Photo Credit: Loren Wohl
On Saturday, Vice and Intel officially introduced The Creators Project to the world with a massive launch party in New York City. Milk Studios was the perfect setting for the event, simultaneously acting as a museum, music venue, movie theater, classroom, and party space.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE NYC LAUNCH EVENT
Initially, it seemed like 12 hours was way too long to spend in one place, but we quickly learned that with everything going on, it simply was not enough. The early part of the day was relatively calm and we took our time wandering from room to room. It felt like a modern-day Wonderland, with new discoveries at every turn. Most of the art exhibits had interactive components that encouraged participation. Among our favorites was Cube by Brazilian artist Muti Randolph, an immersive sculpture composed of 9,600 animated light spheres suspended to form a cube. Outfitted with thousands of sensors, the sculpture’s light and sound patterns reacted to the movements of the participants inside the cube.
The energy shifted at around 8:30, when the back-to-back music performances began. All of a sudden, we were in high gear, husstling between the three stages in an effort to take in as shows as possible. The Creators Project managed to achieve what we thought was impossible – they were able to curate an urban music festival environment in the heart of New York City. Sleigh Bells were the most fun to shoot – their explosive set in the Second Floor Gallery was not one for the faint-hearted. Lead singer Alexis Krauss was like a love child of Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Alice Glass (Crystal Castles), invoking the dynamic movements of the former, with the indecipherable noises of the latter.
The most pleasant surprise of the day was Sulumi, who lured us into the First Floor Gallery with his heavy electro beats. It’s no wonder that his sound is reminiscent of early-nineties video games – his DJ toolkit includes a Gameboy, among other gadgets. After a few quick snaps of Interpol, who were great, as expected, we rushed back upstairs to catch Die Antwoord’s NYC debut performance, which transformed the party into a full-blown shitshow. The Second Floor Gallery was packed to capacity with a line of people waiting outside. Things got so crazy during the South African duo’s set that the crowd knocked down the barrier at the front of the room, eliminating the photo pit for the rest of the night.
M.I.A., the evening’s last-minute surprise guest, drew the largest crowd with a set that included appearances by Rye Rye and Sleigh Bells guitarist Derek E. Miller. The Sri Lankan singer rocked so hard that debris from the ceiling rained down on the audience. DJ Sets by N.A.S.A. and Mark Ronson (joined by MNDR and Donnis, among others) closed out the event, turning Milk Studios into a bonafide party for the remainder of the night.
The Creators Project Launch Event was like an updated version of the seminal Salon de Paris - a gathering of trailblazing artists across all mediums, pushing the boundaries of creativity using technology. The events are just the tip of the iceberg – The Creators Project is a multi-year initiative that encourages artists to explore their creativity, while giving consumers a new platform to discover art, music, film, design and architecture.
New York was the first of five global summits this summer – we’ll be hitting up The Creators Project event in London on July 17, after which the event will continue to São Paulo and Seoul, ending with a three-day finale in Beijing.
