TURIN, Italy – Museo Nazionale del Cinema turned to Giorgio Ferrero of MYBOSSWAS for an exhibition on Canadian filmmaker James Cameron’s artistry. Ferrero, working with DADA Servizi Musicali, chose dBTechnologies’ IS passive installation series for the project. The exhibition, The Art of James Cameron: A Cinematic Odyssey, runs through June 2025.
More details from dBTechnologies (www.dbtechnologies.com):
“The Art of James Cameron” is a journey into the heart of his cinematic imagination: from the dystopian vision of The Terminator to the poetic worlds of Avatar, through the epic tales of Aliens and Titanic, the exhibition is housed in the “Museo Nazionale del Cinema” located inside the Mole Antonelliana, a renowned architectural landmark in Turin, Italy, known for its unique design and towering height featuring a panoramic platform at the top for breathtaking views of Turin and the Alps.
The exhibit is far more than a retrospective or an audiovisual experience. It is a monumental, immersive, multisensory installation — an “autobiography through art,” to quote Cameron’s own words. The exhibition unfolds across six thematic sections and showcases over 300 original props including drawings, paintings, costumes, photographs made or adapted by Cameron himself. His inexhaustible search for new techniques to realize his creative vision is also expressed through rich multimedia experiences.
The exhibition’s meticulous sound design delivered by dBTechnologies’ IS passive installation series selected for the series high-definition acoustic performance and seamless aesthetic integration within the museum environment.
Creative lead Giorgio Ferrero of the creative studio MYBOSSWAS describes the project’s genesis: “About a year and a half ago, the museum’s management approached me with the idea of designing an installation dedicated to Cameron.” Ferrero continues: “We envisioned a great translucent magic lantern at the center of the Mole, harmonizing through color and sound making the entire building resonate within a single imagined space. The artistic direction at the Avatar Alliance Foundation loved the concept — and so we brought it to life.”
The audio design was developed by MYBOSSWAS, with implementation and operational support from DADA Servizi Musicali. Quadraphonic configurations enhance the realism of the sound through four channels resulting in a wider dynamic range, allowing for more detailed and nuanced sound reproduction across six audio stations distributed along the museum’s spiral path. Each station is defined by an original track and a unique sonic identity.
The soundscape was composed by Giorgio Ferrero and Rodolfo Mongitore: “We imagined and composed a musical and sonic landscape capable of resonating harmoniously within the Mole, aligned with the energy and emotional charge found in James Cameron’s art. Each station represents a component in the score — a kind of orchestra stretched along the museum’s ramps. It’s an immersive sonic experience, resonating at low volumes and enveloping visitors in the ether of the exhibition.”
An important factor in creating the immersive experience effectively, was the selection of dBTechnologies’ IS series loudspeakers: “We needed highly directive speakers able to define the sonic space precisely without interfering with adjacent stations” Ferrero explains. “The quadraphonic setup proved optimal as the IS series speakers are visually discreet and naturally blend into the museum space, while delivering enough sound pressure level with excellent acoustic dispersion control.” Ferrero concludes: “Their flexibility makes them ideal for multichannel installations, and I would confidently use them again in other exhibition settings.”
Each of the six multichannel listening stations positioned along the helical path deploys four IS4T units mounted on brackets with additional two IS25T-WP units providing sound for the exhibit entry area. The installation also includes three triptych screens measuring more than a 1000 sq. ft each, along with two cinema screens.
The exhibition developed by the Cinémathèque française in collaboration with the Avatar Alliance Foundation, is curated by Kim Butts (Avatar Alliance Foundation), with the participation of Matthieu Orléan (Cinémathèque française), and adapted for the National Cinema Museum by Carlo Chatrian.
Running through June 2025, “The Art of James Cameron” is a tribute to the aesthetics of storytelling and the power of cinema as a total art form —It’s a perfect symbiosis of technology, art, and architecture coming together to craft an experience that transcends the screen and the traditional narrative frame.
