A screen in a Manchester square invites passers-by to join in, a two-hour Wonderland opens in London, and a Barbican sound exhibition prepares for its first run in Japan. Each asks a different question about how visitors find their way into an experience.
Peter J. Knight
MCP | Creative Labs
There’s an awkward moment at the start of any interactive experience: the visitor has to work out what they’re supposed to do. That might mean taking a turn in front of a screen, finding the right door at the right time, or realising that the sound in a room is something they can feel. This week’s three projects offer different ways to think about that first encounter.
Manchester: taking turns in front of a public screen
First Street scheduled the launch of IMAGINE for Thursday 12 November in Tony Wilson Place. The free installation is listed for the Christmas season, with daytime and evening operation. A participant speaks a prompt, and the screen shows them as the character they’ve asked for. SUPERMASSIVE’s account of the installation explains that a depth camera tracks the participant’s silhouette, so their movements carry through to the character on screen.
In a public square, quite a few people will see the result before they know how to take part. That makes the spectator’s view useful: watching someone else can teach you more quickly than a sign. But the first turn still needs to be obvious. Where do I stand? When can I speak? How do I know the last person’s session has finished? I’d test those questions with someone who’s just walked up, in daylight as well as after dark.
A public prompt also needs a plan for things that don’t work. Background noise, an unclear request or a result that takes too long can all leave the next person wondering whether to step forward. Before opening, agree what the screen shows when it’s waiting, how a member of staff can reset it, and what visitors are told about the microphone and camera. These are questions to ask of any such installation; the public listings don’t say how this one handles them.
London: a two-hour Wonderland with little room to wait
Alice Immersive Wonderland opens at Dock X in Canada Water on Friday 13 November. The production takes visitors through ten spaces with sets and live performance. Southwark Council’s listing puts the full journey at about two hours, including a 20-minute projection-mapped finale. The producer’s visitor information says the route is step-free and that there is very little room for early arrivals to wait. It asks visitors to arrive no more than five minutes before their booked slot.
That last detail tells you something the floor area doesn’t. A route can have plenty of space overall and still have nowhere to put a group that arrives early. Equally, if a scene regularly runs long, there’s only so much a timed ticket can do for the groups coming up behind it. I’d rehearse with two or three groups close together and watch where they bunch up, especially at the handover from a live scene into the finale. It’s also worth agreeing what happens when a guest needs to pause, take a quieter route or leave early.
The operator’s FAQ says there are no dedicated SEND sessions currently listed and gives a route to ask about quieter times. That distinction is useful. Step-free access tells visitors something about getting around the building; it doesn’t tell them how busy or loud a session will be.
Tokyo: how do you tour a room that vibrates?
MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives plans to open Feel the Sound in its Box1500 space on 20 November, running to 22 March 2027. The Barbican Centre devised and produced the exhibition, and the Tokyo museum is co-producing this presentation, its first in Japan. The museum’s November press update describes work that uses music and vibration as well as sound. The opening overlaps with MUTEK.JP, which runs at the same institution from 20 to 23 November in other spaces including Box1000 and Box300.
A sound exhibition is a good test of what can travel. You can send a playback file anywhere. How a vibration reaches somebody leaning against a surface, or how much of the next work you hear across a doorway, depends on the building and how the work sits in it. For a touring producer, I’d put those conditions in the brief alongside the kit list: where visitors stand or sit, what counts as an acceptable result, and who signs it off after installation.
There’s a separate question for the venue team. A gallery visitor and someone arriving for a live performance may need different directions, tickets and access information, even under the same roof. Opening-week programming gives both audiences a reason to come. It also gives the front-of-house team two different journeys to make clear.