Urban Vessels

The city is a complex layering of stories; each day comprising a thousand intersecting narratives and experiences – a single thread within a vast puzzle.

Urban Vessels is designed as a dynamic, interactive experience that collects the memories of the city, celebrating the diversity of Melbourne and the stories that contributed to its current form. Through digital storytelling and the use of an artificial reality app, previously unseen layers of the urban fabric may be unearthed to reveal the hidden elements of the city, constructing new connections between the wider narrative of the city and the individual user. This pure sense of exploration and discovery present within open world game design is translated into the physical streets of Melbourne through the implementation of 7 ‘vessels’ – containers of digital objects that communicate pieces of the city’s identity and that are discovered through exploration of urban space. These vessels act as receptacles for the memories of the city; collecting various objects that contribute to the story of their respective place, and offering glimpses into the hidden layers beneath our streets that nevertheless contribute to their current form.

Urban Vessels offers a unique lens to view and engage with the city; a way to transcribe the narratives of the city into an accessible form, and an exploration of the natural and cultural value we prescribe to our physical place.

No booking is necessary – app download will be available through Apple App Store and Google Play Store.