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GRAMMY Museum
Music Genres Table
Project Group
Client
Date
December 2008Location
GRAMMY Museum, Los Angeles, CAExhibition Design
Gallagher & AssociatesTags
Playlists
Groups of visitors delve into music and words on this large-format interactive table to explore the diversity of the musical landscape and the interconnections between musical genres.
This 19-foot interactive table unfolds the musical landscape for visitors in an elegant, intuitive interface alive with music and sound visualizations. Stepping up to the table, which consists of an interactive surface, in eight segments, that can accommodate up to 20 listeners through headphones and earbud jacks, visitors first experience a unique 13-minute soundtrack—a melding of diverse songs—as they view a flowing stream of genre names that make up the main navigational element. As visitors select genres, images of key artists or cultural events and excerpts of representative songs, in addition to detailed descriptions of the genre, allow visitors to gain a sense of the character of each genre they browse. The interrelations among musical forms within this range of musical diversity are brought into focus with animations that highlight related genres, or “crossovers.” Rich content for over 150 genres is right at visitors’ fingertips in this fluid, continuous experience that is both an opportunity for learning about new genres and enjoying music.
Press & Awards
Adobe, MAX Awards, Finalist, October 2009“For the Record: The Grammy Museum Preserves Pop Music History in a Digital Format,” Lighting & Sound America, Judith Rubin, August 2009Imagine ten Grammy-winning artists, representing a variety of musical genres, all performing at once—but with the sound mixed so that some are dominant and others are in the background to varying degrees, allowing you to distinguish one from the other. This is the museum's three-minute, 20-second lobby experience, as the visitor walks through a short hallway with video looping on both sides, entering the world of music.
Communication Arts, Interactive Design Annual, Information Design, 2009An amazing amount of great work! There is a richness in the various interfaces and experiences that encourage interaction. What a great way to tell stories of music.
American Association of Museums Muse Awards, Gold, Interactive Kiosks , 2009Well done! Grammy Museum! It can be regarded as a good example to show how a museum combines the museum collections, historical material and interactive kiosks and seriously depicts the possibilities and the potential what a future museum could be.
“The Buzz: Installation Spotlight: The Touch and Feel of Music,” Sound & Video Contractor, Jessaca Gutierrez, April 14, 2009Perhaps the most complex and intriguing installation at the museum is the Crossovers area. This exhibit is a 19ft. table that acts as both a projection screen and a touchscreen...Up to 20 guests at a time can tap an image that's being projected onto the table to listen via headphones to 150 genres of music. Guests interested in one genre of music can use the table to open up photos, songs, and dialogue about that particular genre's importance and history—possibly linking them to other genres and learning about surprising connections between music categories.
“Culture Plays Countermelody at New Grammy Museum,” USA Today, Edna Gunderson, December 3, 2008Visitors enter on the fourth floor and wind down through three levels of exhibits. The highlights: The entrance is an audiovisual tunnel pulsating with overlapping segments of Grammy performances. Large touch-technology tables allow exploration of 160 subgenres, from modal jazz, emo and zydeco to Celtic, Norteño and two-tone.
“Record, Study and Hear Music at New Grammy Museum,” Associated Press, Sandy Cohen, December 3, 2008Guests are welcomed by wall-sized video screens and the ‘Crossroads Table,’ a touch-sensitive digital display that shows how different music genres interrelate. Interactive maps highlight the musical legacies of various American cities, and short video series delve into emerging music styles from the past five decades and how they correspond with pop culture.
“Grammy Museum Takes a Broad, Hands-On Approach,” Los Angeles Times Music Blog, Todd Martens, December 2, 2008Guests are immediately whisked to the fourth floor, where they’re greeted with an 18-foot touch-screen table that looks and feels like something out of a James Bond movie. There, they can put on headphones and scroll through genres—tap ‘outlaw country,’ for instance, and a Waylon Jennings song plays.
“Behind the Music,” Downtown LA Scene, Ryan Vaillancourt, December 1, 2008The museum floor dedicated to the recording process holds eight listening stations featuring lessons from producers, engineers and artists. But in Dupri’s ‘studio,’ where he talks to visitors via a flat-screen television, the lesson goes beyond how-to. If you step into this sonic laboratory, you’re not walking out until you make some music.
Credits
- Designer
- Christian Bannister
- Technology Director
- Thomas Wester
- Lead Integration Engineer
- Matt Arnold
- Lead Systems Developer
- David Brewer
- Developer
- Oliver McGinnis
- Motion Developer
- Tim Kviz
- Producer
- Erica Dillon
- Writer
- Ken Viste
- Editor
- Melissa Blazek
- Production Artist
- Rebecca Rosen
- Production/QA Assistant
- Elizabeth Bourke
- Design Intern
- Nina Pavlich
- Sound Design
- Audio Wells
- A/V Integration
- Design & Production
- Exhibit Design
- Gallagher & Associates
© 2013 Second Story, Inc.Project Group
- Project Overview
- GRAMMY’s Greatest Music
- In the Studio
- Music Epicenters
- Music Genres Table
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