Glimpsing an enigma
Decoded: 75 Years of the Australian Signals Directorate
Canberra, Australia
Art Processors designed and built the experience elements for a major temporary exhibition at the National Museum of Australia about the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), giving an unprecedented glimpse into Australia’s enigmatic signals intelligence and cyber defence agency. The project demonstrates Art Processors’ full-service capabilities across digital interaction and exhibition design.
At the heart of our thinking was ASD’s motto, “Reveal their secrets, protect our own.” Everything in the exhibition was protected in some way and visitors were hands-on participants in unlocking the hidden stories.
The key creative concept of concealing and revealing permeated every aspect of this immersive exhibition, featuring sensor-activated audio narratives, multimedia pillars, ighting effects revealing objects in dark showcases and a digital sculpture with real-life codewords waterfalling down its five sides. The design emphasised secrecy and discovery. Visitors activated hidden content by stepping onto illuminated floor symbols or scanning codewords with their phones, revealing stories and artefacts concealed behind two-way mirrors. The exhibition’s layered storytelling, minimalist lighting, and sound design created an atmosphere of intrigue and respect for the agency’s work.
Decoded is an intriguing and captivating exhibition, but it’s also a very human one too, and we can’t wait to make more like it.
– Rebecca Budworth, Exhibition Producer, National Museum of Australia
Innovations included a Nodel show control system for the complex AV implementation, a web-based mobile app with computer vision for code-word decoding, real-time analytics for visitor engagement metrics, and a Unity multiplayer game with touchscreen terminals for collaborative play.
This five-player game used high-energy collaborative play mechanics so participants could work together to solve real-life security incidents. With cutscenes and large-scale projections, it put visitors directly into the shoes of operatives making life-and-death decisions and was hugely popular.
So many of our former and current staff have never been able to tell anyone much about the work they have done. The exhibition is a celebration of their amazing work over 75 years.
– Rachel Noble PSM, Director-General, Australian Signals Directorate
