‘29Rooms’ Blends Art and Advertising to Try to ‘Expand Your Reality’ (Review)
The forebear of modern immersive activations comes home to NYC
An annual event in New York City since 2005, 29Rooms is one of the pioneers of the new wave of experiential marketing. The event has been redefining what a pop-up can be, swirling art and advertising together in a way that sometimes makes them indistinguishable. This year’s most recent theme is “Expand Your Reality.”
The work to bring the 2018 edition of 29Rooms began last November. That’s when the 29Rooms team sat and began to brainstorm what was relevant in today’s conversations and what topics were impacting their audience. From that seed, the sessions expanded. Ideas around beauty, culture, finances, news, fashion, all came to the fore. (It doesn’t hurt that these are verticals covered by Refinery 29 — the parent company of 29Rooms.) The company is a digital media organization focused on modern, female-identifying individuals.
For instance, the team wondered if they could create a room around the widely popular Money Diaries book. Yes!
Then, their specialty cultural brand Unbothered asked if they could build an ode to Millenial black women — one that incorporated gold bars of shea butter and a durag that rippled down like a wedding train. Yes!
Then came the discussions of both international and NYC-based artists that could create and imagine the other 20-something rooms. José A. Roda, Uzumaki Cepeda, House of YES, and Aaron Taylor Kuffner survived the long discussions and debates to be chosen as a few of these collaborators.
Up next were the brands. With the help of a survey of Refinery29 and 29Rooms subscribers, the creative team was very careful to choose branded installations that they felt aligned with their audience. Only brands that matched these criteria and the boldness to create an installation were sought out. Revlon brought a lipstick bar complete with an Instagram-photo opp, while Dr. Jart decided to rebuild a scientist’s lab complete with beaker bottles hanging from the ceiling. Reebok designed an artistic showcase centered around the idea of support by mounting long, wide strips of bold, red fabric all over its space that created different hammocks, swings, and a visually stunning athletic playground.
Once the ideal-sized warehouse had been found a few blocks from Barclays Center, it only took seven months and lack of sleep to complete. The 29Rooms team demolished a large brick wall, rigged enormous amounts of lighting, figured out the mechanics for pumping air conditioning into the humid heaviness of the warehouse. All before installing the specific needs of the 29 unique rooms before the September opening.
29Rooms traces its origin to the auspicious aligning of Refinery29’s 10th anniversary with New York Fashion Week. What started as an intimate team of twelve all those years ago has grown to a full-time staff of over twenty. Throw in another forty-plus freelance team members, and you have a sense of the scale of the production.
Kelly Markus, an original 29Rooms team member who is now the VP of Experiential Marketing for Refinery29, says that every comment written from previous guests of 29Rooms is taken to heart. Previous comments of long lines and desire for more live performances, audience engagement, and longer time spent in the spaces has created the brand new “Starlight” experience. That’s a premium-priced ticket that allows access after the normal daytime programming.
I had the unique opportunity to explore 29Rooms twice, once with a small press group before its opening, as well as amongst the long lines of the giddy members of the public.
Highlights From the 29 Different Exhibits
Teenage Bedroom (Room #2): I was in absolute awe of this space during the press event. I was able to peruse and enjoy all of the delicious 80s and 90s pop-culture, including a hamburger phone and a four-player set-up of the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, during the public showcase, I was quickly rushed out of the room with less than three minutes, which was barely enough time to get a few cute photos and no time to appreciate the details.
Ace the Midterms (Room #4): This room really excelled at its world-building. Not only does the classic Saved By the Bell high school theme ring throughout in the set design, but it also serves as an educational space aimed at raising awareness of Yara Shahidi’s Eighteenx18 initiative — a campaign to get younger demographics out to vote.
The Full Picture (Room #11): I enjoyed the plush movie theater seats to sit in and watch the sizzle playing on the screen, but the novelty of walking through the screen fell a little flat because you accidentally walk directly into the main photo opportunity of the exhibit. During the public event, I handed my phone to the 29Rooms staff for a picture, but most of the pictures were crooked and some very blurry.
Sonic Sanctuary (Room #12): I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS SPACE. The calming musical score and the lighting of the robotic instruments definitely expanded my reality. It was also one of the few rooms that I wasn’t rushed through during the public event.
29 Questions (Room #27): This is one of the experimental installations of 29Rooms, where you are encouraged to *gasp* not use your cell phone. This room centered on human interaction. I had a great time meeting someone new through a deck of cards of random questions. The orbs on the tables were wonderful and so was the 29Rooms staff on the mic who lead us through the social experiment in an efficient and well-rehearsed manner. They only had the full activation at the public event, but the wait was bearable knowing we would have a full 7 minutes in the space.
A Conversation With Your Inner Child (Room #29): A visually stunning room, with an approachable interactivity, I loved the ability to spend time and energy in the space without the pressure to keep moving, as well as the thoughtful reflective (literally and figuratively) aspect of the experience. Though my reality was not expanded, I did feel that my reality was re-processed from the child-like perspective I used to have.
But Was My Reality Expanded?
While the variety of the rooms were enjoyable — each one a distinct color palette, world, and timing — I didn’t feel that any of them took a huge risk to match the theme and expand my reality. Most rooms were set in an understandable time and place, a high school, a bedroom, a desert, etc. The overall warehouse felt cold and unused, maybe a little paint on the floors would have helped? Most installations had either the same exit/entrance or an exit/entrance that was not clearly marked. This became slightly frustrating and confusing for me during the general public version of the exhibitions, but maybe that is just the nature of the beast?There is no perfect formula for art, selfie-palace, activism, brand awareness, and the pressure to sell enough tickets for the space to feel filled but not empty.
While the New York pop-up has run its course, LA will see Expand Your Reality in December. If you plan to go, understand exactly what you are getting into. Expect long lines, staff overwhelmed with the sheer amount of people and the feeling of being rushed through rooms in order to make way for new groups to get their photos. But plan on taking the full three hours to really enjoy the sheer vastness of world-building, diversity, and creativity amongst the 29Rooms.
29Rooms will travel to Los Angeles in December 2018. Keep an eye on their web site for updates.
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