CLIENT:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

PROJECT:

Spotlight

A woman sits in a library, gesturing with her hands. She wears a black blazer over a white blouse. Bookshelves and a staircase are visible in the background.

Wario holding a spiky ball and wearing a yellow hat, purple overalls, and white gloves.

Episode 1 of 4: Novelist Min Jin Lee (Pachinko) muses on a delicate Renaissance bronze that embodies the pain of the creative process.

Poet, translator, and librettist Sholeh Wolpé on adapting (and readapting) a storied Sufi epic for modern times.

In 2022, The Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned us to produce and direct a new series called Spotlight featuring new perspectives on iconic works from the collection. The series featured video episodes and audio episodes, all of which could be accessed in the galleries via QR code and online on the The Met’s series hub.

We worked closely with each subject and with the digital team at the Met to identify unexpected filming opportunities both inside the museum and beyond, with SandenWolff Director Jonathan Sanden leading production in the field and creative director Rachel Wolff leading interviews and story editing. Meanwhile, SandenWolff Director of Photography Noah Therrien created exploratory first-person views of the iconic works throughout The Met’s galleries.

Climate activist Xiye Bastida on Thomas Cole’s The Oxbow

Archaeologists Vinzenz and Ulrike Brinkmann on the relatively recent invention of white marble sculpture.

Video Episodes

Collage with two men on either side and a harpsichord in the center.

Episode 8 of 10: Countertenor Anthony Roth Constanzo and Met Musical Instruments Curator Jayson Kerr Dobney on the first grand piano and the world of early opera

Additional Audio Episodes:

Elizabeth Kornhauser and Alan Braddock on the environmentalism in Thomas Cole’s The Oxbow.

Spotlight Production Credits:

SandenWolff:

Directors/Producers: Jonathan Sanden, Rachel Wolff
Story Editor: Rachel Wolff
Directors of Photography: Jonathan Sanden, Noah Therrien
Editors: Hannah Kaylor, Stephen Parnigoni
Music: Austin Fisher

At The Met:

Executive Producer: Sarah Wambold
Series Producer: Sarah Cowan
Associate Producer: Rachel Smith
Production Coordinator: Maria Kozanecka

The “Holy Grail” of baseball cards, the T206 Honus Wagner

Met curator Maryam Ekhtiar and Leili Anvar discuss Attar’s the Conference of the Birds.

Running eight to fifteen minutes in length, the audio episodes have more of a podcast format, each featuring a Met curator in dialogue with interlocutors ranging from a psychologist to an opera singer. SandenWolff Creative Director Rachel Wolff moderated these conversations from off-mic and shaped each episode’s story arc and narrative.

Denise Allen and Jared O’Garro-Moore on what art can teach us about experiencing pain.

Two Indigenous scholars discuss what—and who—Georgia O’Keeffe omits in her depiction of New Mexico

A discussion on misconceptions about race and polychromy in the ancient world.

What does this mosaic reveal about representation in the Byzantine world?

Sarah Graff and Sargon Donabed discuss ownership and (dis)placement of Assyrian art.

Three images combined: a woman with bright yellow hair and large glasses, an ancient Egyptian statue, and a woman with medium-length light brown hair and glasses smiling.

Episode 5 of 10: Author/activist Mona Eltahawyand Met Egyptian Art Curator Aude Semat on depictions and destructions of Hatshepsut, the woman “King” of Ancient Egypt.