Art of Music
An interactive touch table to relate the activity of composing music to that of composing a painting.
- Client:
The San Diego Museum of Art - Services:
Development
The Art of Music Touchtable was a collaboration between BPOC and The San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) to create an interactive component of SDMA’s Art of Music exhibition, which explores the multi-faceted and culturally diverse connections between the two mediums. SDMA knew they wanted a way for visitors to create music in the gallery using their existing touchtable hardware. They wanted the interactive to be more nuanced than a piano, where tapping parts of a painting would simply play sounds, they wanted to create an activity that would hold visitors’ attention for longer, engaging them to make music.
In response, BPOC developed the Art of Music Touchtable, which paired a painting, John Sennhauser’s Synchroformic #18 Horizontal Duo, with jazz classic “Groovin’ High.” Visitors could rearrange elements of the geometric painting to manipulate tempo, rhythm, volume, and instrumentation of the music playing. The touchtable promoted the exhibition themes, encouraged critical listening, and created educational and memorable visitor experiences.
In service of SDMA’s vision, the touchtable challenged visitors to interact with an exhibited artwork, while learning about exhibition themes on a deeper level. Visitors dragged, resized, played, and discovered, coming away with a better understanding of art, music, and the interesting and complex relationship between the two.
The Art of Music Touchtable thoughtfully complemented the exhibition so well, that when the exhibition moved on to its next institution, Mexico City’s Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, they also incorporated the touchtable.
Working in conjunction with fantastic institutions, to enhance already stunning exhibitions with technology is BPOC's passion. This collaboration is a wonderful example of two great organizations collaborating together!