Poesy-Praxis

During the London Design Festival I was running all over town covering the events for both Designklub and MoCo Loco.  My very last stop, on my very last day in London, was to the V&A (which was fitting given it’s my favorite museum there).

Tucked away in one of the furthest corners of the building was the 11th Tapestry, an interactive projection created by KikiT VisuoSonic.  Set alongside the V&A’s 15th century Devonshire Hunting Tapestries, the digital tapestry was designed to change, based on movements and sounds in the gallery.  The effects were truly stunning.  In a room where many visitors give the artifacts a brief glance, this installation stopped people in their tracks.  While I was there visitors were completely engaged; clapping, chatting, anything to try and activate the tapestry’s response.

The project itself was so impressive that it made me wonder why the museum didn’t capitalize on this captive audience.  It seemed like the perfect opportunity to share more information about the historic tapestries that surrounded us and link the changes in the digital version to the centuries old originals.   While the 11th Tapestry made me examine the artifacts a little more closely, some context would have made this installation educational as well as beautiful.