University of Southampton – Bringing The John Hansard Gallery to Life
Seamless digital signage videowall delivers information and wayfinding for visitors while opening new possibilities for digital artwork display
Project Overview
The John Hansard Gallery is a leading public art gallery and part of the University of Southampton. It recently moved into Studio 144, a purpose-built arts complex in the city centre that also houses theatre company NST and City Eye, which supports film culture in the region.
The gallery hosts major exhibitions, opening with a retrospective by German artist Gerhard Richter, as well as free tours, educational events and community engagement programmes. The creation of a new home had been planned for some time, but the turnaround time between moving in and the high-profile opening event was only a matter of weeks.
The Solution
Strive AV was appointed to design and install a seamless digital signage videowall that would serve multiple purposes: providing information and wayfinding for visitors, displaying digital artwork, and creating an impressive visual focal point for the gallery space.
The installation needed to be completed within one week to meet the deadline for the high-profile opening event featuring Gerhard Richter's retrospective. This tight timeframe required careful planning, coordination with other contractors, and efficient installation procedures.
The videowall solution provides seamless bezel-to-bezel display, creating an immersive canvas for both informational content and digital artwork. This dual functionality allows the gallery to use the display for practical visitor information while also exploring innovative ways to showcase digital art installations.
Project Challenges
The primary challenge was the extremely tight timeframe - the installation needed to be completed within one week to meet the deadline for the gallery's high-profile opening event. This required careful coordination with other contractors working on the Studio 144 build-out and efficient project management to ensure everything was ready on time.
Key Requirements
- •Seamless videowall display with minimal bezels
- •Installation completed within one week
- •Support for both informational content and digital artwork
- •High-quality display suitable for gallery environment
The Installation
LG Videowall Displays
High-quality LG displays configured in a seamless videowall arrangement, providing bezel-to-bezel viewing for an immersive display experience.
One Week Installation
Installation completed within one week to meet the deadline for the gallery's high-profile opening event, requiring careful coordination and efficient execution.
Digital Art & Information
Flexible content management system supporting both visitor information and wayfinding, as well as digital artwork display capabilities.
John Hansard Gallery
Installed
- • LG Videowall Display System
- • Seamless bezel-to-bezel configuration
- • Digital Signage Content Management System
- • Full Project Management and Installation
- • Installation completed within one week
Project Outcome
Enhanced Visitor Experience
- Seamless videowall provides clear information and wayfinding for gallery visitors
- High-quality display suitable for showcasing digital artwork installations
- Immersive viewing experience with bezel-to-bezel seamless display
Operational Benefits
- Installation completed on time for high-profile opening event
- Flexible content management for both information and artwork display
- Future-proof technology supporting evolving digital art requirements
- Professional installation enhancing the gallery's modern arts complex
Project Gallery
AV for galleries and arts venues
Public galleries and arts venues sit in a different bracket to corporate AV or classroom kit. The work has to respect artworks, support reconfigurable exhibitions, stay invisible to the visitor, and put day-to-day control in the hands of curators rather than an external integrator.
Reconfigurable exhibition spaces
A gallery is not a fixed room. Exhibitions change every few months, walls move, and what was a video work last quarter is a sound piece the next. AV infrastructure has to be designed as a flexible canvas: distributed signal paths, accessible playback locations, and signage that can be repurposed without rewiring or an integrator on site.
Conservation-friendly equipment
Artworks impose constraints that corporate AV never sees. Fixtures near a canvas must stay within tight thermal limits, projectors and LED cannot leak UV onto sensitive surfaces, and acoustic spill from one exhibit must not bleed into another. Low-noise displays, fanless BrightSign media players, and specified projection from Christie or Barco are the baseline.
What "good" looks like
For visitor information and wayfinding, seamless videowalls or LED with content managed through BrightSign or 22Miles. For distributed audio, K-array or Meyer Sound for intelligibility at low SPL, or d&b audiotechnik for larger event spaces. Signal management runs over Q-SYS or a structured Atlona or Lightware backbone so the gallery can grow without ripping out the foundation.
Curator-led day-to-day control
Gallery teams change content weekly, not annually. The control surface has to be something a curator can run: a CMS with scheduled playlists, role-based access for different exhibitions, and a fallback that holds the screen on a safe image if a feed drops mid-opening. Visitor accessibility, captions, audio description and screen-reader friendly signage, is part of the same brief.
Strive scopes gallery and arts-venue projects around the curator's workflow first and the hardware second. Conservation constraints, visitor accessibility, content management handover and structured signal design are agreed before procurement, so the venue is ready to swap exhibitions on its own programme rather than waiting on an integrator.
Trusted AV Partner to Leading Organisations
Start your project
Speak to our design team today to discuss your next AV project. We'll guide you through every step - from consultation to completion.
