“A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people”
- Mahatma Gandhi
culture
iSPARX™ culture projects involve works & projects of diverse, dynamic & immersive media for exhibitions, interactive & multimedia installations & educational resources.
3D
Digital replication: Taonga, heritage structures & locations in 3D by iSPARX™ with 3D models & Photogrammetry.
3D objects & capture; animated, augmented reality, 3D print & immersive dynamic media content.
map
Mapping & location engagement of Galleries, Museums & Venues with immersive media, notifications & dynamic media. iSPARX™ positioning systems enable notified engagement with provenance & dynamic media content.
dev
iSPARX™ develop exceptional mobile Apps, digital installations & content for GLAM & selected Artists & Creatives - interactive engagement for effective stories & to convey impressive educational & social experiences.
Tūhura Porirua | Discover Porirua
An immersive digital journey through Porirua’s heritage, culture and landscapes.
Developed by iSPARX™ in collaboration with Pātaka Art + Museum and Porirua City Council, Tūhura Porirua – Discover Porirua is a location-aware mobile application that brings the region’s heritage trails, cultural narratives and significant places together in a single interactive experience.
Built using iSPARX™ technology, the application combines GPS-based navigation, augmented reality (AR), 360° media and immersive digital storytelling to encourage exploration and deepen engagement with Porirua’s history and environment.
The platform enables visitors and local communities to discover trails, navigate points of interest and access rich multimedia content connected to physical locations.
Designed as a scalable framework for cultural tourism, heritage interpretation and place-based experiences, the project demonstrates how digital technology can connect people with the stories, communities and landscapes around them.
Technology: AR+IQ | Unity | GPS & Location Services | 360° Media | Immersive Storytelling | iOS & Android
Client: Pātaka Art + Museum / Porirua City Council
Development: iSPARX™
Project: 2022–present
Project: Discover Porirua — iSPARX™ Case Study
The Parliamentary Mace
Preserving New Zealand’s parliamentary heritage through advanced 3D photogrammetry and digital technology.
Developed by iSPARX™ for New Zealand Parliamentary Services, The Parliamentary Mace is a digital heritage project using advanced photogrammetry to capture and reproduce one of the country’s most significant parliamentary symbols as a detailed three-dimensional object.
The Parliamentary Mace represents the authority of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and plays an important ceremonial role in parliamentary proceedings.
Using advanced 3D capture and reconstruction techniques, iSPARX™ created a digital representation of the Mace, enabling this historically significant object to be explored and understood beyond its physical location.
Developed primarily for educational purposes, the project demonstrates how spatial computing and digital preservation technologies can make important cultural and institutional artefacts more accessible to students, educators and the wider public.
The project also illustrates the potential for high-fidelity 3D assets to support augmented reality, interactive learning and immersive heritage experiences.
Technology: Advanced Photogrammetry | 3D Capture & Reconstruction | Digital Heritage | Spatial Computing
Client: New Zealand Parliamentary Services
Development: iSPARX™
Project: 2021
Te Awarua-o-Porirua | Our Harbour
Bringing art, environmental education and interactive storytelling together through immersive digital technology.
Developed by iSPARX™ for Pātaka Art + Museum, Te Awarua-o-Porirua – Our Harbour is an interactive digital installation designed to engage children and families with the cultural, historical and environmental significance of Porirua Harbour.
The experience transforms a large-scale illustrated mural into an interactive learning environment, combining touchscreen technology, digital animation, sound and responsive lighting.
Visitors are invited to explore the mural through a series of digital jigsaw puzzles and interactive activities, reconstructing scenes, discovering hidden elements and learning about the harbour’s wildlife, landscapes and communities.
Complementing the permanent museum installation, a mobile application extends the experience beyond the gallery, allowing children to take the activities home and continue exploring the stories and environments they encountered.
Designed and developed for long-term public engagement, the installation demonstrates the durability of purpose-built interactive technology. More than a decade after its original deployment, the system continues to operate, requiring minimal maintenance.
The project illustrates how immersive technology can extend the reach of traditional exhibitions, transforming static artworks into participatory experiences that connect education, creativity and environmental awareness.
Technology: Unity | Interactive Touchscreen | Digital Animation | Gamification | Responsive Lighting | Spatial Audio | iOS & Android
Client: Pātaka Art + Museum
Development: iSPARX™
Project: Permanent Museum Installation + Mobile Application
Ruatoki by Tāme Iti | AR+story™
Reclaiming history, connecting people to whenua and bringing Indigenous narratives to life through location-based augmented reality.
Developed by iSPARX™ in collaboration with renowned Māori artist and activist Tāme Iti, Ruatoki is an immersive augmented reality experience exploring the history, identity and cultural significance of Tūhoe whenua.
