What’s in the box?

Beer brand Beck’s has an illustrious history of working in the arts but its latest initiative is so ambitious it took Design Week a little while to get our heads around it.

Becks has commissioned 30 artists to create individual works, which will be displayed in specially designed green boxes in cities around the world – hence the title: the Green Box Project.

Staute of liberty
Staute of liberty

But – and here’s the confusing bit – there’s nothing actually physically in the box. If you point your smartphone at the boxes, the magic of augmented reality will enable you to see a virtual, digital artwork.

The first work to be installed in the project gives an idea of this. Belgian artist Arne Quinze has installed a 60m-high digital flame which spouts from the torch of the Statue of Liberty in New York. Invisible to the naked eye of course, but point your smartphone at the torch and, voila, the flame appears.

(Just to be clear – no actual green box was installed on the statue, instead, says a Beck’s spokeswoman, ‘the Statue of Liberty is the box’.)

Austra green box Hoxton Square
Austra green box Hoxton Square

There will be 30 boxes to start with, but Beck’s aims to open the project up to eventually feature up to 1000 artworks, which will be curated by producer Sam Speigel and photographer Nick Knight.

The artists chosen to contribute will receive funding, mentoring and the opportunity to display their artworks.

Lucky Me Green Box Great Eastern Street
Lucky Me Green Box Great Eastern Street

The two-cubic-metre acrylic boxes themselves have been created by Jason Bruges and five are currently planned for the UK. The first two to launch are by Austra, in Hoxton Square (going in this week), and Lucky Me, on Great Eastern Street.

The first 30 works are set to roll out before the end of the year, with jellymongers Bompas & Parr, fashion designer Hussein Chalayan and band Warpaint among the contributors.

For more information visit www.becks.com/GreenBox

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  • mgjacqz November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    oooh sounds fantastic EXCEPT app is iphone/ipad only. very unfortunate for the majority of people.

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