Spark launches New Zealand’s first 5G Street Museum

Introducing a modern twist on the traditional museum experience, Spark has today launched New Zealand’s first interactive 5G Street Museum – a co-created series of 5G-powered augmented reality (AR) experiences that bring to life unseen stories of some of our nation’s most iconic creatives: Parris Goebel, Benee, David Dallas, Teeks, and Askew One.

The Spark 5G Street Museum app is free to download. The Street Museum exhibits can be viewed by  the public across select streets in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Each exhibition explores new forms of storytelling and self-expression through the power of 5G and AR:

• Parris Goebel is giving fans the chance to dance alongside her in an immersive 3D experience that showcases the incredible superhuman transformation Parris experiences when she performs.
• Benee has built a thriving natural AR world of positivity and fun – The Beneeverse. This exhibit embodies the source of her creative inspiration – a magical world where nature and imagination are flourishing.
• David Dallas walks us through a breakthrough moment that saw him become one of the brightest stars on the NZ hip-hop circuit and one of our most-streamed albums in the last decade.
• Teeks invites us to step into the waharoa and witness his personal experience as a singer song writer and how performing is a spiritual and ritualistic practice that connects him to his tūpuna (ancestors).
• Askew One is paying homage to the strength of New Zealand’s urban and street art culture, bringing together decades of artists in a story of resilience and rebirth.

Spark Marketing Director Matt Bain, who oversees data and automation, marketing, and brand experience says that the Spark 5G Street Museum is about demonstrating to Kiwis what emerging technologies like 5G and AR can do for Aotearoa, whether it be art, culture or the next era of entertainment.

“Over the decades we’ve seen how the wireless evolution has transformed how we engage with the world. 1G enabled calls on the go, 2G introduced text messages, 3G gave us internet on the go, and 4G brought us video on demand. 5G promises to deliver another step-change in our experience.”

“We’ve now got 5G in 21 locations nationwide and if the previous generations have taught us anything, it’s that it’s going to fundamentally change how we work, learn, connect, and are entertained. Spark’s 5G St Museum has enabled world-class creators – artists, dancers and singers –to explore entirely new ways of expressing themselves and in turn, with the speed and capability of 5G, offer their audience a new, immersive way to engage with them at scale and in the highest definition possible,” says Matt.

World-renowned dancer and choreographer Parris Goebel says she’s excited to partner with Spark to share her newly choreographed dance exclusively with Aotearoa in a way she’s never done before.

“To be able to create art in a world where I can do almost anything I want is super exciting. I worked with Spark in a purpose built studio in Los Angeles, wearing a full-body motion capture suit that captured my every move which was then recorded and scanned to build an augmented reality avatar of myself. The inspiration behind my exhibition is about unleashing the inner power that’s within us all.  I wanted people to see the feeling I experience when I move – powerful, unstoppable, invincible and like a superhuman version of myself.”

Also on showcase, popular New Zealand musician Benee (Stella Bennett) welcomes viewers into the Beneeverse – a whimsical natural world of positivity and fun emulating her creative inspiration.

“The natural world is hugely important to me – mentally, physically, and creatively. It’s something I’ve learned to appreciate more as I’ve spent more time overseas. My exhibition is about creating a place where my fans can step into my fantasy wonderland and be reminded of how rich, diverse and precious our world is,” says Benee.

Māori soul-singer Teeks (Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi) has harnessed the power of 5G and AR to create an exhibit that draws on his connection with his tūpuna (ancestors) and whakapapa – creating a visually and spiritually enlightening journey into the depths of his creative processes.

“When I sing, I feel as though I’m opening portals to the ancestral realm. It’s a place of surrender and a deeply spiritual and ritualistic process for me – as though I’m within a whare wānanga. My exhibition is about bringing this journey to life and through the intersection of technology and performance art, I hope this inspires young tamariki to dream big and embrace their whole identity,” says Teeks.

Askew One’s (Elliot O’Donnell) exhibit features a bespoke 3D graffiti art piece designed to incorporate the names, tags, and styles of graffiti artists who created urban street culture history and paved the way for many artists today.

“I had already started to explore how technology can add another element to graffiti art, so I was really pumped when I was asked to create this exhibition with Spark. I wanted to visualise the less known story of how graffiti artists moved underground and bring the fragments of this art to the surface for people to appreciate in an entirely new dimension,” says Askew One.

The fifth exhibition has been co-created with David Dallas and shares the breakthrough moment that saw him become one of the brightest stars on the New Zealand hip-hop circuit.

“The concept behind my exhibit was to illustrate my starting point as a solo artist. I came from being in a group and I wanted to show the journey of how I stepped out into my solo career. I distinctively remember the day I met with director Joel Kefali and being challenged on what my aesthetic was. This was a turning point for me, and from then I worked to differentiate myself from what was going on in hip hop at the time and also what I’d done before. Bringing something brighter and more up-beat” says Dallas.

Spark’s 5G Street Museum is on showcase for the next four months. Kiwis can view the AR exhibitions by downloading the free ‘Spark 5G Street Museum’ app (iOS and Android) and scanning the QR codes featured at exhibitions. Spark mobile customers will not be charged for data usage whilst viewing the Spark 5G Street Museum exhibitions.