At Dusted, we believe inspiration hides in experiences and sensations that sit beyond our immediate world of brand, digital and activation. That’s why we created Seek.
Seek is our internal engagement programme designed to immerse us in the wider culture. Two team members, one activity, no agenda. A creative reconnaissance mission, bringing creative intel back to Dusted mission control.
Recently, our Content Marketing Exec, Alex, and Senior Account Manager, Gabija, visited The Barbican’s Feel the Sound exhibition, a multi-sensory journey exploring how sound shapes emotion, memory and perception. Eleven interactive installations across the Centre invited visitors to hear with their whole bodies, not just their ears.
From vast motion projections to AI-driven soundscapes, the experience was both visceral and cerebral, exactly the kind of stimulus that feeds how we think and work at Dusted.
Here’s what inspired them, and what they brought back into the studio to share with the rest of the Dusted team.
Listening beyond hearing.
The exhibition blurred the line between seeing, hearing and feeling.
In Reflections of Being (2025) by Max Cooper, sound and projection collided in an epic parking-lot-scale installation. A dark expanse of silkscreens pulsed with light and rhythm, immersing viewers in what felt like a journey through life itself. Shadows cast by the projectors placed each viewer inside the work as part of the experience, not outside it. Throughout, sound moved through and with the visuals.
This was a reminder that sound can be more than backdrop. It can drive emotion and immersion. When you make audiences feel the rhythm, they become participants in the story.
Reflections of Being by Max Cooper. Photograph: © Thomas Adank/Barbican Centre
Feeling the frequency.
Evan Ifekoya’s Resonant Frequencies (2022) took sound to another level. One you could actually feel. Visitors sat on a metal platform that vibrated in sync with the frequencies filling the room. It went beyond melody or harmony, instead rooting sound into its tactile impact through vibration.
It showed how sound becomes a physical experience. A reminder that brand experiences, can also transcend sight and sound to engage tactile senses. From event environments to product reveals, vibration, bass and motion can translate story into sensation.
Resonant Frequencies by Evan Ifekoya. Photograph: © Thomas Adank/Barbican Centre
Sound as play.
Then came the playful side of sound. In Sonic Machines Playground: Electric Fan Harp (2016-present), created by Nicole L’Huillier and Sarah Mackenzie, fans became instruments. With a torch in hand, visitors could activate sound by lighting different parts of the fans. A spontaneous symphony born from experimentation.
It was interaction turned into creation, proving that, when audiences co-create, they connect more deeply. The same principle can apply to brand activations. Give people the tools to play, to remix, to make something their own, and they’ll walk away with an experience that sticks.
Sonic Machines Playground: Electric Fan Harp by Nicole L’Huillier and Sarah Mackenzie. Photograph: © Thomas Adank/Barbican Centre
The rhythm within.
The installation Your Inner Symphony (2025) by Kinda Studios and Nexus Studios fused art, AI and biology. Visitors placed their hand on a sensor that read heart rate, variability and skin response, generating a visualisation of their internal rhythm. Each interaction changed the output, generating a living, personal data symphony.
This was an elegant metaphor for the intersection of technology and human emotion. The body as input. The system as interpreter. The outcome as story. For Dusted, it echoed how brands can use AI not just to automate, but to reveal, turning unseen data into personal, emotionally resonant experiences.
And for the medtech, biotech and the life sciences brands we work with – imagine patient activations where real-time data becomes light, colour and sound, turning complex innovations into human stories of progress and care. Turning biometric data into sensory experiences. Making the invisible tangible, so people feel the science as a way of better engaging with it.
Your Inner Symphony by Kinda Studios and Nexus Studios. Image from Nexus Studios.
Lessons brought back into the studio.
1. Sound beyond music.
Sound can be material. The hum of vibration. The texture of bass. The sonic equivalent of tactility. Whether for an automotive launch or OOH brand experience, sound design can heighten atmosphere and deepen recall. A subtle vibration underfoot can evoke the rev of an engine or the pulse of a heartbeat, connecting emotion to physical response.
2. Equipment to match the idea.
Immersion relies on every piece working together. And that includes the equipment. If the event activation requires headphones, for example, these should be soundproof, allowing participants to fully immerse themselves in the experience. The tech needs to elevate the idea, not distract from it. When sound is the story, the equipment must be part of the narrative.
3. Play as connection.
The power of play stood out. When visitors interacted, they owned the experience. This same dynamic can drive successful experiential design. Encouraging exploration and enabling gamification and co-creation turns spectators into participants. It’s what transforms a good activation into a memorable one.
From sound to strategy.
Alex and Gabija brought back a renewed sense of how multi-sensory storytelling shapes experience. Sound can direct emotion. Motion can amplify narrative. Interaction can build belonging. These are universal creative truths that stretch far beyond the gallery.
At Dusted, this is exactly why Seek exists. To fuel our creative engine with perspectives that sit outside our own echo chamber. Because the best ideas often start in unfamiliar places.
Built for now. Future-ready.
The two shared their reflections at our latest Together agency-wide meeting, sparking a lively conversation about how sensory storytelling could shape the way we design future experiences, from large-scale brand activations and launch events to trade shows and roadshows.
Because inspiration, like sound, travels. It reverberates through people and ideas, reshaping how we think and create.
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