The commission was picked from dozens of ideas by an expert group of local teachers and the digital culture agency, Lighthouse, themselves local champions of moving image and digital art.
The show is being devised by educational technology company, MakerClub and facilitated by Root Experience, a Brighton based experimental theatre company that specialises in devising large scale experiences using digital technology.
Termed by the organisers as “..an adventure into the unknown”, visitors to the event will solve puzzles, learn about electronics and be “whizzed across the city as they unravel a mystery of galactic proportions and build they’re very own robot companion”.
Part sci-fi movie and part learning adventure, young people will be encouraged to hunt down the various pieces of the ‘OggBots’, otherworldly creatures made from circuitry that need help being put back together to return to their homeworld of ‘Maketopia’. Along the way they’ll learn the basics of electronic engineering and robotics by interacting with realworld characters, solving clues and completing missions in an immersive theatre production for the whole family.
Over 150 events make up this year’s Brighton Digital Festival, now in its second year. It includes the local Maker Faire and Brighton SEO, one of the largest gatherings of its kind in the UK. The event is funded in part by the EU.
Declan Cassidy, MakerClub’s event director stated: “We’re thrilled to be part of something so special and look forward to creating an experience that will excite, delight and educate”