1stAveMachine to Take Audiences on The Hero’s Journey at D&AD with #makeithard

For some time now, mixed media production company 1stAveMachine has long held the belief that the most creative and innovative ideas are born out of creative problems and the art of accepting a challenge may lead us to the unknown, often resulting in a magical ending.

In order to demonstrate this theory, 1stAveMachine and creative studio Espadaysantacruz will explore The Hero’s Journey at this year’s D&AD festival, incorporating a live art session in collaboration with the festival audience. The audience will be taken through each stage of the creative process including the rollercoaster of emotion that often accompanies the creative hero on their journey. Everything culminates together at the very end to create one big kinetic sound installation.

Mythological tales of old often feature a hero on an adventure, unsure of the what the outcome might be. After securing much needed allies along the way to help the hero find the right path, a crisis finally wins a victory. In this session, 1stAveMachine will draw on these parallels with their approach to storytelling in creative industries.

“Inspired by the hero's journey, we are going to recreate a free interpretation of how we approach our projects and how they evolve. In order to do that, we want the audience to experience all the emotions involved in these processes, in particular the fusion of craft and technology” said Esapdaysantacruz. “Everyone will be given a little hardware kit, and together we will create an installation. Instructions will be given, but at the same time we ask for the audience to put fear aside and use their intuition.”

This is the second year 1stAveMachine have hosted #makeithard at the D&AD Festival. Last year, they hosted #makeithard with MassiveMusic and Cut+Run to make a live music track and music video in collaboration with the audience in the space of one hour.