A 200-year timeline, written in light and touch.
A multi-surface installation for the State Library of NSW bicentenary, pairing an interactive touchscreen kiosk with a large-scale synchronised projection to guide visitors through 200 years of the Library's stories, collections and people.
Founded in 1826 as a private subscription library and made free and public in 1869, the State Library of NSW is Australia's oldest continuous library service and home to more than six million collection items.
To mark its 200th anniversary, the Library staged a year-long program of exhibitions, installations and events.
Working alongside Junior Major's creative team, we built the digital layer at the heart of it: an on-site installation where visitors drive a touchscreen kiosk while a large-format projection responds in real time, guiding them through the people, collections and moments that have reshaped the institution over two centuries.
The experience needed to hold the weight of a national collection, honour First Nations perspectives on Gadigal Country, and remain dependable as a public exhibit running every open hour of the Library.
On-site visitors to the Mitchell and Macquarie Street buildings, plus the wider NSW public engaging with the bicentenary online.
Touch a moment, travel a century
The installation lives on two surfaces at once: a touchscreen where one visitor browses the collection up close, and a large-format projection that carries that same journey out to the wider gallery.
Every swipe, pinch and selection on the touchscreen had to land on the projection without perceptible delay, so the room reads as a single shared moment rather than two disconnected screens.
Behind the scenes, the two surfaces stay in continuous conversation while curators keep full editorial control over the timeline, galleries and captions without ever touching the exhibit hardware.
The result had to feel calm and reverent in a public gallery, yet invisible in its execution, holding composure across every open hour of the Library.
Two centuries, one steady moment. Meeting the standards expected of a 200-year-old public institution.
