Kid A Mnesia Exhibition

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Kid A Mnesia Exhibition
Kid A Mnesia Exhibition digital cover.png
Developer(s)
  • Namethemachine
  • Arbitrarily Good Productions
Publisher(s) Epic Games
Producer(s)
  • Matthew Davis
  • Namethemachine
  • Arbitrarily Good Productions
Programmer(s)
  • Namethemachine
  • Arbitrarily Good Productions
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
Engine Unreal Engine
Platform(s)
Release18 November 2021
Genre(s) Exploration
Mode(s) Single-player

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is a 2021 exploration game published by Epic Games for macOS, Windows and PlayStation 5. It serves as a digital exhibition of music and artwork created for the Radiohead albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). It was developed by Namethemachine, Arbitrarily Good Productions and Epic Games in collaboration with the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich and the Radiohead cover artist Stanley Donwood.

Contents

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was conceived as a physical installation artwork, but this was canceled by logistical problems and the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced alongside the compilation album Kid A Mnesia and released 18 November 2021 as a free download. It received positive reviews, with critics praising its intersection of music, art and technology.

Content

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is an exploration game based on the music and artwork of the Radiohead albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). Players move through an abstract virtual museum, examining artwork and listening to music and sounds from the albums. [1] They cannot die, and there are no enemies, no score system, and no levels to complete. [1] [2]

The New Yorker described the museum as "a brutalist cathedral full of byzantine corridors, majestic rooms, banks of buzzing cathode-ray-tube televisions, and carpets of fluttering sketchbook pages". [2] The large central pyramid features the songs "How to Disappear Completely", "Pyramid Song" and "You and Whose Army". [3] The Paper Chamber features dozens of pages taken from sketchbooks and lyric sheets, and the Televisions room has stacks of televisions playing short videos. [3]

Background

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was conceived as a physical installation artwork to be constructed from shipping containers and exhibited in cities around the world. [4] The Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, and the artist Stanley Donwood, who together create the artwork for Radiohead albums, imagined a "a huge red construction" that would look "as if a brutalist spacecraft had crash-landed into the classical architecture ... This astounding steel carapace would be inserted into the urban fabric of London like an ice pick into Trotsky." [4]

The construction was first planned for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but would not fit. [4] The plan moved to the Royal Albert Hall, but this was rejected by Westminster City Council. [4] The plan was ultimately cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the focus shifted towards creating a digital exhibition. In the words of Yorke and Donwood, this meant the exhibition "didn't have to conform to any normal rules of an exhibition. Or reality." [4]

Development

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was developed over two years by Namethemachine and Arbitrarily Good Productions with Yorke, Donwood and Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich. [5] The staff included the artist and creative director Sean Evans, the theatre set designer Christine Jones and the producer Matthew Davis, the head of Namethemachine. [6] The environment and characters were developed using tools such as Maya, and the levels were created with Unreal Engine. [3]

The team had the guiding principle of exhibiting no new work. According to a blog post by Yorke and Donwood, everything in the exhibition came from material made while Radiohead were recording Kid A and Amnesiac. [4] Characters in the museum were based on the themes and characters in Radiohead's music and artwork, including the stickmen, bears and minotaurs. [3] The team followed a brief of "exploded songs", taking the separated stems of the music and "laying them out". Godrich contributed sound design and remixed the music in surround sound, so players hear different elements as they move around in 3D space. [3]

Evans said the museum was influenced by labyrinths and the fictional Library of Babel, "a place that instilled a feeling of being lost without feeling hopeless". [3] It was designed for players to take multiple routes, with no dead ends, and strong colour schemes and lighting to help the player become familiar with different spaces. [3] The initial spaces were designed to feel physically possible; once the player enters the central pyramid, the spaces feel "more void-like, more impossible", with a shifting number of walls and surfaces. [3] The Rotunda was based on the Rundetaarn in Copenhagen, and the Landscape Gallery was based on a room in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. [3]

Release

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was announced on 9 September 2021. [7] It was released as a free download for macOS, Windows, and PlayStation 5 on 18 November 2021. [5] Promotional Radiohead items were released for the multiplayer games Rocket League , Fall Guys and Fortnite . [8]

Reception

Jay Peters of The Verge wrote that Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was "full of strikingly beautiful rooms" and "worth checking out as a very literal expression of the idea that video games can be art". [9] NME wrote that it was a "deeply beautiful solo trip through what appears to be an apocalyptic wasteland, before little pockets of beauty show themselves in unexpected places, poking out of the darkness". [1] The New Yorker named Kid A Mnesia Exhibition one of the best games of the year, writing that it "provokes exploration, reflection, and a new way of listening". [2]

Related Research Articles

Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. They comprise Thom Yorke ; brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood (bass); Ed O'Brien ; and Philip Selway. They have worked with producer Nigel Godrich and cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.

<i>Kid A</i> 2000 studio album by Radiohead

Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.

<i>Amnesiac</i> (album) 2001 studio album by Radiohead

Amnesiac is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 30 May 2001 by EMI. It was recorded with the producer Nigel Godrich in the same sessions as Radiohead's previous album Kid A (2000). Radiohead split the work in two as they felt it was too dense for a double album. As with Kid A, Amnesiac incorporates influences from electronic music, 20th-century classical music, jazz and krautrock. The final track, "Life in a Glasshouse", is a collaboration with the jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band.

