Everything’s bigger in Texas, and art is no exception. It took months of emails, brainstorming and numbers to negotiate a concept. But on March 5 we arrived in Austin with our ugly, beat up, eggplant Ford Escort… and about 1000 rolls of Scotch tape.
Max Zorn teamed up with South By Southwest (SXSW) – America’s largest music, film and interactive festival – to make a massive 10ft x 6ft tape art installation in downtown Austin.The artwork itself was lifted two feet in the air, installed in a customized lightbox made by the SXSW crew, like a billboard for foot traffic.
Over 200 tape rolls were used to create “Huckleberry”, and the artwork stood out as a nightly beacon in the heart of the festival. It promoted SXSW Eco and the concept of tape art as a form of upcycling — taking something away from its basic use and giving it a creative touch. Huckleberry was upcycling at its finest.
In a viewpath of over 100,000 attendees March 7 to 16, the giant “Huckleberry” received enough attention to be a SXSW’s headlining photos on the web, on television, national and international newspapers and radio. Our goal was exposure, and SXSW launched America’s first glimpse at Max Zorn tape art. Fans went bananas when Max showed up to tape live every night.
As for the manager, SXSW was checked off the bucket list… and America started to look smaller than before.
Event Photos
Photos (C) www.maxzorn.com
