Dentsu's Stradivarius Timeless Journey lets you hear 300 years of one violin's sound

In 2018 the Tokyo Stradivarius Festival gathered 21 Stradivarius instruments in Japan — reportedly the first time such a collection had come together in Asia — for concerts and a core exhibition at Mori Arts Center Gallery in Roppongi. The timing was awkward: news of a blind test rating modern violins above Stradivarius instruments had filled search results and social feeds with doubt about the instruments' legendary status.

Instead of arguing with the test results, Dentsu and Qosmo built an installation that let the instruments answer for themselves. Visitors followed one violin's sound through four historical spaces — Stradivari's workshop in Cremona, a chamber of Versailles Palace, the old Gewandhaus and modern Suntory Hall — with technology recreating how the instrument would have been heard in each. The 'journey' made 300 years of changing listening environments the star of the show.

The effect, per D&AD's case page, was a wave of positive comments that filled social timelines and pushed the negative news out of the top search results. The work then won the Digital Craft Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2019 — one of only three Grand Prix among 70 Japanese entries that year — helping Dentsu take 49 awards at the festival.