University of Greenwich: Interactive ghost hunt app wins for University of Greenwich
Radio Ghost is an audio-driven phone app which sees teams of three players hunt for horror stories within shopping malls. It has won the 2022 LUMEN Prize’s Interactive Award for Art & Technology.
Radio Ghost is the result of a collaboration with the university, created by partners ZU-UK, the not-for-profit digital arts and interactive theatre company based in Liverpool and east London.
Professor Olga Martin-Ortega’s Business, Human Rights and the Environment Research Group (BHRE) and Professor Jorge Lopes Ramos, co-lead of Drama Theatre and Performance Research Group, led on the game’s underpinning research from the Greenwich side.
They said: “It is incredible to win this award, which is an international recognition of the best work of in our field. Radio Ghost engages with audiences through augmented sound, gamedesign and movement. Players take the role of a ghost-hunter, broadcasting their journey as they walk through portals into the far-away dimensions of a haunted mall. Part ghost-hunt, part late-night radio, part walking meditation, Radio Ghost employs interactive technology and serious game design towards ethical and sustainable consumption.”
So far, Radio Ghost has been presented by leading arts festivals in London, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester, including a German language version of the app for festivals in Germany, and an earlier prototype at South by Southwest (SXSW2022, Austin, Texas). The game is also due to be developed for festivals in South Korea, Macao, Hong Kong, China, Colombia and Brazil in the near future.
Radio Ghost has been described as ‘an act of resistance’ by The Guardian.
The university’s partnership with ZU-UK has also resulted in successful funding bids, a Master’s Programme, and established collaborative practice research partnerships internationally in Brazil, Colombia and Canada.
The Lumen Prize had over 1,500 international entries this year and celebrates the best of the intersection of art and technology.
Project partners:
BHRE (Business, Human Rights and the Environment) Research Centre, University of Greenwich (UK)
DTP (Drama, Theatre & Performance) Research Group, University of Greenwich (UK)
LIFT Festival (UK)
The Lowry (UK)
Tramway (UK)
SAFE Regeneration (UK)
Compass Festival (UK)
The Audience Agency (UK)
Innovate UK (UK)
UK-Canada Immersive Exchange (UK/Canada)
TAG (Technoculture, Art & Games) Research Centre, Milieux Institute, Concordia University (Canada)
Soft Chaos (Canada)
Nueve Voltios (Colombia)
Theaterformen (Germany)
Südwind (Germany)