The city’s interactive speaker’s corner of Montréal.
Mégaphone is an art installation about reappropriating public space through speech, giving everyone an opportunity to join in on the discussion. This project was my first assignment as a lead with the interactive team at Moment Factory.
Agency : Moment Factory
Client : National Film Board of Canada & Quartier des spectacles, Montréal
Role : Design & Art direction
The project:
At a time when cities are looking for new ways to bring life to their streets and public spaces, the interactive Megaphone installation invites Montrealers and visitors to gather downtown to explore the festive side of public speaking. The installation was chosen to occupy the Promenade des Artistes in the heart of Quartier des Spectacles, from September to November 2013.
As participants speak, their voices are transformed, in real time, into images projected onto the façade of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), leaving their visual “footprint” on the urban landscape. The speaker’s words also are transferred to a voice-recognition system developed by the Computer Research institute of Montreal (CRIM) and specially adapted for Megaphone. A transcription of the words is then used to enhance the visual space as well as feed the database that informs the video content being projected when the megaphone is not in use. This effectively reflects what has been said while providing an overall picture of the sound clips that have been stored.
Megaphone is a creation of Moment Factory, directed by Étienne Paquette.
Role :
I joined the project once the main concept was approved. While my primary task was to create the Mégaphone branding, I quickly became co-art director and developed viable design solutions for the entire experience. I led the engineering team and remained a key player until the project's final integration.
Credits :
Producers: Hugues Sweeney (National Film Board of Canada) and Pascal Lefebvre (Quartier des spectacles)
Conception and Direction: Alexandre Lupien, Étienne Paquette
Production: Geneviève Forest, Marie-Ève Meilleur, Johanna Marsal
Artistic direction: Léa Behr & Arnaud Spuhler
Stage design: Maryline Thibault
Interactive content: Pascal Michel, Sophie Midavaine, Arnaud Spuhler, Jacob Dufossé, Marc-André Baril
Technology and Innovation: Vincent Pasquier, Guillaume Lévesque, Samir Ounnoughi, Marouane Sahbi, Dominic Audet
Sound editing: Cassidy Lerman
Voice recognition system designer: Computer Research Institute of Montreal (CRIM)