Initial Exhibition Ideas

______________________

 

​

 

-A short introduction to Lei Music

______________________

 

For my album Lei Line Eon, I’ve painting a fictional narrative about a genre of music called ‘Lei Music.’ This style of music originates from the west-country hilltop town that I grew up on - taking inspiration from folklore, neo-paganism, megaliths and imaginary technology. Through visuals, writing, and videos - I’ve been documenting the stories and culture from this make-believe scene of music.

 

When people play Lei Music, it temporarily summons a strange, otherworldy entity. Depending on the instruments and composition, the summoned entity will be visually unique - meaning different songs summon a different being.

 

Lei Music is listened to on a ‘Lei Disk’ - a rectangular CD-like object that is collected and traded by enthusiasts of the genre. Lei Disks look different throughout history, from excavated stone-age disks, to modern futuristic designs.

 

Visuals from the project can be found on my Instagram & throughout my Lei Music site . . .

 

Core Idea: Museum Installation

______________________

 

The installation would be designed to feel like a museum - but everything on display would be fictional and originate from the history of a cohesive, fictional world. Ideally, I would want to carefully make sure that the installation could be enjoyed even if you’re not familiar with Iglooghost as a project. I feel like a small museum filled with colourful & art-directed otherworldly objects is a concept that could appeal to generally anyone interested in visual culture and storytelling. While the underlying narrative would be based on the Iglooghost world, I think it could be marketed/designed in a way that anyone could walk in and enjoy the installation.

 

​

 

Miniature Artefacts

______________________

 

At the installation concept’s smallest scale, I think it would be feasible to have several museum-like cabinets filled with fictional artefacts. These artefacts would be small sculptures, fake biology samples, otherworldly plants, and make-believe technology.

 

Plaques with information about the specimens could be attached to the cabinets, so people could read about the stories behind them. The info would offer intriguing glimpses into an imaginary history, and gradually paint a subtle narrative.

 

The objects in the exhibition would be primarily centred around Lei Music - with fictional musical history and research on display. This could range from rare releases from the 1970’s, to excavated neolithic disks. Potentially, headphones could be plugged into the display cabinets so museum-goers could listen to original music said to be from various timelines.

 

Mounted Video Content

______________________

 

 

While my skills of making physical objects are decent but limited to an extent, I’m definitely a lot more proficient at digital art and 3D work. If the budget was small, part of the exhibition could be bulked out with looping videos mounted in interesting ways. These could be styled as educational videos that you might find in a history museum - but with over-designed, vibrant imagery and sound. I think in any case of the budget being small or large - having video content looping would be a good way of adding to the immersion of the museum concept. Similarly, having mounted prints of artwork could be a good addition too. I’ve built up a large repository of visuals from the album project, so there’s a lot to draw from.

​

 

Knitted Tapestry

______________________

 

Something else I am capable of producing by myself is a large-scale, knitted tapestry. I’ve recently got hold of an industrial knitting machine that’s capable of fabricating designs made on a computer. I think potentially a long tapestry could be a cool way of showcasing a folk-like, ancient culture - and would blend modern graphic/visual culture with traditional crafts. If this was mounted/suspended in a nice way - I think it could be a really attention-grabbing part of the installation.

 

​

 

Audio/Visual Content

______________________

 

I think there’s a lot of room for a multi-sensory experience through this installation - and sound design is a medium that I could have a lot of fun with. With a slightly larger budget, we could potentially integrate buttons and triggers for sounds that relate to the visuals on display. The physical programming of these triggers is something I’m personally inexperienced with, so we may need to look into potential collaborators or technicians; while the sound itself is something I’d love to work on.

 

​

 

Projection Mapping

______________________

 

While I’m personally inexperienced with projection mapping, I would love to collaborate with a technician to develop something for the installation if we’re lucky enough to work with a larger budget. A significant part of the visuals that I’ve been working on is depictions of these giant, floating, abstract entities - and bringing one to life could be the captivating, central focus of the exhibit. An idea that comes to mind is designing/animating a 3D model of an entity to be projected on to a large structure that gives it three-dimensional depth.

 

​

Large Scale Sculptures

______________________

 

In the event of a larger budget, perhaps with external funding - an amazing central feature of the installation could be a large-scale sculpture of one of the Lei Music entities. A huge statue of an otherworldly being standing in the centre of the installation could function as a grandiose main attraction, perhaps even interacting with lighting or sound. Another idea for a large scale sculpture is a fake megalithic rock structure - which may be less intensive in technical craftsmanship, and more suited to a prop designers’ expertise. Both of these large scale sculptures could potentially be created through polycarving.

​

 

Although I’ve outlined some ideas that are pretty elaborate and would definitely require investigation into funding or a larger budget, I definitely feel like this concept is achievable in some capacity on any scale. I think a decent amount of content could be made by myself and a few helping hands and still be really special if the effort is condensed into a small amount of specific ideas. A possibility for bigger ideas and access to large-scale, immersive stuff would be fantastic, but it’s definitely not make-or-break. I think the core idea is definitely adaptable to wherever we end up in scale! :*)

 

- ig xoxo