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    GRAMMY Museum

    Music Epicenters

    Project Group

    GRAMMY Museum

    Client

    AEG

    Date

    December 2008

    Location

    GRAMMY Museum, Los Angeles, CA

    Exhibition Design

    Gallagher & Associates

    More Images

    Demo Video

    Tags

    Storytelling, Timelines, Infographics, Touch, Installations

    Playlists

    • Narrative storytelling
    • Interactive installations

    Three interactive stations present the cities and people that changed the sound of American music since the 1880s, while a dynamic projection of the United States plots visitor choices of musical epicenters overhead.

    Three stations surround a 10-foot, cut-out map of the United States on which historical, music-related images dynamically come into focus, drawing visitors across the museum to investigate a wealth of American music history. The viewing and listening stations are portals into America’s Music Epicenters—the birthplaces of original American music. Exploring the stations’ U.S. maps, visitors can choose epicenters of significance from the 1880s to the present day, read accounts of the music shaped at these locations, watch archival videos, and play songs representing these moments in musical development. As visitors explore the musical epicenters at the stations, their stops activate the overhead map: colorful, concentric circles and relevant images emanate from the selected cities, engaging passersby or observers in the experience as well. Music Epicenters is a fun and engaging experience that illustrates the historical significance of America’s role in the evolution of music over the last century.

    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 2009

    Imagine 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, 2009

    An 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 , 2009

    Well 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, 2009

    Perhaps 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, 2008

    Visitors 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, 2008

    Guests 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, 2008

    Guests 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, 2008

    The 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
    Kieran Lynn
    Motion Designer
    Alberto Cerriteño
    Technology Director
    Thomas Wester
    Lead Systems Developer
    David Brewer
    Developers
    Matt Gitchell, Oliver McGinnis
    Producer
    Amber Cartwright
    Writers
    Ken Viste, Billy Altman
    Editor
    Melissa Blazek
    Production Artist
    Rebecca Rosen
    Production/QA Assistant
    Elizabeth Bourke
    Sound Design
    Audio Wells
    Narrator
    Dave Alvin
    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