Ascoltando la Corte

Ascoltando la Corte explores how technology can illuminate history, focusing on the development of music and craftsmanship in two Italian Renaissance cities, Ferrara and Modena. In the late 15th century, music was a diplomatic ritual for the construction of power for the Este Family in Ferrara, featuring a polyphonic structure. Two centuries later, music was transformed as a result of the Church’s withdrawal of investiture to the family, forcing them to retreat to Modena. New genres that preferred solos to overlapping sounds emerged as the relationship between music and words evolved. The family has preserved exquisite musical instruments carved from marble and wood, and numerous manuscripts of music scores from these two periods.

metaLAB-affiliated designers and scholars will experiment with novel modes of presenting digital and sensory data in gallery contexts, using 3D modeling, light and sound, mapping, and data-driven mechanical installations. Ultimately to be realized in an immersive gallery exhibition, the project challenges the common practice to privilege the visual in exhibitions, and asks how digital methods can expand the experience to other senses. Ascoltando la Corte is produced in collaboration with the Gallerie Estensi in Modena, Italy.

Exhibition

Gallerie Estensi, Modena, Italy

Fall 2020/Winter 2021 (tentative)