CASE STUDY

Lost Music Venues

Exhibition

V&A Museum South Kensington

Collaborators + Partners

About

Client

V&A Museum

Year

2026

Reach

400k+ Viewers

Context and Brief

Working in close collaboration with Misty Buckley and her team, Harriet Reed, Stewart Baxter from Hinterland Creative, and the incredible V&A team, we created the video and projection design for the V&A Museum’s new exhibition.

With our foundations deeply rooted in live music, we were proud to be commissioned by the V&A Museum to help bring Lost Music Venues to life.

Celebrating the lasting cultural impact of grassroots music spaces, the exhibition shines a light on the vital work being done to protect them for future generations, particularly by the Music Venue Trust. Through a powerful collection of archive material, photography, film, memorabilia and personal stories, it transports visitors back in time, creating a powerful experience for anyone with a passion for live music.

Services

Visual Design

Real-time Interactive Media

Projection Mapping

Project Type

Cultural Exhibition

Approach

Creative Vision + Art Direction

The intention was to complement the exhibition's physical set, enhancing its narrative clarity and emotional tone.

We wanted to evoke the atmosphere and memory of grassroots music venues, capturing a sense of nostalgia for the disappearing venues of the past while maintaining a restrained, analogue-feeling visual language to show the aesthetic of it, the beauty in the decay of layers of history.

A defining element of the creative vision was the use of LiDAR-scanned music venues to bring real spaces to life within the exhibition. Working from scans of existing venues, we developed a visual language that translated their walls, textures and materiality into atmospheric digital environments within the exhibition space. Through extensive experimentation, we explored how these scans could move and behave, preserving their authenticity and creating an immersive experience that reflected the history and character of grassroots music culture.

Technical

Implementation

The technical process combined emerging LiDAR scanning workflows with established real-time and compositing tools. Scan data was refined, optimised and integrated into a hybrid production pipeline, allowing the environments to be translated into high-quality projection media while preserving the authenticity established during the creative development.

Interactivity was a key part of the exhibition, with touchscreens inviting visitors to explore and engage in a more personal and participatory way. Interactive moments encouraged visitors to contribute their own perspectives and connect more deeply with the stories and themes explored throughout the exhibition.

Thanks to

V&A South Kensington + team
Misty Buckley (3D Designs)
Laura Woodroffe (3D Designs)
Harriet Reed (Lead Curator)
Kate Bailey (Senior Curator)
Raissa Pardini (Graphic Designer)
Stewart Baxter (Sound Designer, Hinterland Creative)

Team

Tom Bairstow (Executive Producer / Director)
Koro Fdez Ezkurdia (Senior Producer / Project Lead)
Stephanie Way (Senior Producer)
Lydia Caplan (Art Director / Creative Lead)
Dan Shufflebotham (Lead Technical Artist)
Charley Draper (Lead Technical Artist)
Luke Heathcote (Technical Artist)
Dana Couling (Creative Producer)
Liam Gilheany (Motion Designer)