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App brings Alice in Wonderland to our Botanic Garden

2 May 2024
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A mobile phone camera view of a woman and child on the grass next to a giant ant sculpture with AR artwork superimposed on the picture

Our Botanic Garden just got “curiouser and curiouser” with the introduction of an interactive family game based on classic children’s story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

A mobile phone app will bring Lewis Carroll’s much-loved book to life at the garden on Durham’s South Road.

Visitors can use the Alice Dalí AR app to search for art and music based on Lewis Carroll’s much-loved book.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality technology allows visitors to see 12 paintings by renowned artist Salvador Dalí, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, on their phones at different points around the garden.

Dalí’s artwork is accompanied by newly composed piano music alongside narrations from the story itself.

The game is a permanent fixture of the Botanic Garden.

Dr Kelly Jakubowski smiling and holding her mobile phone screen towards the camera against a woodland background

Dr Kelly Jakubowski, Associate Professor of Music Psychology, in our Department of Music, with the Alice Dalí AR app at our Botanic Garden.

View through a mobile phone screen of a woman and child on a woodland path

Augmented Reality technology allows visitors to see 12 paintings by renowned artist Salvador Dalí, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, on their phones at different points around the garden.

A smiling woman and child look at a mobile phone held by Dr Kelly Jakubowski with a garden view behind them.

The Alice Dalí AR app game, which is a permanent fixture of the Botanic Garden, forms part of a research study, testing its intergenerational impact on children and their parents or carers.

Augmented Reality digital technology is a fun and interactive way to engage with art and music inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and the Botanic Garden is an ideal setting for this. The research we will be carrying out, based upon people’s experiences of using the app, will explore the benefits games like this have on learning about new art and music styles whilst engaging with new technologies.
Dr Kelly Jakubowski
Associate Professor of Music Psychology, Department of Music

Intergenerational impact research

Designed particularly for children aged five to 12, the game forms part of a research study, testing its intergenerational impact on children and their parents or carers.

It works via GPS navigation, through which mobile phone users follow a navigation screen to find virtual artworks within the garden.

The musical soundtrack serves as a clue that the user is getting close to a piece of virtual art, setting the scene for the art to appear on the screen.

Users can then take photos of the virtual art and save these within a storybook.

Find out more

  • Discover more about Durham University’s Botanic Garden.

  • The research study is a multidisciplinary collaboration between Dr Kelly Jakubowski, Associate Professor of Music Psychology, in our Department of Music, Dr Svetlana Rudenko, composer and researcher with Haunted Planet Studios and visiting researcher at our Department of Music and Dr Mads Haahr, Trinity College Dublin and Haunted Planet Studios.

  • The Alice Dalí AR app has been produced by award-winning game developer Haunted Planet Studios. Dalí’s artwork features newly composed piano music by Dr Rudenko and narration by Dr Haahr.

  • Ranked 6th in the Complete University Guide by Subject 2024, the Music Department has been central to the Durham University’s three-year project to become the largest All-Steinway school in the UK.Research-led teaching supports our students to achieve their full potential as thinking, creative musicians, and scholars. What’s more Durham enjoys a rich musical life beyond the Department with numerous choirs, orchestras, opera, jazz, and early-music ensembles, in addition to our own annual concert series attracting soloists from around the World. Feeling inspired? Visit our Music webpages for more information on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.