AriaLumina is designed to enhance the appreciation of orchestral music for first time audiences by transforming key aural motifs into a key visual experience.
arialumina
- (a.)
- Art Direction
- (b.)
- Experimental Art
- (c.)
- Immersive Media
- (d.)
- Phygital Experiences
The Brief
The project's brief
Enhance the appreciation of orchestral music for wider audiences.
And we did - as part of Tech x Performance, in collaboration with musicians from Raffles Music College and NUS YST.
The Work
The Process
Making the motif visible
Field research into the landscape of performance arts surfaced a specific barrier: first-time listeners find orchestral music difficult to follow not because it is complex, but because they do not know what to listen for. Interviews with practitioners at Raffles Music College confirmed that making the motif explicit changes how audiences experience a live performance.
Aria Lumina was developed over ten weeks with iterative prototyping and close collaboration with musicians from both colleges. The approach was a projection-led spotlight system directing audience attention to the musician carrying the current motif, drawing on cinematic framing as a reference point. Testing with NUS YST musicians confirmed the visuals did not interfere with performance.
Orchestral music often used to carry an aura of elitism, creating barriers for new listeners. But we're trying to change that narrative.
Mark Sim, instructor at the Raffles Music College
If a first time listener knew what motif to look out for in different pieces, they would automatically start appreciating the performance.
The Outcome
Prototype and model
The project delivered a functional prototype and a validated interaction model within ten weeks.
Conductor-baton controls were not completed within the timeline. The interaction model is established for future iterations focused on first-time audience engagement.