Created for a multimedia exhibition featuring Tāme Iti and conceptual artist Billy Apple in July 2019, the project uses geospatial augmented reality, immersive audio, visual storytelling and 360° media to communicate the history of land confiscation in Te Urewera.
Central to the experience is the Line of Confiscation, a 30-kilometre boundary separating Tūhoe land from territory confiscated by the New Zealand Crown.
Through a series of location-specific AR scenes, visitors can physically walk along the confiscation line, encountering digital artworks and narratives that reveal the historical events and enduring consequences of confiscation.
The application also incorporates a remote 360° experience, enabling audiences anywhere in the world to engage with the work without travelling to Ruatoki.
By combining contemporary technology with Indigenous artistic expression, the project transforms the landscape into a living exhibition, connecting history, place and personal experience.
Ruatoki demonstrates how spatial computing can support Indigenous storytelling, cultural self-determination and the preservation of historical narratives, while extending the reach of contemporary art beyond conventional gallery environments.
Technology: Unity | AR+story™ | Geospatial AR | GPS & Location Services | 360° Media | Immersive Audio | iOS & Android
Artist / Client: Tāme Iti
Development: iSPARX™
Project: 2019
Hīnātore | Te Papa Tongarewa
Celebrating Māori innovation, cultural storytelling and creativity through immersive digital technology.
Developed by iSPARX™ in collaboration with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Hīnātore is an interactive learning experience combining virtual reality, digital creativity and Indigenous storytelling.
Created alongside Te Papa’s Rongowhakaata iwi exhibition, the experience introduced visitors to the traditional art of Māori kite making (manu whata), connecting ancestral knowledge with contemporary immersive technology.
Through an interactive digital environment, visitors could design and create their own virtual kites, exploring traditional forms and creative expression before bringing their designs to life in virtual reality.
The experience allows participants to interact with and fly their creations within a digital environment, transforming cultural learning into an engaging, participatory activity.
Designed to extend engagement beyond the museum, the platform also enables visitors to share their creations digitally with whānau and friends.
Hīnātore received the prestigious National Digital Forum (NDF) Award for Innovation in Technology, recognising the collaboration between Te Papa and iSPARX™ and its contribution to digital innovation within New Zealand’s cultural heritage sector.
The project demonstrated how immersive technologies can support Indigenous knowledge sharing, encourage creative participation and connect new generations with traditional cultural practices.
Technology: Virtual Reality | Interactive 3D | Digital Kite Design | Immersive Storytelling | Creative Learning | Digital Sharing
Client: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Cultural Collaboration: Rongowhakaata iwi
Development: iSPARX™ × Te Papa
Recognition: National Digital Forum (NDF) Award — Innovation in Technology
InDIGInous Aotearoa | Virtual Histories, Augmented Futures
Reimagining Indigenous histories and futures through Māori digital art, augmented reality and immersive technology.
Curated by Reuben Friend, InDIGInous Aotearoa: Virtual Histories, Augmented Futures was an international exhibition presented at Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg, Canada, showcasing the work of seven contemporary Māori artists exploring Indigenous identity, cultural sovereignty and alternative histories through digital technology.
The exhibition challenged conventional colonial narratives by examining how Indigenous histories might be reinterpreted and how emerging technologies could support new expressions of Māori knowledge, creativity and self-determination.
Featuring artists Reweti Arapere, Hana Rakena, Rachael Rakena, Kereama Taepa, Suzanne Tamaki, Johnson Witehira and Rangituhia Hollis, the exhibition brought together augmented reality, virtual reality, interactive gaming, projection mapping and 3D printing.
The works explored the intersection of traditional Māori knowledge systems and contemporary digital practices, creating new environments for cultural expression and challenging established ideas about ownership, representation and access to Indigenous cultural heritage.
Among the featured projects, Suzanne Tamaki’s Augmented Reality Taonga used smartphone-based AR to examine cultural appropriation and the authenticity of museum collections, while Kereama Taepa’s virtual sculptural practice explored the relationship between traditional Māori creative principles and digital fabrication.
Presented internationally, the exhibition contributed to wider conversations about Indigenous futures, digital sovereignty and the role of immersive technologies in preserving, interpreting and extending cultural knowledge.
InDIGInous Aotearoa demonstrates how spatial computing and digital media can empower Indigenous artists to reclaim narratives, create new cultural experiences and imagine futures grounded in Indigenous knowledge and identity.
Technology: Augmented Reality | Virtual Reality | Interactive Gaming | Projection Mapping | 3D Printing | Digital Storytelling | Immersive Media
Curator: Reuben Friend
Artists: Reweti Arapere, Hana Rakena, Rachael Rakena, Kereama Taepa, Suzanne Tamaki, Johnson Witehira & Rangituhia Hollis
Venue: Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
Exhibition: 1 December 2017 – 20 January 2018
Support: Creative New Zealand / Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa