OVERVIEW
For our partners at Microsoft and the Estate of Sol LeWitt, Listen created original sound design and an immersive soundscape composition for a Virtual Tour of the late Conceptual artist's Connecticut studio.
SERVICES
Music Composition, Sound Design
APPLICATION
Web Experience
OVERVIEW
For our partners at Microsoft and the Estate of Sol LeWitt, Listen created original sound design and an immersive soundscape composition for a Virtual Tour of the late Conceptual artist's Connecticut studio.
SERVICES
Music Composition, Sound Design
APPLICATION
Web Experience
OPPORTUNITY
Microsoft and the Estate of Sol LeWitt have engaged in a years-long collaboration to use technology to unlock the life and legacy of an iconic artist for a new generation. Listen had previously partnered with both to develop an AI-powered mobile app that offered a behind-the-scenes look at the artist's work and creative process.
Through the development of that project, Microsoft captured a 360-degree photographic image of the artist's studio in Chester, Connecticut, which is closed to the public and nearly unchanged since LeWitt's death in 2007.
PROCESS
The 360° photographic image formed the basis of the Virtual Studio Tour, an interactive web experience inviting users to explore LeWitt's unique creativity by way of key objects found in his workspace. Given LeWitt's keen interest in music, we saw an opportunity to bring even more of the artist into the experience, with sound adding to its immersiveness and exploratory feel.
SOLUTION
We wanted to create a unified sound for the experience, where both the ambience of the space and specific sounds triggered by user input would feel indelibly LeWitt. Drawing on scholarly research, as well as our experience composing the soundtrack to a Microsoft-produced podcast series about the artist, we crafted a sound palette referencing key musical influences (like Steve Reich and Alvin Lucier) and site-specific textures.
Our immersive soundscape for the Virtual Studio Tour, which plays underneath the duration of the experience and is meant to encourage lingering exploration, evokes both contemporary classical composition and the airy, timeless feeling of the space. We approached environmental sound design as a grounding complement to the ethereal soundscape, introducing Foley sound effects that enhance the sense of the physical space that the user can explore.
OPPORTUNITY
Microsoft and the Estate of Sol LeWitt have engaged in a years-long collaboration to use technology to unlock the life and legacy of an iconic artist for a new generation. Listen had previously partnered with both to develop an AI-powered mobile app that offered a behind-the-scenes look at the artist's work and creative process.
Through the development of that project, Microsoft captured a 360-degree photographic image of the artist's studio in Chester, Connecticut, which is closed to the public and nearly unchanged since LeWitt's death in 2007.
PROCESS
The 360° photographic image formed the basis of the Virtual Studio Tour, an interactive web experience inviting users to explore LeWitt's unique creativity by way of key objects found in his workspace. Given LeWitt's keen interest in music, we saw an opportunity to bring even more of the artist into the experience, with sound adding to its immersiveness and exploratory feel.
SOLUTION
We wanted to create a unified sound for the experience, where both the ambience of the space and specific sounds triggered by user input would feel indelibly LeWitt. Drawing on scholarly research, as well as our experience composing the soundtrack to a Microsoft-produced podcast series about the artist, we crafted a sound palette referencing key musical influences (like Steve Reich and Alvin Lucier) and site-specific textures.
Our immersive soundscape for the Virtual Studio Tour, which plays underneath the duration of the experience and is meant to encourage lingering exploration, evokes both contemporary classical composition and the airy, timeless feeling of the space. We approached environmental sound design as a grounding complement to the ethereal soundscape, introducing Foley sound effects that enhance the sense of the physical space that the user can explore.