Philadelphia Museum of Art
Unscripted is a reimagining of the traditional audio tour: Eschewing the didactic, we bring the personal reflections of Philadelphian voices to the work, offering insights and experiences inspired by a selection of the pieces in A Nation of Artists.
SOUND MADE PUBLIC conducted over twenty-five interviews by our own inimitable Tania Ketenjian, finding the heartfelt connection between people and art, and the ways in which it can reflect on their lives. From sports casters to drag queens, rogue chefs to muralists a remarkable and colorful patchwork of Philadelphians each coming face to face with a piece of american art brirnging to life alternate ways of seeing the cultural legacy of a nation and offering new ways of interpreting its future.
Too often, universal museums become, by way of their collections, relics themselves, dislocated from the present; The Philadelphia Museum of Art is passionately at odds with that, and its commitment to bringing contemporary context to the works of generations is inspirational.
Embedded in our everyday practice is to foster connection, to each other, to art, culture, and the human experience. The evergreen audio developed with PMA brings this to life and inspires.
Client
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Project
Unscripted: Philly Voices on A Nation of Artists
Services
Concept Development - Strategy - Creative Direction - Naming - Production - Interviews - Post Production
Voices
Daniel Dae Kim, Hayden Haynes, Lindsey Scannapieco, Louis Massiah, Cristina Martinez, Joan Myers Brown, John Whitenight, Merrill Reese, Abbi Jacobson, Jane Golden, Justin Best, Alexandra Kirtley, Sapphira Cristal, Ellen Bass, Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz, Carson Kressley, Dan Weiss, Derrick Pitts, Kathy Foster, Tierra Whack, Sandra Lopez Cortez, Cheryl Dunye, Nok Suntaranon, Natasha Cloud, Malcolm Jenkins
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Our Process
One person, one artwork, one reaction
Opportunity
Understanding that the Philadelphia Museum of Art wanted to create a new format for the audio guide was inspiring to us; it was something that we had been working on with several clients, but the Philly team was very clear and really got behind the strategy of interviewing local Philadelphians to discuss the art.
Insight
Our major insight is that the goal of the audio guide in museums is not to explain, but to connect. Connect visitors with the art, both through their head and their heart. Audio has tremendous power to do this, and the voices of both regular and renowned Philadelphians opened new ways of connecting with the art of the nation.
Outcome
SMP, in close collaboration with the museum team, built a deeply connecting audio experience that will sit within the galleries and expand through the museum over the next few years to create a mode of engagement in art unlike any other.
