The story so far: ESEM Projects 2012-2024
ESEM Projects was originally created as a collaboration between Sarah (‘ES’) and Michael (‘EM) - with a nod to the Miles Davis record label Emdee. The early collaborations combined Sarah’s research in public history, sound design and urban digital futures with Michael’s creative direction, production and design skills. Basically, two mavericks on a mission to inscribe urban places and streets with imaginative experiences that connected audiences with intimate moments from the city’s past.
Sarah and Michael soon started working with Leif Wilson as a technical designer, who helped translate ideas into installation projects. Together, we spent over ten years collaborating with communities, artists, technical designers and cultural partners to expand the potentials of digital storytelling for placemaking and urban transformation projects. We became known for our large-scale digital projection programs, which created community and historical platforms through temporary and permanent artworks and installations.
Back in the day
Sarah, Leif and Michael in the legendary Marlborough House Studio of Esem Projects, where we had a lot of fun.
Through this period we honed our research and story-based engagement methods, working on transformative programs including City Evolutions, the Last Drinks Project, Bathurst Winter Festival and the redesign of Rutherford’s Den Science Gallery in a earthquake-ravaged Christchurch. We had a lot of fun, too.
Over time, our partners and clients grew to include communities, artists, institutions, museums and precincts, from across the public and private sectors. We became trusted long-term delivery partners for a range of research, education, cultural and precinct-based organisations looking to engage stakeholders and communities in innovative and transformative ways.
Creating time portals through digital archives and storytelling.
One of Esem Projects’ first projects in Surry Hills, drawing on the ABC’s Living on the Fringe documentary to create time portals in the streets.
Rutherford’s Den: Connecting Art and Science
Esem Projects we contracted to lead the redesign and curation of Rutherford’s Den Science Gallery in Christchurch in 2015.
The Petersham Water Tower, 2017
A much loved ‘glow-up’ of the Petersham Water Tower to mark its 50th anniversary, commissioned by Inner West Council.
Through this period of service, we were able to experience first hand the impact that meaningful storytelling platforms can have in public spaces, particularly in communities undergoing transformation. We learned that longer-term partnerships, creating multiple points of creative collaboration and storytelling, can create shifts in how a place is experienced and understood by residents, businesses, visitors and communities. That, in turn, impacts the investments, activities and identity of a place in significant ways. We got to experience what happens when art, creativity and collaboration brings people together, when they might otherwise be against each other.
In 2024 ESEM Projects has relaunched as Studio ESEM. Same people, same commitment to our work, but a sharper focus. We don’t want to leave creativity and collaboration to chance: we’re advocating for it as a tool for change. Advocacy and research is led by Dr. Sarah Barns as part of a major award by the RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellowship program to advance the field of regenerative placemaking in Australia. Our team also continues to grow, through new creative collaborations and partnerships that have helped us to expand our focus and our remit.
But much remains the same. As Studio ESEM we will continue to create work that forges stronger and more meaningful connections to the wonder and beauty of our many-storied places. And, we still like to have fun.
Birds of Australia for the Australian Museum
Dr. Sarah Barns interviews Wiradjuri poet and academic Dr. Janine Leanne for the Birds of Australia STORYBOX program with the Australian Museum in 2022.
