The Cambridge Exhibition
In June 2022, the students studying in Cambridge, who were actively working on the New Canterbury Tales project, presented their work to the public during their final degree show. The exhibition itself was part of Anglia Ruskin University’s Secret Showcase, in which all Art and Design courses participate. The students who worked on The New Canterbury Tales, were part of the Digital Media Production BA (Hons). The Secret Showcase was presented across the entire university’s Arts building, by all final year art students, with the Digital Media show being in a Fine Art studio above the main gallery.
Some of the work is also available at Present.
From our partners at the Anglia Ruskin Cambridge School of Arts, 3 students presented their work to numerous visitors. Showcased were Clíona Faichney’s initial 3D models, Beatriz Brito’s 3D posters and traveller’s guide using NFC technology, Daniela Silva’s physical model of a real-sized Nether portal, as well as the Minecraft server who was produced over the span of 8 months by both British and Dutch students.
For the purpose of the exhibition, Clíona Faichney, with the help of the university media professionals, exported the Minecraft server into a VR headset. It was then connected to a big screen on the exhibition room. This made it so the visitors using the headset got experience first-hand what it was like to walk around New Canterbury, at the same time that other wandering visitors could see what they were doing inside the game on the big screen.
Along with the Minecraft VR experience, visitors could scan the NFC tags made by Beatriz Brito, which would give them access to the translation of the Enderspeak alphabet. With it, they would translate the secret messages written in the 3D posters, which would give them clues not only to the story of the New Canterbury buildings (displayed in the Minecraft server), as well as a clue to the on-going New Explorer ARG made by Daniela Silva.
Lastly, during the first day of the exhibition, a few visitors had the privilege to experience an improvised roleplay theatre scene, which consisted of actress Catarina Branco, from the Drama degree, coming out the Nether portal and interacting with Daniela Silva. This theatre scene was another clue for the on-going New Explorer ARG.
The Public's Reception
The public was joyful about the whole event. Some were even enthusiastic of trying VR for the first time, and most of the visitors were nostalgic about seeing a Nether portal again, they’d recount their memories and how Minecraft had impacted their childhood, some expressing sadness over having stopped playing the game when they got older.
Moreover, the visitors were generous when complimenting our work and asked multiple questions about the New Canterbury Tales story and the city itself. They were eager to learn and even more impressed by the amount of time that had already been put into the project. A few visitors asked where they could follow us to keep getting updates on the project.
Now that the exhibition is over, we can see just how successful and how fun it was. Although the exhibition room itself only took a few weeks to prepare, all the projects used in the exhibition took many months to finish. But in the end, we had probably the most fun we’ve ever had with a university project and the positive feedback encouraged us to keep working on the New Canterbury Tales project. We’re excited to see how we can elevate this experience on future exhibitions.