Electrosonic Helps The Horniman Museum ‘Dress London’
New ‘Body Adorned’ Exhibition
London’s Horniman Museum has debuted the exhibition, “The Body Adorned: Dressing London”, with AV support from Electrosonic. The temporary exhibition looks across time and cultures at the multiple relationships between dress, the body and cosmopolitan London. The exhibition was designed by Neill Richardson of Objectives, and uses AV techniques to present new material.
The new exhibition reveals how a diverse metropolitan population clothes and adorns their bodies: Saris, tattoos, fingernails, piercings and scarification are a visible part of today’s London cityscape. How did these cultural adornments become integrated into urban life? The Horniman Museum has combined hundreds of stunning objects from its collections, including adorned figures, early tattooing instruments and headdresses, with video installations and actual wardrobes of London residents to explore why people wear what they do.
“We have had a long and very successful relationship with Electrosonic and were happy when they won the last tender process”, says the museum’s head of exhibitions, Maria Ragan. “We needed a company that could work well with the software developers and filmmaker, and the Electrosonic teams dealt with [them] very effectively. AV is central to ‘The Body Adorned’ and visitors love it”.
The centerpiece of “The Body Adorned” is The Light Surgeons’ video production, which combines a large projected image that appears to have been shot looking out through a shop window onto a busy street. Electrosonic provided the main screen, overhead speakers and four portrait-format LCD monitors that feature individual characters, who interact with each other and the main display.
Two exhibits take the form of slide shows. One show is comprised of actual 19th century magic lantern slides from the museum’s collection. The other, “Urban Portraits”, is a video by Paul Halliday of Goldsmith’s College, whom the museum commissioned to work with a group of young photographers and artists exploring clothes and dress style.
Electrosonic also provided touchscreens and overhead sound domes for three interactive exhibits, which explore topics such as “What’s in Your Wardrobe?”
Throughout “The Body Adorned”, Electrosonic was challenged to make maximum use of the museum’s existing equipment inventory so costs could be kept reasonable. The bulk of the gear needed was already available from the museum and had been used in previous exhibitions, including “Bali: Dancing for the Gods”. Most of the equipment for that 2011 show had been supplied by Electrosonic.
“Electrosonic provided the AV equipment for the Body Adorned exhibition at the Horniman Museum. They supplied and installed a seamless giant screen and projection in a tight area and portrait monitors for our bespoke housings”, said Neill Richardson of Objectives. “The installation was efficiently co-ordinated with the designers, exhibition contractors and museum staff and achieved all the desired visual affects with spectacular results”.
Electrosonic treated “The Body Adorned” as a completely new installation and engineered it as if it were a permanent exhibition. The project benefited from the long-term relationship between Electrosonic and The Horniman Museum, and demonstrated Electrosonic’s deep understanding of customer needs and the ability to offer full life cycle services, which protect customer investments.
“I am very happy with the service I get from Electrosonic,” says Maria Ragan. “There is always someone at the end of the phone when I need help or advice, and there is always a quick response to any issues that arise”.
Apart from the centerpiece video by The Light Surgeons, AV content for the interactives and screens was created by Spiral Productions. The exhibition was designed by Neil Richardson of Objectives. Rob Smith, Electrosonic’s recently appointed Sales Manager of the Entertainment Group, was instrumental in the delivery of this project.
“The Body Adorned” will continue through the Summer Olympic Games in London, ending its run next January.
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Gemma Fabian
Marketing Manager
gemma.fabian@electrosonic.com
+44 (0)1322 282353
About Electrosonic
Electrosonic is an international audio-visual company that creates tailored, state-of-the-art solutions for a wide range of markets including theme parks, museums, video conferencing and control rooms. Since its founding in 1964, Electrosonic has built a strong reputation for working on complex projects, both large and small, and has developed lasting partnerships with customers and suppliers. Beyond complete integrated systems, Electrosonic provides a comprehensive scope of services including technical design, projector lamp sales, maintenance and operational support.
Learn more about Electrosonic. Visit http://www.electrosonic.com
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