The Panorama music festival explodes this weekend on Randall’s Island, with headliners Kendrick Lamar, Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem. But with so many music festivals, Panorama is using art and technology to help set it apart.
At their studio in Williamsburg, Charlie Whitney and Philip Sierzega created a new game installation called "Giant Gesture."
"So we came up with an idea to re-interpret and re-imagine how we interact with our devices thousands of times a day sort of mindlessly, and sort of making it large so people can have fun with those gestures," said Philip Sierzega, Co-Creator of Giant Gesture.
At the Panorama Festival you can try your "hand" at faves like wack-a-mole, and if a giant foam finger seems a little awkward, that’s the point.
"Everything is getting smaller and I think bigger is a little more fun. So we're trying to tire people out and get them to use big gestures," said Charlie Whitney, the other Co-Creator of Giant Gesture.
Justin Bolognino and his company META.is are curating the art and technology part of the music festival. He says this year it's an added bonus. By next year it will be part of the draw. His selection process was simple.
"So fun was a big parameter,” said the Creative Director of The Lab at Panorama. “You know, the highest level of enjoyment for the quickest turn around was kind of the equation."
As for the other interaction of tech and music — holding up your smart phone the entire concert — these tech pros says enjoy this larger than life phone, then put yours down during the concert and be in the musical moment.