Director Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Objectified, Urbanized, Rams) has announced plans for “the definitive career-spanning, multi-platform documentary” about visionary musician and artist Brian Eno.

For the past 50 years, Brian Eno has been at the forefront of musical creativity, technology, and artistic innovation. The musician, producer, activist, visual artist and self-described “sonic landscaper” began his career as an original member of the legendary Roxy Music in the early 1970s. He pioneered the genre of ambient music with his 1978 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports. As a producer, Eno has helped define and reinvent the sound of some of the most important artists in music, including David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, Coldplay, and dozens of others.

Gary Hustwit’s forthcoming documentary Eno will be released in multiple versions and will employ groundbreaking generative technology in its creation and exhibition. Hustwit and his team have been granted unlimited access to Brian Eno’s vast archive, and have digitized and restored approximately 400 hours of material spanning 50 years: interviews, seminal early video art projects, lectures, performances, behind-the-scenes documentation of recording sessions, and more. Most of this material has never been publicly released.

Hustwit’s collaboration with Eno first began in 2017, when Eno created an original score for Hustwit’s film Rams, about the German designer Dieter Rams. With Eno, Hustwit aims to offer a deep dive into subjects that Eno has been notably passionate about, such as sustainability, social equity, and the future of civilization, while centering above all on the nature of creativity.

“Much of Brian’s career has been about enabling creativity in himself and others, through his role as a producer but also through his collaborations on projects like the Oblique Strategies cards or the music app Bloom. I think of Eno as an art film about creativity,” notes Hustwit, “with the output of Brian’s 50-year career as its raw material.”

Eno will utilize proprietary generative software developed by Hustwit and digital artist Brendan Dawes to provide unique viewing experiences via multiple digital formats, cinema screenings and site-specific installations. “You can’t make a conventional, by-the-numbers bio doc about Brian Eno,” said Hustwit. “That would be antithetical and a missed opportunity. What I’m trying to do is to create a cinematic experience that’s as innovative as Brian’s approach to music and art.”

The film is planned for release in 2023.