Iziko Museums of Cape Town needed a special solution for the last room of the Democracy X exhibition they created at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. Celebrating 10 years of democracy in South Africa, the exhibition celebrated this by creating journey through time from ancient dwellers in South Africa, the arrival or Europeans and the struggle and defeat of apartheid.

An interactive voting station was conceptualized for the final room. It drew and appropriate link between the anniversary of freedom for all to vote and was a perfect platform to present various facts on different aspects of life in South Africa. Users interfaced with the installation via Atari joysticks. Questions were presented to visitors that they could then “vote” on. There were no right or wrong answers – the objective was to gauge the mindset of the public. The questions covered topics such as HIV/AIDS, democracy, education, crime, women and employment. Once a vote was cast a statistical animation played out overall results of the poll.

There was also paper in the room where they could leave messages that were then input by an administrator using a simple admin tool we created. These messages then scrolled across the bottom of the screen. The messages reflected personal feedback and sentiment and enriched the overall experience.