Garema Place is a temporary home for Storybox, a new installation that shines a light on the rich and formative history of Canberra.  

The two-square metre digital cube and a series of digital plinths throughout the City West precinct are set to display videos, artworks, and images to reveal moments of inspiration which helped to shape our city.  

The City Renewal Authority (CRA) launched the program earlier this week, having partnered with numerous iconic institutions and creators across the Capital to reflect different kinds of creative intelligence. The National Gallery of Australia, Australian National University, Craft ACT, and National Museum of Australia are just some of the places that will contribute to regular updates.

While the installation has started on a three-month trial, CRA CEO Malcom Snow hopes to see it extend beyond that while continuing to evolve. One of the ways he envisions the installation’s potential growth would be for locals to contribute their own photos and memories to the roster of moving images. He wants Storybox to be something that makes people take a few moments out of their busy lives to appreciate how lucky we are to live in a city like Canberra.  

“Visual provocation that stops people in their tracks to reflect on who they are and their lives in the city,” Snow said.

He is hoping the installation will help to break down any perception that the national institutions which call the Territory home are inaccessible to everyone, and encourages people to spend more time experiencing their varied exhibitions and offerings.

Patrick McIntyre, CEO at the National Film and Sound Archive, says the organisation is thrilled to be able to share historical footage from the Canberra region as part of the initiative.

“There’s something magical about seeing these moving images in site-specific installations in the heart of the city,” McIntyre said.

“They are a wonderful reminder of the history of our community. Their sense of ambition and optimism invite us to look at our surroundings in new ways and to imagine the future city we want to live in.”

Storybox will run on an ever evolving 30–40-minute loop until Friday 30 September.

For more information and any updates, head to act.gov.au

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