Beyond the Road Immersive Exhibit

This summer, the top floor of London’s famous museum for contemporary art, Saatchi Gallery, hosted a ground-breaking, fully immersive exhibition, Beyond the Road

Collaborating with world-renowned artists, filmmakers and photographers, Punchdrunk’s creative producer and director, Colin Nightingale and Stephen Dobbie, deconstructed an exclusive soundtrack by music pioneer James Lavelle (Unkle). Curated to merge the worlds of visual arts, music, and film, the exhibition was brought to life by multimedia artist, Tupac Martir of Satore Studio and Satore Tech.  

The aim was to reinvent how people experience and interact with music, resulting in a completely new and multi-disciplinary sound experience that visitors were free to explore; a chance to leave behind modern-day life and lose themselves in a multi-sensory world led by sound.  

Martir and James Lavelle had worked together on tours for years and regularly discussed merging aesthetics and new technologies. They started talking about the concept of Beyond the Road two years ago. It became clear that Martir’s visual concept, which centered on holographic dancers moving around, needed to be both a part of the live show and art. Music is the driving force of the exhibition, so it was important to use technologies that allowed the music to create the environment. 

On a technical level Martir used two key pieces of technology to fulfil his interactive installation called, ‘Eriya’ or ‘to feel’ in indigenous Mexican language:  

  • Notch - the visual creation tool for interactive motion graphics 
  • HYPERVSN - 3D Integrated Holographic System 

Satore Studio invests heavily in R&D and technology. In a world that sometimes finds itself on autopilot, Martir is committed to developing new ideas and solutions, which in turn enable truly bespoke experiences.  

When looking at what he wanted to achieve through a combination of technologies and timings, it was only natural for Martir to use Notch as part of his workflow and creative ideas. All VFX was created using Notch. This meant he was able to respond to the movement, especially to how the depth within the HYPERVSN wall was looking. By being able to add and subtract within seconds of seeing the image gave him all sorts of flexibility. It enabled him to create a piece that felt ephemeral, but, at the same time, allowed visitors to feel as if the dancer was there with them. 

The only other technology used outside Notch was the work Martir did to key out the green from the A7 camera. Martir created a double recording device between Microsoft Kinect and an A7 camera. This meant he had to make sure the depth and angle were exact, in order to be able to match them in post. He recorded both of the outputs, Kinect within Notch and the camera, on its own.  

Media reviews from the exhibition: 

  • “This is no ordinary show” – Channel 4 News 
  • “A listening experience that’s a feast for all the senses” – NME 
  • “If you’ve never experienced anything like this, it’s time you did” – Shots.net