Recently by Emma Blankinship
Exhibitions
Nirvana Exhibition Drawing Crowds
Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses, an exhibition that pays homage to this significant Northwest band and the music scenes that surrounded it, has only been open a month, but is bringing museum visitors out in droves to
EMP in Seattle.
Both local and national press have been covering the exhibit, including
The Seattle Times,
MTV and
Rolling Stone, and praise the exhibit design approach for it's complexity, innovation and style.
Exhibition Curator: Jacob McMurray
Exhibition Graphic Design and Interactives:
Belle & Wissell, Co.Exhibition Design:
Wonder Mine
News
Programming Positions at Belle & Wissell, Co.
Belle & Wissell, Co. is looking for interface developers for full-time and contract employment. The scope of our projects is uniquely vast, so interest in new challenges across various mediums is key. We are currently working on: public art projects, museum media installations with software/hardware integration, single and multi-touch interfaces, programmatic motion design, WYSIWYG content management tools, projected works, experimental filmmaking, and 3D game engines.
If you can use 'interactive' as a noun and have experience with any of the following, you could be a good fit for our team: Flash/Silverlight, WPF, C++ (Cinder, openFrameworks), C#, and/or Unity (for media installations, interactive kiosks, and Web experiences). If you've got more, we'd like to know about it.
Email resumes and links to work samples:
info@bwco.infoPlease provide examples of practical experience that show past successful results.
Exhibitions
Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses Exhibit Opens
After nearly two years of preparation, fans and contributors came together to view the April 16th opening of the Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses exhibit. A unique combination of artifacts from Nirvana's heyday including hand-written notes, clothing and instruments are incased amongst streaming video interviews, life-sized photographs, and graphic-based maps. The collection is designed to depict the musical layout of the Pacific Northwest landscape and tell the story of a band that helped shape Seattle's history.
Along with exhibit graphic design, Belle & Wissell, Co. designed a confessional booth that serves as an interactive recording station for visitors and fans to contribute their personal Nirvana experiences to an ongoing video database stream. To use the interface, viewers watch other, prerecorded, Nirvana "confessions" and answer a queued question about an experience they remember having with or about the band. For example: "When was the first time you heard Nirvana?"
Beyond gathering the perspective of guests, the exhibit contains several interactive touch tables (Belle & Wissell, Co.) which display streaming interviews, music and album art, all selectable by by the viewer. Since the viewers' relationship to the band varies greatly, the interface allows the user chose how expansive or general their experience of topics is.
Addressing such a complexly personal piece of Seattle history was challenging, but by combining past artifacts with new technology, the Nirvana: Taking Punk To The Masses exhibit is a powerful and dynamic composite of experiences - connecting fans of all ages to a band and an era that changed music history.
Exhibit Graphic and Interactive Design:
Belle & Wissell, Co. Exhibit Design:
Wonder Mine.
Curatorial: Jacob McMurray and the
EMP curatorial team
Awards
Communication Arts Interactive Annual 17: Winner
Belle & Wissell's Born Presents: 417 • 903 project was selected as a winner in the
Communication Arts Interactive Annual 17, which hit newsstands in March.
Belle & Wissell would like to thank and congratulate all of the contributors who made this project possible:
Scott Benish, Lead Designer
Gabe Kean, Design Director
Thomas Ryun, Art Director
Amy Spreadborough/Anmarie Timble, Writers
Craig Ernst, Online Editor
Chad McMurray, Sound Engineer
Marq Dean, Project Manager
Edrea Lita, Associate Art Director
Adobe Systems, Inc., Consultant
Born Presents (Born Magazine), Client
For more information, please visit:
http://www.bwco.infohttp://www.bornmagazine.org/bookpreview/index.htmlhttp://www.commarts.com/interactive/cai11/BookPreview.html
News
Paccar Hall Wayfinding System: A Finalist for the Flash In the Can Awards
Finalists were announced last week for Toronto's annual Flash In The Can Awards. Belle & Wissell, Co.'s Paccar Hall digital wayfinding system for The University of Washington's business school is among those nominated for a Flash Usability and People's Choice awards.
See a video of this project
here.
An interactive directory provides students and faculty with real-time information from multiple data sources, revisions to locations of people and departments, and navigation through the complex floor plans and multi-level building entrances. The project also includes a digital donor program with touch interfaces and passive digital displays to clearly credit the contributions that made Paccar Hall possible. Additionally there is a business Twitter feed interactive that streams constant news from up to twelve Twitter feeds like The Economist and The Wall Street Journal.
Winners for FITC will be announced at the ceremony on May 3. Fans of Belle & Wissell can cast their vote for the People's choice by visiting the
nominees page.
Exhibitions
Nirvana Exhibition Opens April 16
Exhibit runs: April 16,2011-April 22, 2013http://www.empsfm.org/exhibitions/index.asp?articleID=1548Belle & Wissell, Co. collaborated with EMP to create an exhibition celebrating the music and history of Seattle grunge luminaries, Nirvana.
Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses will be a large-scale exhibit that includes media interactives, large-format graphics, and artifacts representing the various communities and music of the Pacific Northwest during this era. It will examine how the energy, youthful angst, and local culture of the time merged to change the music industry forever.
View installation photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/empsfm/sets/72157626334265172/Belle & Wissell, Co. provided exhibition graphic and interactive design.
Exhibit design by Wonder Mine.
Curatorial work by Jacob McMurray and the EMP curatorial team
Events
Jini Dellaccio Documentary Film Fundraiser
This past weekend marked a special occasion for collaborators on the upcoming documentary film about legendary rock photographer Jini Dellaccio. This past Saturday, Northwest Film Forum hosted Behind the Lens: Jini Dellaccio Documentary Fundraiser & Extended Trailer Premier
e.
Belle and Wissell has been shooting this independent film for director Karen Whitehead (Five Star Films) over the past year. The production team includes renowned local filmmaker John Jeffcoat (Director of Photography, creator and director of Outsourced) and cinematographer Ryan McMackin (as Assistant DP / Gaffer). Belle & Wissell will also be providing an art direction role as post-production begins.
Among her many supporters, Jini Dellaccio was in attendance. At age 94, she's enjoyed a lustrous career, having captured images of some of rock history's most important figures including: Neil Young, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Sonics, Merrilee Rush, and many more.
To support the project with a donation, visit:
http://cargocollective.com/dellacciofilm#1066246/Donate
News
Art Category Finalist
Retrospective Book Preview:
Born Presents 417 • 903 is a
SXSW Interactive Awards finalist
in the category of Art.
The Interactive Awards Ceremony will take place Tuesday, March 15, and will seek to uncover the best new digital work (from websites to web applications and beyond).
Born Presents: 417 • 903 (designed by Belle & Wissell, Co.), is a finalist in the category of Art.
Born Presents: 417 • 903 is a retrospective preview of
Born's developing multimedia/book project that showcases the creativity and talents of those who have conceived some of its most inspiring work. For over fourteen years, Born has brought together hundreds of volunteers to create an unprecedented history of creative collaborative arts on the web and beyond.
http://www.bornmagazine.org/bookpreview/
