The Future Music Blender is a permanent exhibit at the Haus der Musik in the heart of Vienna, Austria. It was designed to complement Tod Machover's Brain Opera, and provide an experience where users could collectively explore and shape sounds.
The room, resembling the inside of a classic string instrument, is filled with several thousand colorful, hand-sized chips. Each chip holds a specific sound snippet, and is colored according to the type of sound (e.g., rhythm, opera, funny). At stations around the room, visitors plug in the chips, listen to the sounds, and modify these sounds. The chip remembers the changes for the next visitor. At one station, visitors add their modified sounds to a large virtual instrument. This instrument—a two-dimensional xylophone—is projected onto the wall and played with hand gestures, much like those a conductor might use. Visitors can explore how individual sound snippets can become musical through repetition and rhythm.
Brian was asked to create visual displays that enhanced and complemented the musical aspects of the exhibit. The result looks at how machine-made shapes can create an organic aesthetic through repetition and rhythm.
Brian was responsible for the design and implementation of the visuals and user-interfaces, as well as the overall system architecture for the exhibit. He worked closely with Tod to make sure that all the exhibit parts were integrated, and that the experience was inspiring, accessible, fun and educational.