Forrest Grenfell BFA Communication Design Thesis Spring 2016
This project is based around the idea of visualizing sound, and thus designing an experience in which the viewer can develop a deeper connection with a set piece of music. A project description for a recent exhibit at the MOMA in New York titled Making Music Modern: Design for Ear and Eye states “Music and design—art forms that share aesthetics of rhythm, tonality, harmony, interaction, and improvisation—have long had a close affinity, perhaps never more so than during the 20th century.” This work is intended to continue the dialogue based around the intersection of music and current design.
This project utilizes the medium of projectionmapping and animation to visualize the medley on Side B of the The Beatles seminal record, Abbey Road. T he purpose of this project is not only to entertain, but to inspire a deeper and perhaps unexpected connection with my audience and to annunciate the overall emotional themes of joy, resilience, and love that I find present in the music of the Beatles. I wanted to to create a new listening experience for the album in an attempt share the cathartic, even religious experience that the right combination of lights and music can create for me personally.
Another main idea of the project became to reinvent the listening experience of the music using a stylized visual language intentionally distanced from images directly associated with The Beatles, in order bring the experience forward into the sphere of contemporary art and design, show its continued cultural relevance, and to emphasize the music’s influence on a new generation of creative thinkers. Through this project I was striving to connect my own practice as a designer and maker to my musical idols, while staying true to the attitude and context of their work.