Te Kōtiu experience wows crowds at MOTAT, Museum of Transport and Technology, October 2023

Auckland’s MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) has successfully launched a new digital immersive experience in its Aviation Hall.

Te Kōtiu (means to swoop like a kite and is the name of the Northwest wind direction) showcases flight in Aotearoa and is projected over multiple surfaces including two heroes of the MOTAT collection, the Short Solent and Sunderland.

The experience premiered to rave reviews and was hugely popular with visitors over the October school holidays.

Senior Exhibitions Content Developer Rachel Bush explained the recent Van Gogh Alive and Inside Dali exhibitions were the inspiration for Te Kōtiu. “It incorporates images, film, graphics, a soundscape and voiceover to bring our Collection alive with multi-sensory storytelling.”

Surrounded by the sights and sounds of pre-powered flight, through to the latest in aviation and aerospace innovation, visitors are taken on a journey from the migration of the manu kuaka/Godwit birds, to celebrating the growing diversity within the aviation and space industries – including wāhine trailblazers such as Air New Zealand pilots and aerospace start-up engineers.

MOTAT’s exhibitions and collection teams worked together to leverage objects, imagery, and video and sound archives to bring its collection and Aotearoa’s aviation history to life. The exhibition team also worked with many artists and aviation and aerospace industry individuals and organisations to add depth and context, including mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge), to the experience.

Developed in collaboration with Auckland digital creative agency Waxeye and featuring the digitised manu aute works of Aotearoa artist Nikau Hindin, Te Kōtiu aims to inspire the whole whānau with its immersive mix of images, video, animation and soundscape.

The projection is both elevating the visitor experience at MOTAT and making the museum’s collection more accessible to them.

Nicole Parish, Communications Manager
M 021 273 3563
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