was an ideal collaborative group, and we feel that the resulting installation uniquely captures the essence of multitouch."
A video documenting the multimedia project can be viewed at http://www.vimeo.com/14311890
More on the Yiwarra Kuju exhibition can be found at http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/yiwarra_kuju/
More information of on the Canning Stock Route project can be found at http://www.form.net.au/aboriginal-development/canning-stock-route-project