A visitor stands in front of Captain John Godfrey and talks to him. He answers, aloud, as a person in the room, from the record of a life about 150 years ago.
He was made for the Georgette 150th exhibition in Margaret River. People used him. The same kind of character can be made for another historical person, or for anyone a museum wants its visitors to be able to question.
What a visitor does
They walk up. They ask something. He replies, with a face and a voice. The conversation is the work.
At Georgette
Godfrey stood in the exhibition for the 150th anniversary of the SS Georgette, during Margaret River Region Open Studios, 12–27 September 2026. He is one of four works installed together. The others are Cuborama, Drift and Layer Painter.
The case study is the exhibition as a whole.
How he is made
A realistic digital person, historical research, a spoken conversation, and a generated voice. Unreal Engine and MetaHuman are part of the making. They are not the thing being offered.
The facts he can talk about are the ones I have been able to establish for the ship and his life. Some of the face is captured, some of it is constructed. When that is wrong, it shows.
Tools
- Historical research
- Spoken conversation
- Generated voice
- Unreal Engine
- MetaHuman