This object is from 2025 and is a model created by designer Jasmine Craciun to depict haptic communication technology, which is soon to be introduced to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. During the Covid-19 pandemic, travel restrictions caused intense feelings of displacement and disconnection from mob and country for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The National Centre for Indigenous Excellence published a landmark report in 2023 bringing this issue to national attention. 

 

In a surprise move, three of Australia’s biggest technology companies took on the challenge and worked with NCIE, leading indigenous technologists and local communities to develop Haptic Hubs. These hubs were placed in urban and remote locations and contained technology that could digitally replicate touch, scent and sound to achieve realistic experiences of places and of people. By 2030, Haptic Hubs began making their way into schools, workplaces and parliament, creating a new globalised world that involved less unsustainable travel and more multiculturalism in every space we live, work and visit.