Frescoes at the Convention Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
CLIENTS
Albuquerque Convention Center
The City of Albuquerque
Artist Frederico Vigil
YEAR
2019-2020
ROLES
Art Direction
User Experience/User Interface
Exhibition Design
Director of Animation
Roles
Lead User Experience / Interactive Designer
Director of Animation
Tech + Industry
4K UltraHD multitouch displays
Art & Wine
Overview
Pairing together the art of winemaking and the vanishing art of fresco painting, the Albuquerque Convention Center features an interactive digital experience highlighting the commonalities and differences between the two art forms. The interactive experience aims to document the detailed progress of world-renowned Southwest artist Frederico Vigil, a seasoned and one of the last few artists to work in fresco. A massive 2500+ multi-story square foot fresco illustrates the New Mexico culture, agriculture, plant physiology, winemaking process, and the interstellar cosmic mythologies.
Due to the size of the mural, esteemed apprentices have practiced and contributed to the mural beside the artist. The exhibition provides a similar experience for those unable to descend the stairway to preview the fresco through a virtual tour-like experience. Visitors can also peruse the artist and apprentice biographies and their roles in creating the masterpiece. Additionally, the exhibit is a digital time capsule, allowing the capability to document the process, from the early stages of cartooning to the final piece. Ultimately, visitors will begin to see the parallelism of art and wine, where similarities in materials, process, procurement, and celebration are just a few themes they share.
The exhibit design utilizes a vertically mounted 65", 4K UltraHD multitouch display, allowing user-accessible controls for interactions and functions used by wheelchair-capable visitors. With ease, photo galleries and videos can be navigated and played. The global bottom-positioned navigation makes it easy for all guests to move between art and wine while experiencing the fresco in its beauty.
Challenges
• User Accessibility challenges for ADA accessibility
• Working with multiple parties to complete media and content as required by the exhibit
• Impacted working schedule and deadline due to COVID-19
Solutions
• Utilizing established user journeys and ada controls from pervious exhibits
• Adhering to project management workflows and working closely with project management
• Remaining adaptable and exceeding client expectations to mitigate further risk of delay
What I love about this project
This project allowed me to learn a beautiful process of art, Fresco, will showing me the similarities and differences it shares with wine, another favorite interest of mine. Additionally, the project resonated with me as a designer, who often, works with ADA accessible exhibits, and creating universal paradigms and usages for vertically mounted exhibits, and providing various ways for all visitors to interact and engage with these multimedia/digital exhibits.
DISCLAIMER:Photographs are copyright of their respective groups and owners and used here to illustrate ideas or physicality of digital products and experiences. Work displayed here may have been completed in collaboration with individuals and businesses.