The Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp commissioned Random Studio to think about how to translate their show into the digital. What kind of platform accommodates the diverse – and potentially last minute – range of works created by their large group of students?  

How to bring the energy and experience of the physical runway to the screen? We used the opportunity to think forward to the possibilities of future fashion shows.

In our vision, physicality remains at the heart of this digital architecture. We deconstructed the mechanisms and internal logic of the traditional fashion show, re-imagining how they could play out in virtual space in front of a global audience.

Through the traditional eyes of classic fashion show cameras, the visitor is invited to view and experience an innovative digital event. 2020.SHOWWW.be takes place in an online structure that references our shared understanding of space, but is enhanced using digital tools.

The platform independently showcases the elaborate creations of all 140 Bachelor students across three year levels and 9 Masters’ students in an event that unfolds live over a number of hours, and can then be rewatched on a timeline afterwards.

Challenging the perception of a model, the student’s work shimmies its way down the runway, in a novel way of showcasing fashion graduation content.

The choreographies of the real-life fashion take on a new shape on the platform. Here the virtual runway is located in a geometric space, ever changing to represent the collection on show.

Read more about how this project was conceived technically in this article on Medium, and see random.studio’s page which is full of great documentation.

Show: [https://2020.showww.be/](https://2020.showww.be/ "Antwerp Graduation 2020 Online Show")

Random.studio link: [https://random.studio/projects/a-virtual-fashion-graduation-show-for-the-royal-academy-of-antwerp](https://random.studio/projects/a-virtual-fashion-graduation-show-for-the-royal-academy-of-antwerp)

How its made: [https://medium.com/random-studio/alone-with-others-shared-online-experiences-decentralised-d3fdca35df3b](https://medium.com/random-studio/alone-with-others-shared-online-experiences-decentralised-d3fdca35df3b)

For = Royal Academy Antwerp
Role = Digital Art Director
With = Formats and Mechanisms (Creative Direction), Frédérique Albert-Bordenave (Creative Direction), Rachael Short (Producer) Larix Kortbeek (Technical Direction), Kevin Wang (Creative Technologist), Jurgis Lietunovas (Creative Technologist), Geoffrey Lillemon (3D Specialist/Sculptor), Ben Mingo (Web Design), Mark Prendergast (Video Edit), Christopher Tym (Video Edit), Words (Sophie Wright)

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A virtual fashion show for the Royal Academy of Antwerp

For the launch of Jacquemus’s new collection ‘Le Bleu’, Random Studio created a series of installations in Selfridges, London. Some more focused on retail, some less, and one without.

The works seen here are taken from the ‘Porte Cochere’, or ‘Le Vestiare’ - or, more English-ly, the “changing rooms”, an area not focused on retail but purely on ‘Experience’. The experience was that of a public swimming pool changing room in Provincial France. As you entered the front of the changing room, surrounded by a dilapidated 60’s parking garage/extension to the back of Selfridges, you were presented with an overwhelmingly blue room, one tone throughout the entire space, and a scent that conjured the hot summers of the South of France. 

From the distance you could hear people playing, splashing, shouting and screaming. Walking past the reception desk, you were situated between changing cabins, inside of each you could see movement, hear noises of different people inside. Some people having a phone call, some blowing up arm bands nervously, some showering with steam pouring out the top. Certain cabins had twists, the first cabins floor was completely filled with fans, and upon using the hair dryer a huge gust blew from beneath. The third cabin was just a series of cabins, getting smaller and smaller until a mini-bag was found at the centre. The final cabin contained an angry Simone Jacquemus, who would snap the door closed, shout at you and throw his towel over the top whenever you tried to enter... Finally at the rear, screens obscured behind glass gave the feeling of people moving through the space.

The end effect was something like walking through a movie set, one that you could actively participate in and be an extra in. It is part of a new genre or typology of spatial design, the ‘Experience’ space - perhaps more akin to theatre design than to traditional spacial design. Experience spaces are often very temporary, lasting a month or less, they are often ‘multi-sensory’, or at the very least extremely tactile, and there is an emphasis on them being photogenic, specifically does it work well with the front facing camera of a smartphone (spacial design led by the physical limitations of the wide angle lenses of a camera is a real thing).

This space and others like it has been labelled ‘Hyper Physical’ – *“Hyperphysical retail at its simplest is multi-sensory. It leans into the five senses of sight, sound, touch and potentially even smell and taste. That essentially captures what it means to be human,”* says Jacqueline Windsor, UK retail leader at PwC and a partner in the Strategy & Deals team. *“These pop-ups are a manifestation of that and are in response to the other side of the coin, which is digital and the rise of the metaverse, a parallel universe where consumers can increasingly socialise, work, shop and play.”* - Vogue Business 

While I’m not sure the smell of chlorine mixed with the sound of splashing water distills what it means to be human, this idea that these spaces are a celebration of returning to the physical from years of being in the digital resonates, but presents an interesting quandary when married with the fact that their purpose is to generate hype online. Rather than traditional advertising, paid adds and sponsor segments on instagram, having influencers and devout followers of the brand come and share their experiences is often a more effective way to get attention. These hyper physical spaces are really truly meant to belong online.

