Last Friday (9/30) on the Washington Post online, Anne Midgette writes, “The new music museum of the 21st century is high-tech, cutting-edge, interactive. It’s a place where music is made, not simply heard. It’s filled with different ways to make sounds. And chances are that Tod Machover had a hand in designing it. … He has developed a number of high-tech musical instruments that can be played with a movement of an arm, a touch of a finger. And almost any time someone wants to build a music museum, Machover is called in as a consultant. … What is the goal of music museums? There are, of course, musical instrument museums, designed to preserve specific collections of objects. But ‘music’ is a more abstract concept. Many museums have a certain amount of memorabilia, such as Seattle’s Experience Music Project, on which Machover also consulted and which opened the same year as the Haus der Music, in 2000. It also incorporates an element of interactivity so people are not just looking at exhibits but also making music themselves. … Rather than new distinct museums of music, the past few years have seen a number of high-tech performing arts centers that incorporate interactive music centers within the building.”
Posted October 7, 2011
