Press release: The Barbarian Group at McLeod!
Hello all,
We have some exciting stuff coming up at McLeod Residence! Join us on First Friday this Friday, June 1, to view work by The Barbarian Group, a visionary interactive firm headquartered in Boston. Want to get a peek even sooner than that? We're having a members-only preview on Thursday, May 31. Join now to be invited to the preview and other awesome members-only events.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Maggie Santolla McLeod, Press Relations
maggie.santolla@gmail.com
Cell: 206-715-5348
Lele McLeod, Gallery
leleblixa@gmail.com
206-441-3314
Electronic Mirrors Offer a Tease of What's to Come in July
Member Preview: Thursday, May 31, 6pm-12am
Opening Reception: Friday, June 1, 6pm-9pm
SEATTLE – May 30, 2007 – Boston interactive creative firm The Barbarian Group, known for their groundbreaking Subservient Chicken campaign for Burger King, presents a limited-edition series of unusual bathroom mirrors at McLeod Residence during the month of June. The mirrors are just a preview of what's to come when The Barbarian Group creates an interactive installation during the July/August exhibition cycle. The mirrors will be installed in time for June's First Friday artwalk on Friday, June 1, from 6pm – 9pm.
McLeod Mirror Series 1: See Yourself in Others are not actually made of mirrored glass, but an LCD screen housed in a wooden case with a web cam attached to the top. The camera records the viewer and creates a collage of the person's image along with images of everyone else who has stood before the mirror. The image allows the viewer to "see themselves reflected in others" in a new way. The mirrors bring a timeless bathroom product into the digital age, creating a twist on the staple that is more interesting and dynamic than the original, while perhaps pointlessly complex. The images are not recorded or archived, so the digital artwork created on the spot will never be seen again. The mirrors will be available in an edition of 100, and the mirrors will also hang in the Barbarian's Boston offices.
The Barbarian Group describes themselves as a group of art directors, industrial designers, interactive artists, developers, animators, illustrators and more who strive for the perfect marriage of creative and technology with interactivity as their canvas. They found fame with innovative web projects such as The Subservient Chicken for Burger King ( www.subservientchicken.com), Become an M&M for Masterfoods, The Beer Cannon for Milwaukee's Best Light and Comcastic for Comcast. In addition to creating web sites, viral marketing campaigns, television spots and software, the Barbarians have ventured into installation artwork, including work for Nokia with Universal Everything for their Hong Kong showroom. The upcoming McLeod Residence installation marks the first pure art installation the Barbarians have undertaken as an organization.
Collaborating with The Barbarian Group on the fabrication of the mirror casing is Ben Durrell, a Boston-based designer. Durrell's work has shown at venues such as the Tokyo Designers Block, Milan Furniture Fair, and the ICFF, and he has designed project-specific products for such institutions as The Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at MIT, George Little Management (ICFF), ReadyMade Magazine, Housespecial.org, The Berwick Research Institute, and MKS Design. Currently he maintains a studio in downtown Boston with designer Matthew Christensen under the name + /-, or "Give or Take.'"
Also continuing at McLeod Residence is Disconnects, an exhibit that brings together artists from Seattle and Brooklyn who each play with the tension between their media and their subject matter in an unusual way. Curated by McLeod Residence's Chris Weber, the exhibit includes work by Mandy Greer, Dylan Neuwirth, Salah Mason and Maceo McNeff, Doug Young, Aaron Linn, and Eric J. Olson and runs through June 30, 2007. Ongoing exhibits include neon art by Jeremy Bert and Jen Elek and furniture by James Reinhardt and Gary Andolina.
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McLeod Residence, located at 2209 Second Avenue in Seattle, Washington, is a home for extraordinary living through art, technology and collaboration. Proprietors Buster McLeod and Lele McLeod founded McLeod Residence in 2006. McLeod Residence is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. For more information, contact McLeod Residence at 206-441-3314 or visit www.mcleodresidence.com.
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