SOLUTIONS: DAVID BOWIE IS, VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON UNITED KINGDOM Crash course for the ravers
As well as being an extremely well-designed show about one of the most important musical figures of the past 50 years, ‘David Bowie is’ also illustrates many of the ways in which major museum exhibitions are developing, says Paddy Baker
The floor-to-ceiling projection is created by 10 double-stacked edge- blended projectiondesign F32 devices (All pictures: V&A Images)
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Based in Godalming, Surrey, Sysco AV was founded in 1998 by Hugo Roche and Mark Burgin. Roche had previously run the installation operation at Shuttlesound. One of its earliest clients was one of the principal contractors at the Millennium Dome
Sysco does a lot of work in museums and exhibitions, but other sectors in which it is involved include sports and leisure, conference centres and iconic spaces
The company has worked with the V&A for many years, most recently (before ‘David Bowie is’) on the Hollywood Costume exhibition
WHEN IT comes to museum exhibits, sound is very much the new kid on the block. Depending on the type of museum you choose to visit, you might see paintings that are many hundreds of years old, tools and artefacts that go back millennia or dinosaur bones and fossils whose ages are measured in millions of years. However, you won’t – you can’t – hear anything dating from before the invention of recorded sound. “Pre-1877, it’s a silent world – its sound is lost to us historically,” remarks Geoff Marsh, director of the theatre and performance department at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
But it’s not only the medium’s relative youth that has meant that sound has been slow to establish itself in museums; there are reasons of practicality. “It was only in the 1990s with the advent of digital technology that it became possible for museums to handle sound cost- effectively,” observes Marsh. He adds that while the use of audio guides has become increasingly common, some visitors remain resistant to
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them – some for simple technophobic reasons, while others want to follow their own path through the exhibition at their own pace. “Historically, museums had a monopoly and could do pretty much as they liked – if you wanted to see a Picasso, you had to come to a museum,” he adds. In the internet age, however, visitors are more used to finding information for themselves. “People aren’t interested in being told things. Museums need to think carefully about what they do.” In recent years, the V&A has become gradually more ambitious with the audio side of its music-related exhibitions. ‘Kylie – The Exhibition’ in 2007, was the second most popular event in the V&A’s history but, admits Marsh, some visitors were disappointed with the quality of the sound there. Later events, such as 2008’s ‘The Story of The Supremes’ and most recently, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s ‘The House of Annie Lennox’ (running currently, and co- curated with the V&A) have benefitted from much better
audio, he says. Marsh is one of the curators
of ‘David Bowie is’, which has put recorded sound right at the heart of the experience, without having to shepherd its visitors along a set of numbered route markers. The exhibition has been designed by 59 Productions – a video and projection design company that worked on the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony – and exhibition and interior designer Real Studios. There are a number of considerations when it comes to choosing a musician for a major retrospective like this, says Marsh. David Bowie ticked all the boxes: he has something interesting to say, he has kept a huge quantity of material from throughout his career, and he agreed to give the museum access to any material it wanted to feature. One of the few stipulations was that songs must be played in their entirety. In fact, in Bowie’s case, the museum was spoiled for choice: “There was so much music, so well known, that there was a space issue.” But how should the music
reach the ears of visitors? “It was either clashing sounds, or people queuing up for headphones on hooks, or this,” says Tom Grosvenor, exhibition co-ordinator at the V&A, of Sennheiser’s guidePORT system of personal receivers and headphones. Each visitor is given a guidePORT bodypack and headphones on entering the exhibition. As well as a lot of songs by Bowie – from records, music videos or stage and TV performances – there is also audio content from documentaries and other videos (including Bowie’s visit to Andy Warhol’s Factory), plus optional commentaries that can be accessed by pressing a button on the bodypack. In all, there are over 300
artefacts – including documents, photos, artwork, costumes and videos. The breadth and depth of material is amazing: handwritten lyrics, Bowie’s listing in an actors’ directory from the late ’60s, a booking confirmation letter from Hansa Studios in Berlin, a portable synthesiser given by
Brian Eno, a painting of Iggy Pop by Bowie…
IMMERSIVE AUDIO The user experience is, in Grosvenor’s words, “immersive and seamless”. As one approaches an exhibit, the relevant audio fades in on the headphones. If there is video in the exhibit, the audio is synced to it. This is achieved by creating
audio zones around each exhibit. Music, and lip-synced sound from video clips, is played from media players into 11 twin-cell guidePORT transmitters – located in two control rooms that also house the central guidePORT PC – which send it to antennas in the ceiling and elsewhere. Apart from two messages stored on the bodypacks – a welcome message that plays on arrival and a farewell at the end – all other audio is broadcast to the bodypacks in real time, triggered by visitors approaching exhibits. The audio zone around each
exhibit is bounded by a loop laid in the floor. Hugo Roche, managing director of
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