MurMur by HUB Studio Original

Who just landed on the wall beside the Saint-Laurent metro station? A giant? A monster? Or maybe something else…?

MurMur is an interactive installation that creates a relationship between passersby of all ages and an endearing cartoonish character. He travels from one city to the next, exploring the world.

Client
Partenariat du Quartier des Spectacles, MUTEK & MAPP_MTL & LVL UP

Locations
MONTRÉAL, CA 2018 — LAVAL, CA 2019 — AUCKLAND, NZ 2019

Year
2018 - 2019

Credits
Concept: Jeremy Fassio & HUB Studio
Motion Design & illustration: Jeremy Fassio (HUB Studio)
Programmation: HUB Studio
Character Design: Sacha Perez Del Solar


Where did you find inspiration?
Near the metro stations, there is little interaction between people, and many different cultural communities. We wanted to create a cartoon character that interacts with them. He's going to travel around the world and his first stop is Montreal!

How does the interaction with the audience come about?
It's a mysterious and benevolent entity that speaks to everyone, tourists as well as locals, old and young. The goal is to bring people together. A tin of maple syrup is tied to a wire on the wall and you are invited to chat with the character. He has a real personality and reacts to what we say… but he doesn't speak our language.

What challenges did you encounter?
The interactions are more complex, they must be intelligible, especially when it comes to intonation and voice volume. We worked on several versions. Also, we want this nice guy to travel. Since there are no language and cultural barriers, it would be relevant to have him travel around the world. We even created an Instagram account (Murmur.mtl) for our globetrotter for a little offbeat humor!