The “Anti-Stream” - Raw Space, 2017
Raw Space was released as the world’s first live 360° AR experience, produced in collaboration with Nokia Bell Labs and Design I/O. Combining live 360° stereoscopic video of Wolfe’s physical record stream from the quietest room on earth, with real-time AR animations, the effect was a Fantasia-like live streamed album, which ran continuously for a week with artwork that evolved every time the record spun Wolfe follows in the footsteps of Andy Warhol, John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg as a collaborator of Nokia Bell Labs’ E.A.T. programme.
A “Fantasia” Experience for the Album in the Streaming Age
Beatie Wolfe releases her latest album Raw Space as the world's first live 360˚ AR stream which combined live, 360˚ stereoscopic video and real-time AR visuals to create a modern, Fantasia-like live streamed album experience. The Raw Space experience has been described as "like walking around in a dream someone had made for me" by The New Scientist, "an extraordinary production: music and visuals" by BBC Radio 4 and "utterly groundbreaking" by Fast Company Watch the 4min documentry below or visit beatiewolfe.com to learn more...
The needle dropped in the most silent room on Earth. A record played, streaming live in anechoic sound to anyone who logged in, on repeat for a week. Words, colours, and fantastic visions leapt from the grooves, as synced visuals created a 360˚ world of imagery to complement each song in full augmented reality. And every time the record played, the visuals evolved making you feel like the album was coming to life around you.
This is Raw Space, the latest “world’s-first” album experience by British singer-songwriter and digital art-innovator Beatie Wolfe, in collaboration with Nokia Bell Labs and Design I/O. Part-installation, part sonic experience, part technical feat it evokes the spirit of Cage for his explorations of sound and Warhol for his explorations of visual art - both past collaborators of Bell Labs’ for its E.A.T. programme with Wolfe ushering in the new era. But really, at it’s core, Raw Space is an album... and a great one.
“For ‘Raw Space,’ I wanted to create the antithesis of our current streaming experience and really celebrate the world of the album — its artwork, arc, narrative, music — in a fully immersive and multi-sensory way, which has the effect of placing the listener at the centre of this dynamic world,” explains Wolfe. “Launching this out of one of the world’s quietest rooms has the effect of immediately instilling a sense of ceremony into this experience, both quieting the ‘noise’ around and allowing the listener to hear the true sound of sound. In essence, it’s really about using technology to bring back some of music’s old school magic.”
“We are delighted to be working with the remarkable Beatie Wolfe on her highly disruptive Raw Space album experience, which looks at the intersection of art and tech in a truly inspired way. As Bell Labs celebrates the next 50 years of E.A.T., I couldn't think of a better project or artistic collaborator to champion the next phase of this defining exploration of the human possibilities of technology,” said Marcus Weldon, President of Nokia Bell Labs and CTO of Nokia
"Raw Space will bring into play a technological first, combining live, 360˚ stereoscopic video and real-time generative AR visuals to create a modern, Fantasia-like live streamed album experience that can be viewed on VR headsets, tablets, and smartphones," notes Theo Watson of award-winning technologists Design I/O, which has worked on interactive experiences at both the Tate and MOMA.
Project Tags
Companies
DESIGN IO
- Design
Beatie Wolfe Productions
- Music
Nokia
- Technology