Ever found yourself at Artechouse thinking, “This could use a killer soundtrack?” Good news for you: the immersive venue has teamed up with storied music publication Rolling Stone for an outing that brings the live experience to, well, life.
Titled “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience,” the showcase transforms the magazine’s photography archive into a 270-degree deep dive into rock history. There are more than 1,000 images, 200 videos, and 1,300 Rolling Stone covers. There’s a soundtrack of classics. You’ll encounter some 300 musicians—from Patti Smith and the Sex Pistols to Snoop Dogg and Radiohead. It’s like being in a mosh pit, we’re promised.
Installation view of “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience” at Artechouse. Photo: ATH Studio.
“This is just another way to reach out to fans—whoever they’re fans of, no matter how old they are—to bring them into the experience of music,” Joe Levy, music director of “Amplified” and former music editor of Rolling Stone, told me at the preview. “And I think that’s what the magazine did.”
The 50-minute journey is split into distinct chapters. “Backstage” and “The Band,” which open the experience, transport viewers into the concert venue for a glimpse into how the likes of David Bowie and Lizzo prepare to take the stage. “Fans” explores the adulation that greets artists (Beatlemania is aptly spotlit), while “Studio” and “The Message” unpack songwriting processes. There are also sections for “Cars,” an enduring motif in songs, and “Hair,” key to the appeal of such musicians as Elvis Presley and Frank Zappa.
Installation view of “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience” at Artechouse. Photo: ATH Studio.
Between needle drops—the Who’s “My Generation” and Blondie’s “One Way or Another” among them—is narration by Kevin Bacon, actor and member of the Bacon Brothers. “It’s a voice you know,” said Levy. “It’s a rasp that’s pure rock ‘n’ roll.”
When it came to crafting “Amplified,” the creative team had more than enough to work with. Rolling Stone magazine, in publication for nearly six decades, has been present for some of popular culture’s most significant moments (at times writing itself into rock history). Along the way, it has amassed a substantive trove of archival photographs—numbering upwards of 60,000 images—created by names including Lynn Goldsmith, Bob Gruen, Janette Beckman, Mark Seliger, Danny Clinch, Anton Corbijn, and Neil Preston.
IDLES in concert, from “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience” at Artechouse. Photo: Sacha Lecca.
Led by Jodi Peckman, the experience’s executive producer and former creative director of Rolling Stone, the photo research and editing process took about two years, according to Levy. Whittling down the number of images was a months-long endeavor, he explained, as was “putting them on a screen and seeing how they play in the room.” In this, rock photography proved itself a versatile format.
“Music imagery is about experiences,” said Peckman in a statement. “It’s about the unbridled joy of concerts and our connection to our favorite artists.”
Installation view of “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience” at Artechouse. Photo: ATH Studio.
“To be able to deliver these photos 40 feet high, bigger than the actual event, is to really communicate the power of the photograph and put you in that moment,” Levy said. “If you have them in a magazine, if you have them on your computer, they’re powerful. But the difference between having them on your phone in the palm of your hand and having it surround you is indescribable.”
Such an immersive showcase, too, is not that alien to the rock ‘n’ roll experience. Levy pointed out the psychedelic light shows of the 1960s—lava-lamp art that accompanied the concerts of West Coast bands such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship. Just as transportive were Andy Warhol’s traveling multimedia extravaganzas, known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, which combined film, performance art, and the sounds of the Velvet Underground. “Popular music,” Levy noted, “has grown hand in hand with technology.”
Installation view of “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience” at Artechouse. Photo: ATH Studio.
And as with those other developments in popular music, Rolling Stone is not sitting this one out.
“The magazine, in its genius, recognized that rock ‘n’ roll was more than just music—it was also culture, politics, style, all of these things,” he said. “I like to think that the show delivers all of that. Everything that the magazine stands for and wants to communicate about music, you can find here in the show and the story that we’re telling.”
“Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience” is on view at Artechouse, 439 W 15th St, New York, and 600 W. 6th Street, Houston, Texas.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
