Studio Museum in HarlemTom Lloyd Microsite

As The Studio Museum in Harlem prepared to reopen its landmark new building on 125th Street, it chose to start where its story began, with artist Tom Lloyd. His 1968 exhibition of unique, electronically programmed light works defined the museum’s early vision of Black art as self-determined and experimental.

Following Base’s earlier work designing and developing the museum’s website during its years in transition, we were to create a digital companion for the reopening exhibition. The goal was to carry Lloyd’s spirit of innovation into the digital realm, creating a hybrid experience in which a digital companion adds a new layer to the exhibition – one that can only be truly felt in the gallery, even as it extends beyond Harlem.

Lloyd’s Light Works were groundbreaking in their time, merging art, engineering, and everyday materials into something entirely new. His sculptures blinked, clicked, and pulsed with a kind of joyful precision that was both technical and deeply human.

Translating that spirit into a digital experience required the same sense of experimentation. Whatever we created had to carry his essence, his innovation, his rhythm, and his quiet quirkiness, without ever feeling like imitation.

The challenge was to enrich the experience of gallery visitors, adding an immersive digital layer that offered context without distraction. It had to inform without instructing, and feel atmospheric rather than gamified.

Working in close collaboration, BaseNYC and BaseDGTL designed and built a mobile-first microsite that adapts to where you are: At the Gallery or Not at the Gallery. On-site visitors can activate Conversations, a guided playlist of audio and video that feels like walking the show with a knowledgeable friend. Curatorial voices mix with recordings clicking of Lloyd’s original light control boxes, restoring the subtle rhythm and atmosphere of his work without intruding on the experience.

Each artwork page reveals what cannot always be seen in person, from alternate color sequences to full flicker patterns. Supplementary sections explore Lloyd’s life, his Storefront Museum, and archival materials that trace his influence across Harlem’s creative community.

Technically lightweight and visually restrained, the microsite mirrors the precision of Lloyd’s own circuitry. The result reflects the strengths of both teams, with design and development evolving together from the first sketches.

In dialogue with the museum’s new building, a space devoted to art, light, and collective imagination, the project continues the Studio Museum’s story, rooted in Harlem and alive online.