Animal Crossing x Carlyle Circle

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Following on from a post earlier this year, I wanted to revisit the video game Animal Crossing and import University artworks I had recently discovered whilst working on a brand-new digital exhibition.

Carlyle Circle digital exhibition

The Carlyle Circle was formed in 1990 to bring together and thank everyone who pledges to leave a legacy to the University of Edinburgh.

Over the years, gifts, including those from legacies, have provided the University with some very special objects, books and artwork. To celebrate their 30th anniversary I worked with Exhibitions Officer Bianca Packham from the Centre of Research Collections to design and publish a new digital exhibition.

Featuring beautiful high-resolution photography, and audio files, this website tells the stories of some of these objects and the people who kindly gave them.

Sweet dreams (are made of this)

At the end of July, Nintendo published a software update to Animal Crossing that introduced some exciting new functionality. There is now a dream feature which allows players to visit other islands without ever having to visit the airport. More importantly, the other player doesn’t even need to be online, you can visit other people’s islands whenever it suits you.

To further celebrate the Carlyle Circle’s 30th anniversary I’ve created another digital exhibition, this time within the Animal Crossing universe. Here is the Dream Address for my island:

DA-2357-0233-8484

How to visit my Animal Crossing island

Find any bed and lie down, the game will ask if you want to dream. Choose yes, and you’ll soon start napping. Tell Luna you “want to dream” and she’ll ask you for a Dream Address. Once you enter my island’s code, you’ll wake up in front of Resident Services. Head due south and pop inside my beachfront property. Please have fun visiting the new digital exhibition and exploring my island.

When you’re ready to go back home, just pop back in bed.

Stewart’s mini exhibition (with QR codes)

Books, objects and archives

Out of all the entries included in the full digital exhibition, I’ve shortlisted six images to be represented as canvases and paintings within the game. You can either view these by visiting my island or by scanning the QR codes provided here to import them into your own island.

Furthermore, I have also included some interactive musical instruments that closely resemble three exhibition objects: guitar decacorde, tam-tam (gong) and Clarsach (harp).