Intel x Smithsonian American Art Museum Campaign

The Smithsonian Institution has a goal: to reach a billion people. Now with virtual reality, they have the power to expand beyond their physical walls, transport artworks, and share their collection with anyone in the world. We followed the story, coast to coast, to capture how Intel and the Smithsonian are ushering in the future of the museum experience.

Role: Art Director

a museum for the many

A hero long-form video (above) and a four-part episodic collection with over 10 million views tell our story. From the white halls of the Renwick Gallery to Marco Cochrane's dimly-lit studio littered with the silhouettes of statues to Sansar Studios where virtual reality blends with actuality, we follow our cast of craftsman and learn what accessibility means to each of them.

While the initiative to digitize the Smithsonian's collection begins with the exhibit "No Spectators, the Art of Burning Man," we strayed from anything that could be seen as commercialization of the famously non-commodified festival. By using filtered lenses in camera and layered dissolve effects in post, we created a dream-like atmosphere reminiscent of the playa.

Nora & No spectators

Nora Atkinson (pictured above, center) is the curator of the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery and a trailblazer of a curator at that. The Renwick is dedicated to American contemporary craft, which gives it leeway to be more exploratory than traditional museums—something Nora certainly hasn't shied away from. Just steps from the White House, she's created a playground for artists of the modern world.

Speaking with Nora as we were shaping our story, she told us her dream of creating a 'third museum' to the Smithsonian's two existing galleries that wasn't bound by the footprint of a building. She wanted something accessible that allowed for people around the world to interact with the treasure trove of the Smithsonian's archive.

One of the ten principles of Burning Man is participation, and the idea of No Spectators is that everyone is invited to engage with the artwork. Unlike most museums, visitors are invited to touch and interact with the pieces.

marco

During initial concepting, we focused in on our hero artwork to feature Marco Cochrane's Truth is Beauty statue—a shimmering and towering 18-foot figure of a woman in the nude. Not only was it awe-inspiring, but also one of the most difficult pieces in the gallery to bring into VR because of the intricacy of it's mesh layers. We knew we had to try and get Marco's perspective into our story.

His studio on Treasure Island was strewn with nude figures in all sizes, larger-than-life body parts hauntingly placed across the floor and strung from the supports. At the center stood Marco. He told us how he was shadowed by the abduction & assault of his childhood friend and now brings women's issues to the forefront of his work.

"My work has a message: 'What would the world be like if women were safe?'—It would be better for all of us."

When we asked him about his work being brought into virtual reality, he saw it as a new tool to get his message out to the world.

large-scale print

Artwork created to promote the collaboration between Intel and the Smithsonian, placed at the Intel HQ in Santa Clara.

Intel's Debut on IGTV

In a last-minute request, we were asked to put the four episodes of the series on IGTV, making the Smithsonian project Intel's first ever publication on this channel. We had to re-edit the videos for vertical; I adjusted all the graphics to be mobile-friendly, created cover art per episode and recommended a 'poster' story post for each to drive people to Intel's channel which was implemented. Viewership for the episodes totals at 27,000 views.

Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4