Spirit of Place

Numen — spirit of place. An art-science project inspired by the Big History approach to understanding our past and future.

Numen is an immersive multimedia song cycle exploring the origins, climate and landscapes of the Great Southern region and Albany in Western Australia — created by Albany-based media artist Peter Morse, with an original musical score by Western Australian composers Glenn Rogers and Steve Richter.

Using computer visualisation of climate and geophysical simulations, satellite data and ultra-high definition videography, the visuals span 6 billion years — from cosmic beginnings through the separation from East Antarctica and the drift of the Australian continent, extending into imagined futures.

The song cycle situates Menang-Noongar language within the work, referencing the six Menang-Noongar seasons — Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba, and Kambarang — two ways of reading the same country, each with something to learn from the other.

In the Room

Three screens surround you, square to one another but standing apart — like windows onto the world. This is immersive cinema: a CAVE-like room you are inside, rather than a screen you sit in front of.

Often the three screens are windows onto one continuous world; at other times they hold different views, and the room becomes a triptych. There is no fixed seat and no correct place to stand. You can walk, sit or lie down, and what you see depends on where you turn and how long you stay.

Much of Numen moves slowly. Long horizons, weather crossing country, light shifting on granite — nearer to standing in front of a landscape painting than to watching a film. Nothing insists on being caught; the slow passages are there to be dwelt in.

Format

30 minutes · Six audiovisual compositions · Three screens · Albany Town Hall · 17 September – 14 October 2026, daily at 10.30am, 1pm and 3.30pm · Part of the Albany 2026 program

Creators

Peter Morse — Director & Artist
Award-winning Australian media artist and computer researcher. His fulldome cinema works have screened in over 35 countries, including Dark (2012), Hemispheres of the Mind (2019), Travelling Kungkarankalpa (2017), and Frozen in Time (2008) — the first fulldome film shot in Antarctica. Peter holds PhDs in Cultural Heritage (Murdoch) and Computational Geophysics (Tasmania), and has held visualisation research positions at the Universities of Melbourne, UWA, Tasmania, and UNSW.
petermorse.net

Glenn Rogers — Composer & Musician
Perth-based composer and guitarist with international performance and recording experience. A classical composer first, his scores for planetarium domes and multimedia works are rooted in contemporary Western classical music, with influences from Indian classical traditions, European jazz and electronic music.
glennrogers.net

Steve Richter — Musician & Sound Designer
Over 25 years in the Western Australian music scene, with performance credits including the WA Symphony Orchestra. Steve specialises in electronic music and didgeridoo, bridging traditional Aboriginal instruments with contemporary soundscapes.
steverichtermusic.bandcamp.com

Peter Hardy — Narration
Australian actor, theatre performer and musician (1957–2023), known for McLeod's Daughters, Chopper and Blue Heelers — and the director's close friend and creative partner across several decades. Peter Hardy died in 2023. The narration in Numen is his voice, recreated with AI from recordings and used with the permission of his family. It is offered in his memory.
Peter Hardy — Wikipedia

In memory

Numen is made in loving memory of my mother, Margaret Morse, who intended to be here to see it; my sister, Dr Kate Morse, archaeologist of the Pleistocene coasts of Western Australia, whose work runs through Six Seasons; my father, Gareth Morse, landscape painter, who taught me how to see a landscape; and my friend Peter Hardy, whose voice it carries.
— Peter Morse

Note

This website is a living document during the development of Numen. Content, timelines, and creative elements are actively evolving ahead of the Albany 2026 presentation.