mylar, music & a whole lot of fasteners
Since Popco specializes in point-of-purchase display parts, our products are typically used to drum up sales in retail settings. However, much to our delight, our customers occasionally have less commercial and more purely artistic uses for our products.
There is no better example of this than a project undertaken by The Principals, a Brooklyn-based creative team that includes architects, industrial designers, and master craftsman. Their product designs, architectural environments and sensor-driven robotic installations have been featured in architectural and design journals around the world.
modern materials & ancient chaos
In December of 2014, Sonos, Inc., the audio equipment manufacturer, sponsored an installation by The Principals who partnered with the English born, NYC based, musician Devonte Hynes to create an installation and performance which was held at Neuehouse, a workspace collective in NYC.
The Principals entitled the installation Ancient Chaos, and it employed thousands of small mylar panels held together, in part, by Popco’s posts and screws. The digital art magazine, INHALE, descibed the installation this way: “Using a custom spectrum analyzer/motor driver system, The Principals split out a series of sound frequencies from Hynes’ composition as well as ambient sounds to control individual panels of the structure.”
from dance-punk to r&b and electronica
Devonte Hynes, has performed under the names Lightspeed Champion and Blood Orange. He was once a member of the dance-punk band Test Icicles. His extensive resume includes shows at presitgious events and venues such as SXSW, Glastonbury and the Royal Albert Hall. That we were connected, even in such a tiny way, to an artist of his caliber, was an incredible honor for Popco. As was our brief collaboration with The Principals.
were attendees awestruck by our fasteners?
Most certainly not! Kudos belong to The Principals, to Devonte Hynes, and to Sonos. But Popco’s role in this project was not insignificant. Regarding the installation, Drew Seskunas, one of the founding members of The Principals, was quoted in The Architect’s Newspaper, describing Popco’s posts and screws this way: “Static lights above the moving canopy shine down through the transparent acrylic fasteners to create an effect not unlike that witnessed from a surfboard.* “It’s beautiful how they transmit light,” he said of the fasteners. “We were really excited about that.”
Readers, be advised, this is a legacy post which describes a project that is roughly a decade old. Details on The Principals, and Devonte Hynes were gleaned from INHALE Magazine, Core 77 Design Directory, The Architect’s Newspaper, and Wikipedia.
We’ll wrap up this post with something beautiful from Devonte Hynes — Blood Orange, The Field.
*Drew Seskunas is one of the founding members of The Principals, and a surfer who has witnessed the play of light on water as it passed over his surfboard.
