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Antenna Takes Storytelling to New Heights with SFMOMA's App-Based AudioThe much anticipated re-opening of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art marks the debut of extraordinary app-based audio content produced by Antenna, the world's leading designer of digital content and mobile experiences for cultural and historic institutions. Through immersive storytelling, authentically narrated by a range of local Bay Area characters - including a magician, a junk collector, a poet, a pagan minister, a dancer, and many others - the Museum's permanent collection is brought to life, and connected with the city's eclectic culture. Audio content is one of the most intimate forms of media because it allows the museum visitor to shape their own experience in their mind. Recent research has found that the use of sound effects and sound shots in an audio drama increase the level of mental imagery and listener engagement. And while some of audio's popularity might be attributed to advances in mobile technology, it's the unique methods of storytelling that are enticing people of all demographics to have a listen. "We've reached far beyond the typical art world to include unexpected perspectives on art," said Christine Murray, Senior Content Designer for Antenna. "No stone went unturned when it came to locating the right voice, the right connection to the artwork. We talked to many of the artists themselves, but when we couldn't, we captured fantastic insights from studio assistants, collaborators, friends, family, and contemporaries that draw the visitor closer to the art with emotional, authentic experiences." Examples of interviews conducted by Antenna:
Courtney Moreno, an aerial dancer as a member of Oakland-based Bandaloop, comments on Lilith - a sculpture of a woman crouched upside down on a wall. Moreno is among the few people in the world who can speak to actually having been in that position.
Christian Cagigal, a San Francisco-based magician, well-versed in the history of magic and alchemy, comments on the many "magic signifiers" in Polke's spellbinding piece.
Observers of Shirley Goldfarb + Gregory Masurovsky will say this piece looks like it was staged. Mark Jackson, a well-known San Francisco-based theatre director, offers his analysis of the relationship dynamics on display.
Roland Lusk is one of the official installers of Sol Lewitt's work - and a so called "precision pencilist." Listen in as Roland draws the work on the wall right in front of you. In addition to insider stories told by those who share a connection to the artists, the audio utilizes light-hearted, and sometimes irreverent, approaches to further illuminate the artworks on display. For example, Antenna created a late-night radio commercial to sell the real estate depicted in a Richard Artschwager painting, a faux-nature documentary to accompany a work by Andy Warhol, and a spacewalk transmission signaling back to ground control from inside a Sigmar Polke painting. "This is easily one of the more well-researched and in-depth storytelling experiences ever to accompany a museum collection," said David Falter, President and CEO of Antenna. "We've even repurposed archived interviews previously conducted with artists in the museum's collection, and we utilized licensed recordings from public archives, like the Smithsonian Archives of American Art." In total, Antenna conducted 30 hours of recordings, commissioned multiple original music compositions, and dug into hundreds of hours of archival material to produce an astonishing nine hours of audio content for SFMOMA, providing stand-alone "a la carte" audio bites for each piece in the permanent collection, and two long-form immersive walks narrated by local personalities Marina Gorbis from the Institute for the Future, and philosopher and cognitive scientist Alva Noë, who is a regular contributor to NPR (News - Alert). Antenna also translated all of its audio content into five different languages - including Spanish, French, German, Mandarin and Japanese - and also developed a version for the visually impaired. The app, which surfaces nearby paintings with audio content - enabling the visitor to create their own custom tour as they move through the galleries - has been in development since 2015. Visitors can download it on their iOS enabled device, or rent a device from the Museum with the app already installed.
About Antenna ™
About the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Visit sfmoma.org or call 415.357.4000 for more information.
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