“Imagine a Jukebox that plays stories instead of records, and allows you to choose the chapters you want. Stand + Stare Collective have already imagined such a machine.”
D-Shed, Bristol
Theatre Jukebox is an arcade-style cabinet that tells stories in a unique way. RFID tags hidden inside a selection of cards allow the machine to trigger top-down projection and audio specific to each card. Audience members are invited to choose from the selection of cards and have control over how many and in which order they wish the stories to be played.
“I’m loving Theatre Jukebox. So clever and yet so simple. When you’ve seen one, you want to see them all.”
From the guest book at Ferment, Bristol Old Vic
Each card plays a two-minute narrative. As a user, a two-minute snapshot will give you a self-contained and unique experience, but if you continue, the connections between the cards begin to build a bigger picture.
In the case of our initial curation, this ‘bigger picture’ is an autobiographical story based on a box of family records belonging to Lucy and Barney’s family (the Heywoods). The treasure box is a rich source of inspiration containing letters and drawings, such as those from their Great Grandfather in the Boer War; sketch books that belonged to their Grandfather; photographs taken at his Modernist house; magazines and newspaper clippings including coverage of the moon landings plus diaries, memoirs, wax-stamped letters, parchment papers and artifacts that date back more than 600 years.
Each card is unique and the stories are brought to life in different ways. Some cards have simple animation within the image; some have projections that spread out on the tabletop; some play digitised cine-films on the back and some use binaural audio to increase the immersive nature of the experience.
The resulting work is a fragmented, non-linear narrative, pieced together by audience member/s in whatever order they choose to select the cards. It is like snippets of memory or flicking through a photo album, each picture sparking images, associations, snatches of conversations and ideas.
People of all ages find Theatre Jukebox appealing. The ability to control the experience through physical interaction with objects, makes the Jukebox accessible in a way that other technologies such as touch screens may struggle to achieve.
Theatre Jukebox is also a platform. Any number of curated experiences could be produced to play on it; and like a traditional Jukebox, it lends itself to exhibition within public space.
Theatre Jukebox was developed during a five-week Micro-residency at Pervasive Media Studio supported by Arts Council England (ACE), in June/July 2011. Micro-residencies enable artists to rapidly develop ideas within the collaborative environment of the Studio. They provide a platform for critical and technical investigation and experimentation, and a forum in which new ideas can get off the ground.
Theatre Jukebox
Theatre Jukebox is an arcade-style cabinet that tells stories in a unique way. RFID tags hidden inside a selection of cards allow the machine to trigger top-down projection and audio specific to each card. Audience members are invited to choose from the selection of cards and have control over how many and in which order they wish the stories to be played.
Each card plays a two-minute narrative. As a user, a two-minute snapshot will give you a self-contained and unique experience, but if you continue, the connections between the cards begin to build a bigger picture.
In the case of our initial curation, this ‘bigger picture’ is an autobiographical story based on a box of family records belonging to Lucy and Barney’s family (the Heywoods). The treasure box is a rich source of inspiration containing letters and drawings, such as those from their Great Grandfather in the Boer War; sketch books that belonged to their Grandfather; photographs taken at his Modernist house; magazines and newspaper clippings including coverage of the moon landings plus diaries, memoirs, wax-stamped letters, parchment papers and artifacts that date back more than 600 years.
Each card is unique and the stories are brought to life in different ways. Some cards have simple animation within the image; some have projections that spread out on the tabletop; some play digitised cine-films on the back and some use binaural audio to increase the immersive nature of the experience.
The resulting work is a fragmented, non-linear narrative, pieced together by audience member/s in whatever order they choose to select the cards. It is like snippets of memory or flicking through a photo album, each picture sparking images, associations, snatches of conversations and ideas.
People of all ages find Theatre Jukebox appealing. The ability to control the experience through physical interaction with objects, makes the Jukebox accessible in a way that other technologies such as touch screens may struggle to achieve.
Theatre Jukebox is also a platform. Any number of curated experiences could be produced to play on it; and like a traditional Jukebox, it lends itself to exhibition within public space.
Theatre Jukebox was developed during a five-week Micro-residency at Pervasive Media Studio supported by Arts Council England (ACE), in June/July 2011. Micro-residencies enable artists to rapidly develop ideas within the collaborative environment of the Studio. They provide a platform for critical and technical investigation and experimentation, and a forum in which new ideas can get off the ground.
To read more about the technology behind Theatre Jukebox please follow this link http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/news/2011/08/22/building-theatre-jukebox-using-rfid-qlab-and-projection
View more pictures on Flickr