The New York Museum of Modern Art is known for its cutting-edge expositions and some of the most impressive museum exhibit design this side of the Atlantic, but it is taking on a unique and difficult challenge with a current exhibit that is dedicated to sound art.
The question is: how do you visually represent and augment a mostly sonic exhibit? The answer is that you put your head together and come up with some innovative exhibit design that turns a gallery space designed for visual displays into one which brings the sonic realm into the world of visual understanding.
As reported by design periodical Co.Design, the artists and curators of the exhibits worked together tirelessly to figure out how to best come up with a museum exhibit design that would turn the decidedly visual-oriented gallery space into a venue that would work for all kinds of sound art. The challenge was a significant one, because the acoustics of the space were not exactly idea.
“Sound is fugitive and loves to travel,” curator Barbara London told Co.Design. “A gallery is limited by space.”
Setting the tone (quite literally) for the unique and innovative exhibit is a piece at the entrance by an artist named Tristan Perich, which includes over a thousand small speakers each playing a single pitch. The rest of the exhibit (which is called Soundings: A Contemporary Score) features all manner of experimental aural exhibit design. Museum attendees will experience all manner of unique sounds which are located in interesting ways to provide an exhibit that perhaps only the blind can fully appreciate.
This is truly a unique exhibit design and one that demonstrates that good design can overcome just about any type of obstacle, even finding ways to translate and imitate the impressions from one sense to another.
At Blazer Exhibits & Design, we do more than just trade shows. We also provide consulting and design services for museums and design services for corporate environments and offices. We try to put our minds to the test on a daily basis, creating new and unique spaces and exhibits that can stand alone as their own works of art, while providing value for our clients in many different ways.