Gender, Leadership Spills, Technology

3 channel multi-screen non-linear film, cinematic dramatisation (video re-enactments), first person testimony, touch screen interactive, interactive letterboard

• How did a close-knit group in the Press Gallery that lived shoulder to shoulder with the political machine they were reporting on, in a building where the walls talked, miss the biggest political story in Australia’s history?

• How did they draw the line between their role as an ‘observer and communicator’ of political events and that of becoming a critical ‘player in the events’?

• How aware were Press Gallery journalists of these high-pressure, high-stakes leadership spill moments?

• Were they reporting on the political machine, did they become part of the political machine or were they used as pawns?

• What was the impact of women in the Press Gallery and media landscape?

• How did these women shape the debate that led to significant gender reforms including no-fault divorce and childcare?

• How did the early female journalists deal with the gender barriers in the Press Gallery?

• Were they instrumental in giving stories like the debate about childcare the prominence that it would not have otherwise received?

• Were these journalists the vanguard that surfed the issues that would lead the parliament and the country to historic social change?

The exhibition concludes with some of the most compelling and untold stories we have unearthed in the archive alongside our own additional research with former Press Gallery journalists. We feel strongly that this part of the exhibition should centre the voices and stories of women in the press gallery who until this point in the visitor experience have been mostly rendered invisible. It should also focus on one of the biggest political stories - the dismissal of Gough Whitlam.

As audiences come out of the object, still imagery and graphics driven 1950s/60s era (U95), we enter a darkened corridor [U503] and darkened rooms to the left and right.

On the left-hand side of the corridor rooms [U93, U91 AND U88] are the scene of a unique 3-channel dramatic ‘true crime’ style film that unravels in three parts. Audiences will actively be invited to ‘solve’ the ‘unsolved’ story behind Gough Whitlam being fired as prime minister in the way they are directed to watch the three-part film across the three rooms.

The film is a mix of archive, dramatic recreations and the first-person testimonies of the journalists who flanked Whitlam on the front steps of Parliament House on 11 November 1975. They can now reflect on what the system didn’t want revealed and how until today we don’t ‘wholly’ know why this happened. What clues will the audience be most surprised by?

The content of the film also explores how the evolution of technology at the time helped (or hindered) journalists in getting the story out.

By erecting ‘false’ walls on the western walls of each room we propose to create a smooth white projection surface. In each room a single short throw projector is installed.

The soundtrack for the film is also directional with speakers built into the false wall at the back projecting sound to the doorway. The idea is that people do not enter the room but view from the doorway.

The fact that only a few viewers can view each part of the film from the doorway opening is part of the appeal. We want the audience to feel the secrecy, the drama and theatrics of the event of the time and this perspective evokes a feeling of ‘exclusive viewing’.

At the moment U94 is ‘closed off’ and the advice has been this is to be used as a ‘facilities room’. However there is some interest in re-opening this space. If this is to be included as exhibition space, we suggest this room extends the 70’s/ 80’s era and can be utilised as more storytelling space through the use of objects or recreations - perhaps as an intro this era.

On the right side of the corridor in rooms [U90, U89] we propose to focus on the voices of women in the Press Gallery in two interactive installations. In room U90 we would install a floor to ceiling interactive split flap letterboard which charts the incredible reforms that female journalists in the press gallery influenced. This was a revolutionary period.

The letterboard responds to audiences and answers questions about some of the biggest stories that female journalists wrote in this era. Visitors interact with the letterboard via a touch screen device installed on the side wall inside the room.

To help make sense of this conceptually we recommend you view real world examples of split flap letterboard technology: www.oatfoundry.com/split-flap/ and www.oatfoundry.com/software-integrations/

Room U89 is an adaptation of a hugely successful concept utilised in the Belongings exhibition we worked on with creative partners Distill Immersive as part of the Biennale of Sydney.

This XR interactive work powered by visitors' mobile phones reinterprets the documentary form as a large-scale, multiuser immersive experience. Integrating traditional documentary storytelling with emerging technology, we harness the power of each medium to offer a contemporary take on how digital techniques can give us deeper insight into the stories of four of Australia’s leading female journalists in a surprisingly intimate way.

They tell us in the most matter of fact, unfiltered manner why they did the work they did (and still do in many cases), the courage it takes and the responsibility they feel for reporting fairly and fearlessly at a time when gender politics were not discussed.

Audiences step inside this final room and close the door. Two screens are installed on the back wall and another two on the right hand wall. The whole experience is powered through an application installed on the visitor’s device or a series of phones that we have readily available (and secured) and a wi-fi hotspot. This magically turns the visitor’s mobile device into both a means of controlling the storytelling experience and a means to hear the audio. The devices also feature a ‘dossier’ of work that these trailblazing women pioneered in text format that users can also scroll through.

To help make sense of this conceptually we recommend you view a real-world example of this XR interactive work: www.distil.im/projects/belongings

The female journalists influenced gender equality and we want to give them each their own standalone room or platform to celebrate the extraordinary work they did in this pivotal era.