Art & Sound at SFMOMA
Immerse yourself in art through music
Challenge:
Navigating a museum can be overwhelming, especially if you’re unsure how to engage with the art. To address this, I created a unique synesthetic silent-disco tour at SFMOMA, blending visual art with immersive auditory and haptic experiences. This innovative tour offered stimuli for viewers to react to, while providing space to experience the art deeply and personally.
The tours were available through Airbnb's Experience platform.
Concept and Execution:
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Headphones and Haptics: Guests wore headphones and SubPacs (subwoofer backpacks), immersing them in music and vibrations that resonate with the artworks. The haptic feedback activated the somatosensory system, enhancing physical presence and awareness while altering heart rate and blood flow.
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Musical Pairings: Carefully selected music tracks matched specific artworks, either through direct 1:1 pairings or ambient soundscapes that set the mood of a gallery. This sensory analogy helped guests connect with the art on multiple levels.
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Silent (Co)Immersion: With headphones on throughout the tour and no talking, guests experienced a deeper sense of immersion, allowing for uninterrupted contemplation of the art, while providing a synchronized experience and non-verbal communication with their friends.
Insights:
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Enhanced Engagement: The combination of auditory and haptic feedback amplified emotional responses, making art feel more dynamic and alive.
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Accessible Primary Aesthetic Experiences: By activating the default mode network with music and haptics, guests entered a wandering, reflective state, enabling them to connect with the artworks more profoundly.
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Cinematic Journey: The tour provided a cinematic feel, with music acting as a score for larger installations and scenes set by paintings. Emotional pairings from moody songs with melancholic paintings to up-beat funky disco beats with neon light pieces further enriched the experience.
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Meditative Transitions: Meditative songs and minimalist art during transitions served as palate cleansers, helping guests reset and prepare for the next work.
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Abstract Interpretations: Songs without lyrics generally worked better, offering an abstract auditory experience that allowed for greater subjective interpretation. When lyrics were present, they were often attributed to figures depicted in the artwork, which added another layer of narrative to the experience, but only if they were properly aligned.
