New FORMATS for MusiC BY BEATIE WOLFE
A SERIES OF ‘WORLD FIRST’ DESIGNS THAT BRIDGE THE PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL
Beatie Wolfe has pioneered a series of ‘world first’ album designs in the digital age which bridge the physical and digital and were first presented in a solo exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. These include (to name a few): a 3D theatre for the palm of your hand; an intelligent album deck of cards; a wearable record jacket – cut by Bowie and Hendrix’s tailor out of fabric woven with Wolfe’s music – and an ‘anti-stream’ from quietest room on earth which was also the world’s first live 360 AR experience.
“My intention was to create experiences that took the best of the old and the best of the new. That kept Ceremony, Tangibility and Storytelling (which got lost in the move from physical to digital) at the core. ”
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Raw Space Chamber (2018)
The immersive museum experience
The Raw Space Chamber tells the story of Raw Space – the world’s first live 360° AR stream – in its new immersive, portable incarnation. Inside this anechoic chamber (wrapped in NASA-grade Mylar linking to Wolfe’s Raw Space Broadcast), visitors can immerse themselves in a magical and ceremonial listening experience, watching the record come to life via a vintage coin-operated viewport (converted into a VR/AR headset)
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World’s First 360° AR Livestream (2017)
Raw Space
Raw Space was released as the world’s first live 360 AR experience and ‘anti-stream’. Combining live 360 stereoscopic video of Wolfe’s physical record stream from the quietest room on earth, with real-time AR animations, the effect was a Fantasia-like live-streamed album, which ran continuously for a week with artwork that evolved every time the record spun. “With ‘Raw Space’, I wanted to create the anti-stream for our current streaming generation and really celebrate the world of the album – its artwork, arc, narrative, music – in a ceremonial and absorbing way that makes the listener feel like they’ve been transported into the world of the album, like I did opening up a record as a kid.” Wolfe follows in the footsteps of Andy Warhol, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg as a collaborator of Bell Labs’ E.A.T. programme
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The Space Broadcast (2018 + 2025)
The rawest sound in the Raw Space
Following its launch from the quietest room in the world, Raw Space was beamed into space via the historic Holmdel Horn Antenna, which was used to prove the validity of the Big Bang theory. Nobel Prize winning scientist Dr Robert Wilson (who discovered Cosmic Background Radiation) made the first update to this Historic National Landmark in 50 years to make sure the music of Raw Space got past the earth's atmosphere and into outer space. The Raw Space Broadcast was not the studio version of the album, but the raw anechoic version (no reverb, EQ or audio enhancements) recorded in the Bell Labs Anti-echo Chamber – Wolfe’s idea being that for the first time, raw anechoic sound would enter raw space as a true reflection of our humanity at a time of increased airbrushing, auto-tuning and AI
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The Album Jacket (2015)
Fashioning Music Into Art: A Truly Tailored Album Release
The Montagu Square Musical Jacket is a reimagining of the record jacket and a truly tailored album release for the 21st century. Wolfe recorded her second album Montagu Square in the former home of Hendrix, McCartney, Ringo, Lennon & Yoko Ono, and in the room where Hendrix wrote ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ and McCartney penned ‘Eleanor Rigby’. This live recording was then translated (complete with its ambient sound, resonance of the room and audience applause) into a woven fabric by textiles artist BeatWoven and cut by tailor Mr Fish – who dressed Hendrix, Jagger and Bowie – into the first Musical Jacket of its kind. The Jacket has also been NFC-enabled, allowing people to hear the music of Montagu Square by tapping their phone onto the fabric. Wolfe saw the Montagu Square wearable album jacket as a truly tailored album release for the 21st Century.
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Album Deck of Cards (2015)
Collaborating with the World’s Leading Designers
The Raw Space Album Deck is an update of Wolfe’s intelligent album deck of cards format, originally conceived for Montagu Square as a type of digital cassette tape. Produced in collaboration with ArtCenter College of Design and its Acting Chair of Graphic Design Sean Adams, each of the Raw Space song cards have been designed by a leading international artist - which includes Erik Spiekermann, Marian Bantjes, Astrid Stavro, Lucienne Roberts et al - to reflect their interpretation of Wolfe’s music. Listeners can simply tap the song card to their phone to instantly play the track and access its content—liner notes, lyrics, artwork, music VR videos etc—which is being updated all the time, giving the Album Deck the feeling of a “living” or dynamic vinyl.
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3D Interactive Vinyl (2013)
A Vinyl For Your Phone, A Theatre For The Palm Of Your Hand
For her debut album Wolfe wanted to put a record (the format she loved) onto a phone (a device now integral to people's listening) and so in collaboration with Design I/O pioneered the 3D Interactive Album App. This app opened up like a record with the liner notes, lyrics, artwork and music. But to give this experience a twist, the Palm Top Theatre was introduced to the release. By slotting your phone into the Palm Top Theatre, it was transformed into a miniature theatre in the palm of your hand and you could watch 8ight's 3D interactive visuals, filmed by Weavers Productions, come to life in a way that recaptured the magic of opening up a record and exploring its artwork
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Svalbard’s 10,000yrs Music Vault (2022)
Safeguarding the world’s most valuable music
The Global Music Vault (a seed bank equivalent for music) has invited Beatie Wolfe to be part of its Proof of Concept for safeguarding the world's most valuable music using green and durable storage technology. Beatie’s music will be included alongside the Polar Music Prize, The National Library of New Zealand, International Library of African Music and the International Music Council