In the context of a SNF (Swiss national fund) project, We got commissioned by the EPFL's Functional Inorganic Materials Laboratory to create an innovative approach to scientific communication. We came up with “Goldrush”, a game composed of five interactive stations. It takes visitors on a journey that raises awareness of the unsustainable nature of today's extraction practices behind precious and critical metals like gold.
The goal of the game is to collect and recycle as much gold as possible. The total amount of gold collected by all visitors during the exhibition is displayed at the last station. All stations are grouped around a scenography representing a golden nugget. They highlight the importance of developing new methods to recycle precious metals from electronic waste. First exhibited in the GLATT centre in Zurich, the project continued its road to Swissnex San Francisco where it was shown in a standalone version on tablets.
a video informs visitors that their faithful technological companion may contain a precious metal: gold!
The public has to guess which of the three electronics devices contains the most gold. Once the device has been selected using a tablet, the conveyor stops and the player has a few seconds to select the electronic components containing gold.
The user learns to dismantle the device chosen at the previous station in the right order using a robot arm controlled by a joystick.
In the environment of a chemistry laboratory, visitors need to find the ideal combination of chemicals to dissolve the gold from their dismantled electronic device. Once done, test tubes are activated, releasing tiny sponges - EPFL's key innovation - in the liquid. Then using a joystick they need to hunt the little gold particles inside.
Collected gold is extracted and visitors gained knowledge during the experience is transformed into a digital gold nugget. Users are invited to take part in a quiz on the topic of e-waste. For each correct answer their nugget grows.
Parhélie, a permanent light sculpture for the BCGE lobby, simulating the flickering effect on the surface of the lake using Geneva's meteorological data
A VR experience on extinct marine snails for artist Mari Bastashevski and ALICE EPFL