Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors, and Heroes

‘Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors, and Heroes’ is a landmark exhibition from the British Museum’s renowned Greek collection and the largest selection ever loaned to Aotearoa. Featuring more than 170 artefacts, it explores the Ancient World through the lens of competition, from athletic glory to epic battles. Developed alongside the Western Australia Museum and the National Museum of Australia, the show also set out to create something special for families: a storytelling layer that brings the objects to life and makes their meaning easy to connect with. PHQ Studios were invited to pitch four short, projection-mapped experiences designed to surprise and delight visitors while deepening their understanding of the works on display. Our approach was a flexible animated storytelling system woven through different parts of the exhibition, allowing multiple visitors to engage at once. Two key installations brought this to life. Moving Amphoras transformed replica vessels through projection and sound, animating their illustrated scenes so the ancient artworks could speak directly to modern audiences, with ships sailing across fragmented pottery and negative space turning into the Aegean Sea. Moving Frieze celebrated a two-metre marble frieze from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, using projection, audio, and detailed 3D animation to give the carved figures a vivid sense of movement. Behind the scenes, sophisticated mapping techniques corrected distortions and created seamless, painted-on effects. First shown in Perth and Canberra, the installations have become visitor favourites, offering moments of surprise, discovery, and genuine connection with the ancient stories.