TWIST MUSEUM

LONDON / UK EMEA

Below: 1,000 individually controlled LED spheres make up the bespoke Mind Hub exhibit at TWIST Museum.

By merging technology with the work of artists, psychologists, and neuroscientists from around the world, TWIST Museum, situated on London’s Oxford Street, has added a new avenue of exploration to one of the busiest high streets in Europe. Launched in November last year, the mission-critical audiovisual environments at TWIST – a clever acronym for The Way I See Things – was specified, installed, programmed and commissioned by AV integrator, Crossover.

Led by Managing Director David Sacks and Project Manager Ben Manning, Crossover’s team worked closely with the museum directors, consultants Artists & Engineers, creative design house MDM Create, and a host of hand-picked international artists to deliver an eye-catching 15,000 sq ft visitor attraction in the heart of London’s West End. “The concept is centred around illusions and it’s a family friendly experience with content that engages with all age groups,” explained Sacks. “The physical realisation of the space, which began as two basements joined together, was completed by MDM Create and then Crossover installed the AV technology and the centralised control systems. It was an ambitious project, run to a very tight timescale, but everyone involved has excelled and the finished venue is superb.” For Manning, watching the space transform from a big open space to a vibrant immersive journey was a particular highlight. “Having seen it develop from an empty shell to the finished project, I’m still able to come along as a visitor and appreciate what is happening within the exhibitions and take it all in properly,” he said.

The first exhibition visitors see with interactive technology is the Digital Mirror, which distorts peoples’ reflections in real time and was developed by multimedia artist Aristotle Roufanis. “This piece uses a Z CAM E2-M4 4K Cinema Camera, which feeds the images into a PC in the rack room where customised software manipulates the image,” said Manning. “It is then relayed back to a screen in front of the person in almost real-time.”

The screen used is a 65in LG UHF5-H, while the speakers set up across most of the open areas of the museum to provide background ambience are Biamp MASK6CT 6.5in.

Another of Roufanis’ creations is The Digital Kaleidoscope, a mirrored hexagonal tube where people who enter are immersed in a vibrant display of colours, patterns and their digital ‘reflection’ – all of which is influenced by their movements and interactions while inside the tube.

This exhibit features an Azure Kinect camera, which captures a person’s movement inside, and as they move the image is distorted using the same software as at the Digital Mirror. An Optoma ZU500USTe projector back-projects the manipulated movements onto a custom hexagonal screen from Screen International, which was supplied and installed by Crossover.

“This exhibit is a lot of fun, because not only does the person in the tube get to sense the effects of the warped reflections and projections, but so do the people outside who are looking in,” said Sacks. Visitors then move onto the enclosed, acoustically treated Audio Interactive Space, where they are surrounded by eight individually controlled Genelec 4430AM loudspeakers. This 360° surround sound room features soundscapes created by artist and composter Antoine Bertin, while customprogrammed LED lighting is synchronised with the audio to enhance the sensory impact.

“Our design team chose the Genelec POE speakers for their dispersion pattern and audio quality,” Manning described, noting that the Martin Audio SX110 sub installed in the ceiling “subtly enhances the bass”.. He added: “The sound dances nimbly around those within the space and, when combined with lighting effects synced to the audio content, the effect is really quite dramatic! This exhibit has the opportunity to evolve in coming months with different artists having the scope to do all sorts of things in there.”

One of the standout exhibits in TWIST Museum is the Mind Hub. In the centre of this darkened room there is a large cube with 1,000 individually controlled LED spheres hanging from the ceiling which, as they change colour, creates oscillating patterns and shapes. “This fixture was bespoke, as the LED structure was put together specifically for this site,” Sacks revealed. “It is a 10x10x10 matrix, and each RGB LED is addressable. Madrix Nebula SPI Controllers are installed above the fixture, driving the data to each LED, while the software that is running this exhibit is the same as the Digital Mirror and