Sam Haren is a Creative Director of Sandpit, a new company that designs participatory experiences across platforms that transport audiences into a story, fictional universe or artwork. From 2002-2012, he was Artistic Director of The Border Project, and directed/co-directed all of the company’s work in this time.

In 2012 Sandpit provided experience design for I, Animal, an immersive interactive experience after hours at the Melbourne Zoo. They are currently working on multi-platform extensions for feature films The Boy Castaways directed by Michael Kantor and 52 Tuesdays by Closer Productions. They are also developing a personalised cinematic experience for the 2013 Adelaide Film Festival and a major public installation for Melbourne’s Federation Square due late 2013. Sandpit is also creating an adjunct video artwork to sit alongside Larissa’s McGowan’s Skeleton in the 2013 Adelaide Festival as a large scale outdoor projection. They are also developing an interactive installation for Windmill Theatre’s Girl Asleep – the installation will invite young adults to interact with a digital space inside a mysterious sculpture placed in unexpected public sites within the cities the show tours to. In 2012 Sandpit spoke at Arts Participation Incubator’s Technologies for Participation Seminar at MONA and was invited to attend Screen Australia’s Multi-Platform Clinic and Screen Australia and the Australia Council for the Arts’ Hive Lab during the 2012 Melbourne Festival.

Sandpit was founded in 2012 and is a collaboration between Creative Directors Sam Haren and Daniel Koerner, who between them have diverse experience in creating live events, screen media, digital content and developing new technologies. They believe any media platform or physical space can be part of an immersive experience, and that the best method of communication is often a convergence of digital and analogue approaches.