Nina Simoes

Nina Simões was born in São Paulo, Brazil and moved to London in 1990. In her career, she has researched, produced and
directed documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, development agencies and others. She is a passionate and socially-minded person who has campaigned extensively to raise awareness of oppressed groups in her own country.

In 2002, when Nina received her scholarship from the University of the Arts London, she decided to explore the use of new media to address and illustrate her work. The question of non-linear narrative, interactivity and spectators becoming spect-actors became central to her docufragmentary www.rehearsingreality.org. which has been presented in many festivals in Europe, Brazil and USA.

After her PhD Nina has been continuously researching new tools and technologies which enable spectators to have more active roles in the media environment while also giving talks and lectures around UK Universities.

Most recently, Nina has attended Transmedia Next and learned all about the massive potential for storytelling across multiple platforms and its potential for community engagement and social change.

Session Title: Fragments of Parenthood

Fragments of Parenthood is a global participatory transmedia project focused on exploring and revealing the impact and challenges of parenthood on mothers and fathers in the 21st century.

As parents, we were amazed at the impact that bringing children into the world had on our lives, and the project grew out of this sense of awe and wonder. As parenthood is by nature transacted on many different levels, it demanded to be explored in different ways on different platforms. The fragmentary element comes from the shattering of the previous order, and also refers to the shards of experience and stories that we are gathering from parents around the world.

An animated viral video explains the mechanics; how parents’ contributions populate the properties that form the visual basis of the project. These are made up of three distinct elements: a multilingual website with an online gallery; a digital tree with narrative ‘fruit’; an interactive documentary interconnecting these stories of parenthood.

Our central visual image is a digital ‘tree’, which gradually reveals the world of parenthood, displaying contributions from parents in the form of ‘fruit’. The tree is being built with data visualization and geo-locative technologies that will ‘exist’ in both the virtual and real worlds, and will permit simultaneous projections with live events in physical spaces. The second stage of expansion is an interactive documentary carved from stories on the tree. The intention is to grow this naturally, using the latest technology and platform.

Fragments of Parenthood has established partnerships with production companies in Spain and Brazil, and further geographic expansion is envisaged in the future.

Our presentation will elaborate on these concepts, examining in greater detail those aspects specifically concerned with collaboration, participation and global strategy.