It’s an interesting thing when something you work on becomes an example of a movement, or a change in the way things are done, in this instance we weren't aiming to create a 'hyper-physical' space. For the team, it was a great opportunity to be given such a big platform to play, to come up with fun ideas, interesting designs, moments that excited people and made them laugh, to work at a scale that we never had before, to push the boundaries of ‘interactivity’. For myself, I was deeply inspired by Jacques Tati, the way that he captured the mundanity of the everyday, the hilarity and nonsensicality of modernity, and tried to capture the essence of his humour in the writing for the different cabins, through the arrangement of the space, the overwhelming simplicity. It was a chance in earnest to write a film, or a scene in a film, that anyone could act in. 

Theres a brilliant documentary of Jacques Tati where he talks about his experience working at a theatre in London, where everybody is dressed up, ready to be funny for a rehearsal at 7am sharp, and how inevitably deeply unfunny that rehearsal was. On his break, he walked out and through a market and found himself laughing at the butchers, green grocers, the people all around him just living their lives and the awkward, human situations that stemmed from them, remarking how they were funnier to him then anything planned. Talking about his film ‘Playtime’, he spoke about how, during a lunch break, he had the carpenters change the width of a serving hatch to be just small enough that tray the actor playing the waiter had rehearsed with no longer fit through the hatch. In the taping later, and in the final shot, you can see the actor completely stumped, unable to take the tray through, and the real confusion and desperation that ensued. In that way, I like to think that Jacques Tati would have loved this format of experience storytelling. 

Shout out to Cosima Antoine who shared the leading of the project with me, a brilliant spacial designer and creative, and to producer Rachael Short, without who there would be no project, one of the most devoted and caring colleagues I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.

Please see random.studio’s [page for more documentation.](https://random.studio/projects/intermingling-spatial-design-and-interactive-scenography-for-jacquemus)

For: Jacquemus, Selfridges
Role: Creative Lead
With: Cosima Antoine (Spatial Lead), Rachael Short (Producer), Morgan Maccari (Creative Direction), Ralph Kok (Technical Lead),    Philip Ghering (Creative Technologist), Fanny Dora (Spatial Designer), Karina Golubenko (Graphic Design), Lucas De Ruiter (3D Creative), Sytze Van Der Wolk (Creative), Sasha Gudkova (3D Artist), Souvenir Scenic Studios (Le Vestiaire + Corner Shop), MDM Props (24/24), In’n’out Fragrance (Fragrance design)

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Interactive scenography for Jacquemus

Throughout S. Salter’s album 'Juun', each track transports you to a different location. Song by song, a journey is formed.

‘A Walk With… S. Salter’ is a visual performance, and now a series of concerts that connects you to this journey. 

By immersing the audience in film recordings of the landscapes that inspired the soundscapes of ‘Juun’, you are transported through the same nostalgia and longing, the same thoughts and emotions that inspired S. Salter while writing the album Juun.

Over forty five minutes, the audience is taken on a journey through important locations to S. Salter, and the album Juun. Throughout the pandemic, the time when the album was written, Samuel Ruddick of S.Salter took walks through his neighbourhood of the Jordaan. During these walks, which were the only escape from the confines of the lockdown era, Samuel would write and rewrite different elements of the album. 

“I wanted to create a feeling of nostalgia within the album, which I tried to capture using certain sounds (including field recordings), chord progressions (the song ‘Swim’ I originally wrote around 10 years ago, so, even if only for myself, that was nostalgic), and images”

The artwork of the album, Juun, a photograph by collaborator Kerry Williams, evokes this nostalgic, emotive and sometimes sombre tonality of the album.

“The album is heavily influenced by the South West of the UK where I’m from, Cornwall and Dorset. The coastlines, seas, and forests from these areas are by far the biggest influences for this project”

Throughout the journey, the visuals take S. Salter, and with them the audience, from Samuel’s apartment, out onto his regular pandemic walk, before transitioning to these aforementioned locations – a mixture of coastlines and forest walks. 

For the live experience, a walk was paired with each act of the show, narratively fading between the streets of Amsterdam, where longing memories of these locations inspired the music, and the locations themselves, creating a dreamlike, ephemeral journey. 

At one point walking at dusk in Amsterdam, then dawn in the New Forest. 

By immersing the audience in large scale projection across both the rear wall and the floor of the venue, the medium of film transcends its surface and becomes environmental, literally taking the audience on a walk.. 

Having performed in Nxt Museum and Khroma, this is now on display at Khroma New Media Art Centre as an installation piece until the 10th of August.

Khroma New Media Art Centre: [https://khroma.berlin/s-salter/](https://khroma.berlin/s-salter/)
Nxt Museum Performance: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8rWcHzI15M&t=904s](https://khroma.berlin/s-salter/)
Press Release: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VwWE1ahqHXut9N_du9n1J3-BMVJ5a8XqBp6Ytckw6Ow](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VwWE1ahqHXut9N_du9n1J3-BMVJ5a8XqBp6Ytckw6Ow)

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Immersive concert for S.Salter with Sam McCormick

In celebrations of the 30th anniversary of Mugler’s iconic scent Angel, random.studio created a pop-up that blends fragrance and fashion at the Cornershop in London’s Selfridges.

