By CASEY NEILL
DANDENONG’S big screen will get a workout during the FIFA World Cup.
The new civic centre’s top feature will broadcast all the early morning group matches each afternoon and show the final live on 13 July.
“It is a place for those important moments – for shared expression and shared experience,” screen manager Thomas Dawe said.
“When there is a large event like World Cup … it’s somewhere where people can come down and share that experience communally and together.
“It is a public space and we want the public to take ownership of it.”
Mr Dawe said the final’s screening would also include activities and food and drinks in the square, on the corner of Lonsdale and Walker streets.
“The final will be a huge event here live,” he said.
“There’s a possibility of activations happening for the semis and the finals as well.”
The World Cup is the square’s second big test, the first being its grand opening on 12 April.
“The opening was the handover of the space to the community,” Mr Dawe said.
“We had fantastic feedback on that.
“The space really works because it’s a natural thoroughfare from the station to the other precincts.
“It held people really well and people were able to move in and out of the square easily.
“It still pays homage to the town hall (Drum Theatre) across the road. The screen and the municipal building actually frame the clock tower.”
Mr Dawe worked at Federation Square for five years, has played a part in big screens across Australia and New Zealand and set up Dandenong’s, which is seven metres wide and full high definition.
“Currently, as far as I know, it’s the highest resolution for its size in Australia,” he said.
“It’s great to have the opportunity to do it all from the start – to get it all nailed and exactly how we need it.”
The screen can do live links with other screens, show live footage from two cameras positioned in the square and take live satellite feeds.
“In the future it will be able to take feeds that we transmit from the Drum Theatre, so it can be an overflow venue for shows that are happening at the Drum,” Mr Dawe said.
It will broadcast messages about local events, programs and services, support initiatives like Refugee Week, and share community opinion through Tweets and texts.
“It’s a system developed by partners of ours in Queensland at Queensland University of Technology,” Mr Dawe said.
“It’s a fantastic program called Discussions in Space, whereby we can tweet and text to the screen on a certain conversation topic and we can share those Tweets and texts with other partner screens.
“It gives us a platform for a conversation that’s multi-space.”
The square doesn’t yet have a name. Visit www.greaterdandenong.com for more information about the call for community suggestions.
