AFOA.NZ / A Flight Over Aotearoa New Zealand: Epistolary E-Lit in an Interactive Videobook for Children
Proposal Type
Individual Talk
Location
Hypertexts & Fictions
Start Date
July 2026
End Date
July 2026
Abstract
A Flight Over Aotearoa New Zealand (www.afoa.nz) is a multimodal research-creation that investigates creative processes by developing an open-access interactive videobook. Animated videos based on NZ children’s letters offer possibilities of reading (Flusser) through intersections of geography, literature, music, design, visual arts, audiovisual media, and games. The research-creation (Chapman & Sawchuk) proposes an affective cartography to explore belonging, identity, and place-making (Thrift) through children’s epistolary production by inviting students to respond to the question, ‘What would you say to your region if it were a person?’ Seventy letters have been curated and transformed into 22 animations, each linked to NZ regions on an interactive map. The geopoetic approaches and fibre-based practices of contemporary artists, such as Anna Bella Geiger (1933), Sheila Hicks (1934) and Alexandra Kehayoglou (1982), inspired the platform's aesthetic. This reading platform can serve as both a literary artwork and a research database, enabling future studies on how children perceive their places in the 2020’s, and how digital technologies can attract attention transdisciplinarily. In the emerging field of E-Literature in Aotearoa New Zealand – a bicultural nation whose original indigenous language is preserved – there is a need to conduct further investigations to understand the profiles of both the audience and the producers. Beyond the experimental project, the research-creation foregrounds the production of knowledge through academic methods while acknowledging the multimodal complexity of hybrid outputs, such as an audiovisual reading platform, in which the researcher assumes multiple roles (creator, curator, publisher, resource raiser...), complicating conventional academic legitimation but widening the scope for disseminating findings. For example, the videobook’s ISBN was denied in NZ – advised instead to register abroad as an audiovisual production with an ISAN – illustrating how institutional frameworks trail behind experimental formats, further emphasising the need to recognise hybrid academic artefacts.
AFOA.NZ / A Flight Over Aotearoa New Zealand: Epistolary E-Lit in an Interactive Videobook for Children
Hypertexts & Fictions
A Flight Over Aotearoa New Zealand (www.afoa.nz) is a multimodal research-creation that investigates creative processes by developing an open-access interactive videobook. Animated videos based on NZ children’s letters offer possibilities of reading (Flusser) through intersections of geography, literature, music, design, visual arts, audiovisual media, and games. The research-creation (Chapman & Sawchuk) proposes an affective cartography to explore belonging, identity, and place-making (Thrift) through children’s epistolary production by inviting students to respond to the question, ‘What would you say to your region if it were a person?’ Seventy letters have been curated and transformed into 22 animations, each linked to NZ regions on an interactive map. The geopoetic approaches and fibre-based practices of contemporary artists, such as Anna Bella Geiger (1933), Sheila Hicks (1934) and Alexandra Kehayoglou (1982), inspired the platform's aesthetic. This reading platform can serve as both a literary artwork and a research database, enabling future studies on how children perceive their places in the 2020’s, and how digital technologies can attract attention transdisciplinarily. In the emerging field of E-Literature in Aotearoa New Zealand – a bicultural nation whose original indigenous language is preserved – there is a need to conduct further investigations to understand the profiles of both the audience and the producers. Beyond the experimental project, the research-creation foregrounds the production of knowledge through academic methods while acknowledging the multimodal complexity of hybrid outputs, such as an audiovisual reading platform, in which the researcher assumes multiple roles (creator, curator, publisher, resource raiser...), complicating conventional academic legitimation but widening the scope for disseminating findings. For example, the videobook’s ISBN was denied in NZ – advised instead to register abroad as an audiovisual production with an ISAN – illustrating how institutional frameworks trail behind experimental formats, further emphasising the need to recognise hybrid academic artefacts.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/elo2026/hypertextsandfictions/schedule/15
Bio
Gisela de Castro is a Brazilian multi-artist, writer, publisher, actor, storyteller, and cultural producer with a strong entrepreneurial background. Active in the creative industry since 1990, she has led over 120 cultural projects through her company, Zucca Produções. Her work reflects a commitment to innovation, social justice, and accessibility in the arts.
She holds a degree in Biological Sciences and a Master’s in Creative Media, both from UFRJ, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She is currently a PhD candidate in Screen and Media Studies at the University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her research-creation project, A Flight Over Aotearoa NZ (AFOA.NZ), explores digital storytelling and e-literature through an interactive videobook, following the success of her award-winning bilingual platform in Brazil (www.olivrodascapitais.com.br).
Gisela has published children’s books, produced several events, and presented at international conferences. Her multidisciplinary approach, with a strong foundation in theatre and performative arts, bridges art, education, and technology, focusing on creative processes and inclusive practices. Passionate about cultural exchange, she now calls New Zealand home and continues to develop projects that celebrate imagination and diversity.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisela-de-castro-0063b558