Amplifying Mugler’s signature emphasis on volume and proportions, the pop-up is made up of giant fragments of a woman’s body that break up the space into a variety of retail experiences.

Seen from the street, the sculptural installation forms an abstract side view of a woman elegantly reclining. The curves, crevices and folds of the body are rendered in a reflective material that mirrors the viewer’s gaze, throwing back a distorted image – a nod to Mugler’s sense of humour and seduction.

Inside the Cornershop, visitors are invited on a journey through the body which slowly reveals itself, its interior forming shell-like structures coated in the signature Mugler blue. The leg houses the fragrance collection, unfolding around a drop-like refill fountain that allows customers to have their perfume bottles refilled before exploring the torso which cocoons a selection of pieces and a fitting room.

The body’s chest and buttocks create a dome for the final space: the Synesthesia Chamber. A concoction of light, sound and fragrance, this multi-sensory experience immerses visitors in the magic of the house’s eau de parfum Angel. A polyphonic soundscape of siren-esque voices coaxes visitors into the space and towards a scent sculpture, illuminated by undulating lights.

As the visitor approaches the drop-like structure, the lights intensify and the sculpture emits a short burst of fragrance whilst a projection lights up the space with stars which slowly transforms into the abstract shapes of heavenly bodies.

Our approach to the interior architecture of the space bridged the past and present of the brand’s fascination with the human body; a hyper-feminised, futuristic take on the silhouette born in the 80s and now shaped by the creative direction of Casey Cadwallader.


For: Mugler
Role: Experience Lead
With: Frédérique Albert-Bordenave (Creative Lead), Tiemen Rapati (Creative Lead), Kyle Kobel (Concept) Lucas De Ruiter (Spatial Design), Cosima Antione (Spatial Lead), Rachael Short (Producer), Lawrence Daykin (Producer), Ralph Kok (Technical Lead), Steve Buchanan (Interactive Soundscape)
Xylotek (Physical Production), Spatial (Immersive Audio), Beau Nox (Sound Design)

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The Bodyspace for Mugler

In 2019, developer Neil Chatterjee and I developed a series of genetic sculptures. There were lots of projects around this time, and indeed there are still many today, focused on the creation of sculpture with 'Artificial Intelligence', or Artificial Neural Networks, or GANs, basically, sculpture entirely created by computers not with computers. Often the results would be about creating images that looked similar to sculptures, images that could pass as sculptures, created by networks trained on huge libraries of existing works, however, in this way, these sculptures were bland averages. They were good at making sculptures that you would never think twice about, that passed the test of sneaking in as real objects. We felt dissatisfied with these approaches and outcomes and tried to create our own Generative sculptures, which I'll explain in not-so-brief way below.

The process was inspired by GANs emerging at the time, or 'Generative Adversarial Networks'. These networks consisted of a generator, and a discriminator. As something is generated, perhaps like our sculpture, or a line of text, or an image, the discriminator would determine its 'fitness', giving it a rating or fitness score, "how real is this image", "Does this text make sense" etc. based upon the dataset, each time, the generator and the discriminator would learn from each other and get better, arriving at more accurate and 'fit' results. With sculptures, however, there is no such fitness rating. 

What makes a good sculpture? People can make arguments for proportionality, for balance, harmony, but in the end these are almost entirely subjective. We can say what makes up a sculpture practically, *"Material, Place, Surface, Edge, Texture, Colour, Scale, Mass, Centre of Gravity, Volume, Space, Movement, Light and Memory"* according to Herbert George – but not what makes it good or even great. So we decided we would leave the discrimination to individual humans, but for generation we had to come up with a way to reliably generate sculptures, and to have their share traits per generation. 

To achieve this, each sculpture started as a cube, and a sequence of four steps was applied. First, face selection, this was any of the 6 faces, second, extrusion, this is the process of pulling away from that face a new one, and with it a new volume, the third process was rotation, and the fourth scaling. This meant that the sculpture was made up of building blocks, similar to DNA, that could be interchanged with other sculptures - our version of ACGT, or FERS (Face selection, Extrusion, Rotation, Scaling). In code, it looked something like this - 3,4,48,34,.....

Via this methodology, each sculpture 'generation' was randomly created, 100 individuals at a time, which was then followed by a selection process. Once a maximum of 4 favourites were decided, the other 96 sculptures were deleted. These 4 favourites then were interbred, resulting in 100 new sculpture children. In the creation process was an element of mutation, a specific amount of random-ness that would inspire evolution, new traits between the sculptures. This process was then repeated as many times as the participant felt needed to arrive at their perfect sculpture - often this process tended towards homogeneity as participants had biases towards certain looks or forms from the sculpture. 

In this way you are truly co-creating with the machine, not guiding it or shaping it, but encouraging it and dissuading it (dissuading is a nice way of saying culling the sculptures you don't like), your taste develops as does the code within the sculpture, arriving ever closer at an ideal. 

Reflected in the material of each sculpture is a portrait of its co creator. 