<i>The Bends</i> (album) 1995 studio album by Radiohead

The Bends is the second studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. It was produced by John Leckie, with extra production by Radiohead, Nigel Godrich and Jim Warren. The Bends combines guitar songs and ballads, with more restrained arrangements and cryptic lyrics than Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993).

<i>Hail to the Thief</i> 2003 studio album by Radiohead

Hail to the Thief is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released on 9 June 2003 through Parlophone internationally and a day later through Capitol Records in the United States. It was the last album released under Radiohead's record contract with EMI, the parent company of Parlophone and Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thom Yorke</span> English musician (born 1968)

Thomas Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been described by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest and most influential singers of his generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Godrich</span> English record producer

Nigel Timothy Godrich is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Travis, Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters and Arcade Fire.

<i>My Iron Lung</i> 1994 EP by Radiohead

My Iron Lung is the third EP by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 26 September 1994 by Parlophone Records in the UK and by Capitol Records in the US. It was produced by Radiohead, John Leckie and Nigel Godrich. It marked Radiohead's first collaborations with Godrich and the artist Stanley Donwood, who have worked on every Radiohead release since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Donwood</span> English artist and writer

Dan Rickwood, known professionally as Stanley Donwood, is an English artist and writer. Since 1994, he has created all the artwork for the rock band Radiohead with their singer, Thom Yorke, plus Yorke's other projects, including Atoms for Peace and the Smile. He also creates artwork for Glastonbury Festival and has published books of writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid Song</span> 2001 song by Radiohead

"Pyramid Song" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Amnesiac (2001), in May 2001. It features piano, strings, an unusual "shuffling" rhythm and lyrics inspired by the Egyptian underworld.

"Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, Kid A (2000). It features synthesiser and digitally manipulated vocals. The lyrics were inspired by the stress felt by the singer, Thom Yorke, while promoting Radiohead's album OK Computer (1997).

<i>The Eraser</i> 2006 studio album by Thom Yorke

The Eraser is the debut solo album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 10 July 2006 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, the longtime producer for Yorke's band Radiohead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">How to Disappear Completely</span> 2000 song by Radiohead

"How to Disappear Completely" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their fourth studio album, Kid A (2000). It was produced by the band with their producer, Nigel Godrich, and was released as a promotional single in the US, Poland and Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optimistic (Radiohead song)</span> 2000 promotional single by Radiohead

"Optimistic" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their fourth studio album, Kid A (2000). It was produced by Radiohead with their producer, Nigel Godrich, and was released as a promotional single in the US and Europe, receiving radio play.

<i>The King of Limbs</i> 2011 studio album by Radiohead

The King of Limbs is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download, followed by a physical release on 28 March through XL Recordings internationally and TBD Records in North America.

"True Love Waits" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. Radiohead worked on it for over two decades before releasing it on their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016).

<i>Tomorrows Modern Boxes</i> 2014 studio album by Thom Yorke

Tomorrow's Modern Boxes is the second studio album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 26 September 2014. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, with artwork by Stanley Donwood, both of whom have long collaborated with Yorke and his band Radiohead. The album blends Yorke's vocals and piano playing with electronic beats and textures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Smile (band)</span> English rock band

The Smile are an English rock band comprising the Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with Tom Skinner (drums). Critics likened them to Radiohead, with more jazz, krautrock and progressive rock influences and a looser, wilder sound.

<i>Kid A Mnesia</i> 2021 compilation album by Radiohead

Kid A Mnesia is a reissue compiling the albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) by the English rock band Radiohead. It also includes a bonus disc, Kid Amnesiae, comprising previously unreleased material. It was released on 5 November 2021 on XL Recordings.

"If You Say the Word" is a song recorded by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 7 September 2021 as the first single from their compilation album Kid A Mnesia. It was recorded during the joint sessions for Radiohead's fourth and fifth albums, Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), but remained unreleased until 2021.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Richards, Will (18 November 2021). "Radiohead's Kid A Amnesiac exhibition is as untraditional, warped and magical as the band itself". NME . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Parkin, Simon (12 December 2021). "The best video games of 2021". The New Yorker . Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Creating Kid A Mnesia: an exclusive look at Radiohead's new virtual exhibit". Unreal Engine . Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Yorke, Thom; Donwood, Stanley (18 November 2021). "Radiohead explain the story behind the creation of its Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, out today on PS5". PlayStation.Blog . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 Stanton, Rich (18 November 2021). "Radiohead's freaky-looking Kid A Mnesiac exhibition-game-thing is out (and free!)". PC Gamer . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  6. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (11 November 2021). "Take a tour through Radiohead's artwork in Kid A Mnesia Exhibition". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  7. ↑ Tarantola, A. (9 September 2021). "Radiohead and Epic Games team up for a virtual Kid A Mnesia exhibit". Engadget . Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  8. ↑ Smith, Graham (20 November 2021). "Radiohead is now in Fall Guys, Fortnite and Rocket League". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  9. ↑ Peters, Jay (18 November 2021). "Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is an unsettling and beautiful Radiohead art exhibit". The Verge . Retrieved 20 November 2021.