3D/Interactive Award Winner 2022
RADIO GHOST - ZU-UK (United Kingdom)
Artwork description
Named 'new cultural force' by the Sunday Times, and official selection of SXSW2022 (Austin), RADIO GHOST is a locative augmented audio-led app that uses binaural sound & game-design to meaningfully engage audiences in co-creation, collaboration, physical activity & ethical consumption.
A team of 3 hunters has to blend in as perfect shoppers to unlock ghost stories in a mission that is part game, part interactive radio show and part ghost-hunt.
Binaural audio instructions and multi-player game-design create a compelling location-based experience that lasts 70 minutes, and is about our relationship to consumption post-pandemic: how we can better understand the impact of our choices, and work with brands and businesses towards a sustainable future. Shopping Malls transform into fantastical spaces, whose products are inhabited by hidden spirits, inspired by the Japanese concept of Tsukumogami, the Shinto belief that suggests all objects have a spirit.
'This game won’t reverse the damage or change the ending or save the pandas but
It’s not about guilt
It’s not about shame
It’s not even about you
It is about learning to put blame where it belongs and how it is that certain things came to be in our hands, delivered to us by the hands of ghosts……and that no matter how hard you dust, you’ll not find their fingerprints.
Warning: This game is not a real ghost hunt. You’ll not be searching for headless kings or grey ladies in attics. These ghosts are of a different nature altogether…'
Partners and collaborators
BHRE (Business, Human Rights and the Environment) Research Centre, University of Greenwich (UK)
LIFT Festival (UK) The Lowry (UK) Tramway (UK) SAFE Regeneration (UK) Compass Festival (UK) The Audience Agency (UK) Innovate UK (UK) UK-Canada Immersive Exchange (UK/Canada) TAG (Technoculture, Art & Games) Research Centre, Milieux Institute, Concordia University (Canada) Soft Chaos (Canada) Nueve Voltios (Colombia) Theaterformen (Germany) Südwind (Germany)
Partnership with BHRE:
Interactive theatre and digital art company ZU-UK and researchers from the University of Greenwich set out to generate data regarding the impact of a new narrative-driven game on consumer behaviour in relation to ethical consumption. This report is an evaluation of the app-based game Radio Ghost in relation to the potential of a gamified approach to driving ethical and sustainable purchasing behaviours for Shopping Mall visitors.