This latest accolade follows hot on the heals of being honoured for Temporary Installation Project of the Year at the inaugural Pro Sound Awards for the V&A's fastest selling exhibition to date, David Bowie is which ran for five months between March and August this year. The exhibition was one of the museum's most successful exhibitions with around 312,000 visitors and pre-booked ticket sales reaching more than 67,000 prior to opening. The exhibition was the first international retrospective of the extraordinary career of David Bowie, exploring his creative processes as a musical innovator and cultural icon.
The sound experience was integral to the exhibition design and Sennheiser's guidePORT audio guide system ensured that every visitor could immerse themselves in Bowie's music, art, and style. The system seamlessly integrated sound material into the tour of the galleries and automatically provided music and narrative when visitors approached the exhibits.
The audio voyage culminated in a Sennheiser 3DAudio experience, where visitors were enveloped by a dramatic multi-media performance of David Bowie's music played through hidden Neumann KH series loudspeakers.
Geoffrey Marsh, co-curator of the exhibition said, "David Bowie is integrated over 300 objects and costumes from the David Bowie Archive with high quality sound and video to create a seamless evocation of Bowie's career over five decades. It was the first major UK exhibition where sound was an integral part of the interpretation.
"Working with Sennheiser on audio delivery was a fantastic opportunity. They pushed the boundaries as to how sound can evoke, provoke and inspire visitors and they created a genuinely multi-media museum experience which was a challenging objective but one the V&A are delighted to have realised with Sennheiser's support and expertise."
"We are very proud to have worked with the V&A on the David Bowie project," says Phil Massey, general manager at Sennheiser UK. "Being honoured with an AV Award shows that our work is appreciated by the industry which is delightful."
Sennheiser continues to support the David Bowie is exhibition as it goes on tour to a number of leading venues of art and design around the world and is currently showing at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Canada until 27 November.
Additionally, Business Installation of the year went to turnkey audio visual solutions company Feltech Electronics for the installation at construction and agricultural equipment company JCB's Presentation Theatre, which also features a Sennheiser guidePORT system.
(Jim Evans)
