special project

Bioluminescence delivers creative and practical skills for young people to create video projection mapping events while facilitating engagement with their local environment.

The Bioluminescence project is where art, nature and science meet.

The Bioluminescence project delivers a range of skills by giving hands-on experience from using camera technology for capturing images of nature
and the biodiversity of the region, to live video projection mapping, event management, event safety and logistics. 

These skills are developed through a series of workshops leading to a live event.

The development of technical and event management skills gives young people a greater opportunity to find decent work,
while the partnership with the Atlas of Life engages young people with custodianship of the environment.
The provision of live events in regional areas also allows them to contribute to their communities and society.

The first time the community saw the Bioluminescence Project in action was a pilot workshop event at the historic Tathra Wharf in May 2022.

Since then there have been events across the South Coast including one in partnership with the Atlas of Life BioBlitz at Bermagui’s Montreal Goldfield in September 2022.

2025 will see events in Grenfell for the Henry Lawson Festival and our return to the Cobargo Folk Festival with plans to make it bigger again! These two events are made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.

In 2023 the project gained the support of the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, which has enabled
Bioluminescence events across the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla shires.
With events in Cobargo, Candelo, Towamba, Pambula and Moruya.

For 2024 Bioluminescence was supported by the NSW Government through CreateNSW to deliver projects across regional NSW in Bermagui, Tumut, Tabulam, Griffith and Wagga Wagga.
Bioluminescence focusses on describing the unique environment of the Far South Coast of NSW, while delivering opportunities for young people of the region to expand their skill base and discover new ways of telling their stories. Follow us on Instagram to keep up with news of these events.

Bioluminescence @ The Henry Lawson Festival 2025

The Bioluminescence Project has been invited to Grenfell to facilitate their young people to create an audio-visual performance at the opening night of the Henry Lawson Festival 6 June 2025. If you are aged 13-24 and live in and around Grenfell and be a part of making this then sign up for your spot here

Bioluminescence @ Griffith Pioneer park museum 2024

The Bioluminescence Project was a guest at the Griffith Pioneer Park Museum for “A Night at the Museum” on Saturday 7 September. Eight young people made beautiful things and you can read all about it here

Bioluminescence @ Tabulam Trail of Light and Sound 2024

The Bioluminescence Project was invited to be a part of the Trail of Light and Sound in Tabulam put on by RealArtWorks. We had eleven young people come on board as a part of the crew and lit up the Tabulam Community Hall. See some pics and read more about it here

Bioluminescence @ Falling Leaf Festival Tumut 2024

Bioluminescence was invited to be a part the Falling Leaf Festival in 2024!! Ten young people from the area came along to to learn some new skills and make an audio-visual installation in the main street. Read more about it here

Bioluminescence @ Sculpture bermagui 2024 - 14 to 16 March 2024

Bioluminescence came along to the Sculpture Bermagui Twilight Picnic which closed off their festival. Ten young people from across the area came along and co-created a special event for the Bermagui community. Read all about it here

Bioluminescence @ COBARGO FOLK Festival 2024 - 29 Feb to 2 March 2024

Bioluminescence came back to Cobargo Folk Festival bigger and better with 10 young people co-creating a magical light portal on the main arena while lighting up the main tent of the festival. Get the whole story here!

Bioluminescence @ Wanderer Festival • 27 September to 1 October 2023

Bioluminescence was invited to be a part of the Wanderer Festival in Pambula where we lit up the roof of the big top tent. Eleven young people shot video of the site, edited and then performed across two nights. Watch the little story ABC South East did on us below.

Bioluminescence at Wanderer Festival was made possible through funding from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation.

Read the full report here

Bioluminescence Pop up @ Luminous Festival • 23 September 2023

Bioluminescence did a pop-up event at the River of Art Luminous Festival on Saturday 23 September 2023 where we open the tech up for audience participation through exploring our selection of interesting scientific samples under the MicroEye video microscope.

Read the full report here

Bioluminescence @ Towamba • 15 to 17 June 2023

Bioluminescence in partnership with Eden Marine High School and the Towamba Progress Association at the Towamba Sportsground and Hall with workshops held on Thursday and Friday with a live performance on Saturday 17 June.

Read the full report here

Bioluminescence Project @ The Candelo Village Festival • 20 to 22 APril

The Bioluminescence team wowed the crowds at Candelo Festival on the Saturday night of the Village Festival with video projections on to two of the concrete pillars of the bridge over Candelo Creek.

The young participants picked up new video skills through capturing the local ecosystem, learned the basics of video projection mapping, audio field-recording and event management in a hands-on, fast paced series of workshops culminating in the live audio-visual performance event on Saturday night. Watch the video with a sound track made by the young people from the workshops. Video made by Cat Wilson.

Read more about this event in our blog post here.

Thanks to support from The Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation and Anglicare NSW.

Bioluminescence Project @ Cobargo Folk Festival 2023

The first Bioluminescence event for 2023 took place at the Cobargo Folk Festival (3-5 March).

Students from Bega and Narooma High Schools took part in workshops on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd, with the main projection event presented on Saturday evening 4th March. 8 students and their teachers from Bega and Narooma High schools, and one home schooled student created a stunning and complex, layered image on the Chook Shed from 8 to 10pm. Read our blog on the Cobargo Bioluminescence here.

Bioluminescence at Cobargo Folk Festival was made possible through funding from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation.

The tathra pilot, may 2022

The original Bioluminescence @ Tathra Wharf was all youth led stemming from a group of young people that were documenting the marine life on the wharf pylons before they were due to be replaced. The group ‘Life Under the Wharf’ wanted some way to be able to share the amazing biodiversity that was living on the pylons and group member Minka Waratah’s father, Luke Hamilton, approached Scott Baker to develop a way to project onto the Tathra Wharf building.

The Atlas of Life and Bournda EEC, and our Regional Science Hub joined in to assist in the presentation. Bioluminescence was born.

After the successful creative development these young people expressed the desire to do a larger event at the wharf after the pylons have been replaced, and to also take the program inland to share the experience and the skills with other young people in the region – to capture their environment and present it back to the community as a celebration of their environment with light and sound.