(small) creative initiatives that challenge (big) traditional ideas
• ( egoistic ) • activistic • architectural • audible • cinematic • conceptual • graphic • strategic • surface • urban • wireless
Opel has launched an interactive campaign that combines the web and telephone.
On the campaign-website users are asked for their name and phone number (for unknown reasons, it asks for a mobile number, but a fixed line should work as well).
After filling in the details, a movie sequence starts playing and a male character dressed up as a lab-engineer type is seen making a phone call.
If you filled in your phone number in the beginning, this is the moment your phone will ring. When you answer it, the character delivers a short speech - in French.
The concept is not entirely new but nonetheless, the direct and tactile interaction is somewhat intriguing.
The ever-innovative Beastie Boys has done it again. This time they, have created a musicmentary based on footage, filmed by their own fans.
Back in 2004, the Beastie Boys handed out 50 mini-cameras to audience members at their performance in New York's Madison Square Garden. In order to cover different perspectives, the cameras were handed to fans spread throughout the arena.
Afterwards, the cameras were collected and the movie directed by Nathanial Hörnblowér (aka Beastie member "M.C.A"/Adam Yauch) who is also the director behind their inventive music videos.
AWESOME: I FUCKING SHOT THAT! premiered at this year's Sundance Festival and is due to be released on DVD in July.
Posted by Sebastian on Feb 16, 2006
Overhead
I can’t believe you’re dead
Is there a chance to get
You back again tonight
To shed your light
The above lyrics are from a disco song called Farewell to Overhead by the Austrian art group monochrom in cooperation with Hangl and Kertal.
The highly nostalgic song is dedicated to the Overhead projector (the old-school projecting system), which has long since been replaced by powerpoint and digital projectors.
Farewell to Overhead is available for download at monochrom's website. Have your kleenex on standby.
• www.monochrom.at/farewell-overhead/
Finally! I have worked on this concept for 2-3 stressful weeks and now, we are able to launch the MMS xmas calendar (MMS julekalenderen) - probably the first service of its kind:
A new day = a new artist = a new artwork for you and your mobile phone.
Each day, between December 1-24, subscribers of the xmas calender will receive an MMS-artwork made of text, image or sound. The artworks are created by 24 different international artists, specifically for MMS enabled phones.
The MMS xmas calender is realized in collaboration between the design agency 1508 and the art foundation Artnode - the price of the wireless calendar is 100 kr (14 Euro) and the profit goes directly to the Danish Red Cross.
• www.1508.dk • www.artnode.org
GAYmobile is the name of a new mobile-network operator that is targeting homosexual subscribers in Denmark.
GAYmobile is offering services that are gay all the way and 25% of the profit will be channeled back to the gay community via a special fund called GAYtrust, according to the CEO Thomas Bilgram who is also the head of Copenhagen Pride.
GAYmobile's service line - called HOMOBILE - might soon be offering a wireless dating service as well as subtle ringtones that indicate the users sexual preferences. Until then, GAYmobile suggests that subsribers use songs like "I am what I am" or anything by ABBA as ringtone.
Just like other Danish MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), GAYmobile is internet-based and the prices are thus among the country's most affordable.
"You're kidding me?!" is a wireless voice-based service that helps users simulate a mobile phone conversation. The automatic service is designed to assist people at conferences, gallery openings and other places where being socially disconnected is no fun.
After dialing the service number, users can choose between two types of conversations: a 'casual' or an 'important' conversation. The user is subsequently guided through a series of words and sentences that - when being repeated - makes it look and sound like a real conversation is taking place!
"You're kidding me!?" is designed for the INDEX:2005 conference in Copenhagen. The service is provided by 1508 A/S - the design consultancy that I am currently working for. It is based on a conceptual artwork called dialogue that I created some time ago.
Inspired by the recent bodyadvertising craze (the concept of auctioning advertising space on your body to the highest bidder) Floyd Hayes - a Brooklyn resident - came up with a new ad-dimension called 'voicevertising'.
Floyd Hayes put his voice up for sale on eBay, promising to shout out a brand name as loud as possible every fifteen minutes for an entire week, no matter what location or situation.
Quite fittingly, the highest bidder turned out to be 'HALLS Fruit and Breezers' - a company selling throat drops.
SoundAds is a telephonic advertising campaign where people, in contrast to traditional advertising, have to pay to get full access to the ad.
The campaign - which resembles the service you sometimes find at selected cultural landmarks - consists of a series of intriguing images that are tagged with a 0900 number, meaning that you have to pay via your phone bill to get the audible dimension of the ad.
The visual ads are made by Dutch photographers and illustrators and printed on posters, postcards and in publications. The audio-layer that comes with each ad, offers a short narrative story and/or sound composition that compliments the image.
The campaign was running in various Dutch media during March 2005 but if you missed it, you can see and listen to the ads (for free) at the SoundAds website.
• SoundAds
'Whispering Pillow', by Dutch product designer Endry van Zwam, is a pillow with wireless integrated speakers.
A sender connected to a TV or sound-system transmits the sound in a radius of 80 meters. The volume control is integrated in the pillow, that needs to be recharged every 8 hours.
Besides extending the functionality of ordinary sound speakers, the pillow is especially suitable for those with a hearing disability, according to van Zwam.
Reposado is a Mexican Hotel / Lounge / Restaurant that has become internationally known for its music.
But unlike the hip Paris concept Buddha Bar, the people at Reposado do not produce anything themselves. Instead, they are running an online radio station that streams a blend of Mexican, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Jazz, Tango, Funk, House etc. 24 hours a day.
Unfortunately, due its success Radio Reposado is often fully booked by global listeners.
Contact: Sebastian Campion