In 2024, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) engaged Audiocraft to produce the companion audio stops for its 2025 Winter Exhibition: Cezanne to Giacometti. The resulting bold, music-enhanced production journeyed beyond the often-told stories about the works on display, to dive into the ideas and individuals that sparked artistic rebellion.
Cézanne to Giacometti Audio Companion
“A highly contextualised, thoughtful, and conversational exhibition which maps out a decades-long conversation of modern ways of seeing.”
— Erin Stewart, ARTS HUB
THE BRIEF
In 2024, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) engaged Audiocraft to produce the companion audio stops for its 2025 Winter Exhibition: Cézanne to Giacometti: highlights from Museum Berggruen / Neue Nationalgalerie.
The exhibition presented a journey through the dynamic changes in European and Australian art in the twentieth century, and the NGA wanted to capture this same rebellious, dynamic and influential spirit in the storytelling and sound design of the accompanying audio.
WHAT WE DID
Having a successful and ongoing creative relationship with a partner like the NGA allows for a streamlined and highly collaborative production process. This meant we could enter into the project design phase guided by an already deep understanding of the NGA brand.
Time was initially invested in defining and co-designing the direction, facilitated through multiple workshops with the exhibition curator and the NGA digital team. After ensuring the creative direction aligned with the Gallery’s vision and intention, we were able to move quickly towards an agreed approach that would best suit the exhibition outcomes.
Audiocraft was then able to lead the script development, able to develop the specific nuance required to match the tone of the exhibition. Once achieved, we then shortlisted and engaged author and advocate, Bri Lee to voice the scripts, her selection a perfect alignment to the spirit of the content being presented.
With the storytelling and storyteller in place, the sound worlds were then constructed, using bold music selections and thoughtful sound design to bring these rebellious artists and artworks to life.
For launch, we were able to deliver 12 audio stops that perfectly capture the innovative spirit of the exhibition on display, connecting gallery visitors to the ideas and individuals that sparked artistic rebellion. Post-event data showed higher than expected engagement with visitors who accessed the audio tour, listening - on average - to all available stops from start to finish.
CREDITS
Client: National Gallery of Australia (NGA)
Producer: Olivia O’Flynn
Sound Engineer: Laura Brierley Newton
AGNSW Team: Marika Lucas-Edwards, Ryan Blake and David Greenhalgh
Executive Producer: Lorna Clarkson