"Pop Art meets Cadillac: N&M realises technical side of exhibition "Letters to Andy Warhol" in Munich
Following showings in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, the "Letters to Andy Warhol" exhibition had its only run in Europe at the "Isarforum" on Munich's Museum Island starting from 14th July. The exhibition refers back to a collaboration between Cadillac and the Andy Warhol Museum. The focus was on previously rarely displayed letters from the museum archive that had been written either to or by the Pop Art artist. The exhibition features exhibits from, among others, Yves Saint Laurent, Mick Jagger and the Museum of Modern Art.
Renowned visual artists, designers and musicians presented their multimedia interpretations of the letters - for example Sean Lennon, Derek Blasberg, J. J. Martin, Brian Atwood and Chiara Clemente, who created the short film "Screen Stories" with Sienna Miller, Francesco Clemente, Zac Posen, Aimee Mullins, Nick Rhodes and David LaChapelle. The exhibition was rounded off by works of art by Andy Warhol that thematise Cadillac and underline his special relationship with iconic, American brands.
At the beginning of August, works proposed by "Stroke" - the fair for emerging contemporary art (which attracted around 180,000 visitors in the last seven years) - replaced the exhibition with new attractions. "Cadillac House" also staged a vernissage exhibiting works by five largely undiscovered artists. The works had been selected as winners by the jury of the "Talenthouse" global artists' platform, which boasts 800,000 members. Up-and-coming European artists were called upon to reinterpret the subject of Cadillac in a style based on that of Andy Warhol. Coinciding with the start of "Letters to Andy Warhol", a branch of the New York "Cadillac House" opened its doors at the former Isarforum cinema. The new venue is a mix of a creative meeting place, gallery, showroom and café, and presents inspiring works from the worlds of art, fashion, culture and cuisine. Up to 31st August, visitors also had the chance to see two historic Cadillac models and gain an insight into the current portfolio at a scale of 1:1 and in the latest 3D technology.
"Avantgarde" commissioned N&M to plan and realise the lighting, video, audio and technical infrastructure for the exhibits. A Watchout media server system with four powerful client computers provided a synchronised display on seven media surfaces. Mona Schieder and Pasquale Zuppa from N&M's Munich studio had the job of realising the native provision of 28 seamless displays (four 46-inch displays formed one of the seven media surfaces) with an HD signal. The overall resolution was 26,880 x 2,160 pixels at 50 frames per second. A further computer was used to implement the multi-channel audio as well as the video presentation for a high-resolution LED wall. Four wallpaper displays with a depth of five millimetres showed a photo booth installation via streaming media adapters, while three further 46-inch displays were used for a virtual reality installation.
N&M project manager Florian Röchling and his team were responsible, among other things, for lighting the exhibition spaces in neutral-white light. All of the lights were either white or silver, and when selecting them, the N&M staff had to take the strict lighting specifications of the American museum into consideration. These included compliance with a specific illuminance to protect the exhibits. The right setting was created for the works with S4 mini-LED ellipsoidal spotlights. LED spotlights created coloured accents in the exhibition; atmospheric lighting for events came from additional, battery-powered LED spotlights. Prior to the event, the N&M team had set up the power supply for the exhibition as well as a WLAN system. Furthermore, the various exhibition zones were provided with their own individual sound, which is why the signals for the 40 or so loudspeakers could be routed accordingly.
Photos: Cadillac / Andy Warhol Museum