Nina

This project started with the ambition to revive the millions of hours of audiovisual content that have been digitized around the world. Its outcome shows how travelling can become a moment of cultural immersion. It also defines how these once-in-a-lifetime experiences can be relived and travel to reach new audiences.

In recent decades, millions of hours of audiovisual content have been digitized. Notably, recordings of every single performance from Montreux Jazz Festival since its first edition in 1967, are now available as digital copies. But how can we bring this wealth of digitized heritage back to life?

The research conducted by the EPFL+ECAL Lab, in close cooperation with EPFL Architecture Studio ALICE, seeks to take our digital heritage to a new level. It aimed to offer a social and immersive experience to the audience and strengthen its relationship with the original concert and artist.

Embracing principles of immersion, augmentation, physicality, acoustics and interaction Nina is a compact and itinerant installation that brings cultural legacy to new audiences. Starting from the shell of a small car, the team of designers, engineers, sound technicians and architects worked together to create a unique and immersive space dedicated to music.

Enriching the experience, the Virtual Reality installation Scene-o-scope presents the cultural and human context which forged this unique festival: its lively atmosphere and contributions by artists such as Max Bill, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. It also shows the places which have woven unique connections between world-famous musicians and the genesis of the song Smoke on the Water, inspired by the concert hall burning down on Lake Geneva.