Magritte Audio Experience
When the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW) hosted Australia’s first retrospective of surrealist, René Magritte, Audiocraft created an immersive, composition-led audio experience for the exhibition designed to surprise, delight and inform visitors across generations.
“Working with the Audiocraft team to co-create the Magritte exhibition audios was a top notch experience. They worked with our curators and content team seamlessly, met our music and script briefs expertly and incorporated our feedback with consummate professionalism. The beautiful results and high visitor engagement speak for themselves.”
— Francesca Ford, AGNSW
THE BRIEF
In 2024, AGNSW hosted Australia’s first retrospective of surrealist, René Magritte.
The exhibition was an in-depth retrospective featuring more than 100 works, most of which had never before been seen in Australia. It journeyed from the artist’s first avant-garde explorations and commercial works in the 1920s, to his groundbreaking contributions to surrealism, his surprising provocations of the 1940s, and the renowned paintings of his final years, before his death in 1967.
As an artist who has had a profound influence on contemporary visual culture, AGNSW wanted a companion audio tour that would help reflect and reveal the artist’s subversive sense of humour and the fierce independence of his artistic vision.
WHAT WE DID
From concept design to execution, Audiocraft approached this project holistically, working in constant collaboration with the curator, script writer and composer to develop the stories and audio worlds that would most effectively enhance the artist and the artworks being displayed on the walls.
Leaning away from the didactic tone of more conventional audio tours, this experience was created so that listeners could immerse themselves in sonic representations of the forms and colours being explored on the canvas; with the storytelling bringing to life the irreverence and playfulness of the artist who created them.
AGNSW reported that the tour amassed over 150K listens, with an average listening time of 90%.
CREDITS
Client: AGNSW
Executive Producer: Lorna Clarkson
Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan
Original Composition and Sound Engineer: Ravi Gupta
AGNSW Team: Edwina Throsby and Francesca Ford