Duly impressed by the Starbucks Salon initiative that wrapped up last week in NYC, EMERGE wanted to learn a bit more about how that project took shape, so we reached out to an old friend, Sebastien Agneessens, of Formavision, who was one of the folks who helped mold the Salon idea into the eclectic and engaging experiment in experiential lifestyle branding for the coffee brand people love to love and love to hate in equal measure. Here is a brief interview with Mr. Agneessens:

Could you introduce yourself and describe your work with Formavision in terms of who you've been working with and what you have coming up?

I am a curator based in NYC, and founder of curating agency Formavision. Through my curatorial practice, I work with various brands, which allows me to develop ambitious and eclectic projects with the artists and designers that I like. I started a bit by accident, with my gallery The Point, in the Lower East Side back in 2000. Since most of my exhibitions were installations and had nothing for sale, I had to find a way to fund them, which naturally came through sponsorship. Diesel called me up to curate their exhibitions at the Denim Gallery [on Greene Street, just doors down from the Salon], which I have been directing since then. The way I work is a bit particular compared to other curators, since I remain deeply involved in the creative and production processes, and always commission new work.

Anyway, to make it short, through Formavision I have curated the Aquos Project for Sharp, the Denim Gallery for Diesel, the Starbucks Salon for Starbucks, Construkt
for Girbaud among other things, and am now also developing projects for Coca-Cola and Toyota.

I also curate independent projects, such as gallery shows and Remastered, for which I have invited 55 artists to revisit the masters of Western Painting. The Remastered book will be released this Fall internationally.


How did you become involved with Starbucks Salon?

I became involved in the Starbucks Salon through Genart, who gave birth to the Starbucks Salon concept at the last Sundance Festival. Back then, the Salon was basically a series of concerts hosted in an existing cafe. Genart called me up to take on the creative direction of the space. This project was a bit particular for me since I not only curated the art, some of the performance, but also designed the space. And suddenly, most of my clients want me to design a space for them! Seriously, it's very unexpected. When that happens, I take interior design as a way to extend my interest in art installations. I met Adam Gerard, Genart's founder, two weeks after I moved to New York back in 1999, and I guess that I was at the back of his mind when he thought of who to develop the Starbucks Salon with.

Who else was involved in determining the creative direction for the Salon?

Well you have three different areas here. For the perfomers, we were four members :Catherine Burns (The Moth), Jesse Ashlock (RES Media), Carmine Pietri-Diaz (Nuyorican Poets Cafe) and myself in a jury headed by Genart's programming director. For the art installation and exhibition, this was basically my call. And for the interior design, we collaborated with the Starbucks design team in Seattle. The look and feel of the promotional campaign, including the website, was developed by ad agency Wieden+Kennedy.


What were some of the criteria you considered when crafting not just the programming but the overall feel of this highly unconventional marketing program with Starbucks

The fact that brands are participating in contemporary culture is now a given. Starbucks produces and distributes movies, music, books. Even Bob Dylan recently released albums through Hear Music, Starbucks' music label. Starbucks, like other brands, is changing the dynamics of contemporary culture, which is why I came up with the slanted gallery installation downstairs, where all the angles of the walls were off, as a literal reaction to this phenomenon. And as far as the artistic collaborations, we tapped into a wide spectrum of interesting talents, who are respected by music or art aficionados with performers including: Jose Gonzalez, Angela McCluskey, Ursula Rucker, Darryl DMC McDaniels of Run DMC, Jonathan Lethem, Jim Carroll, House of Diehl and Eugene Mirman. It was a space for people who are plugged into contemporary culture. There was a real creative intent. Actually, Starbucks did not interfere with any creative decision. Seriously, they were a pleasure to work with.


How do you think the project went? Did the public come out in the numbers everyone hoped they would? Did you feel like you were able to make some meaningful creative statements while at the same time reinforcing Starbuck's intention to be not just prominent for it's coffee but for it's cultural perspective as well?

Starbucks seemed very pleased with the project. Even their CEO flew in from Seattle when he heard how well the Salon was going. I think it was a very well orchestrated campaign, and somewhat of an adventure for them. Personally, I was also very happy with the project, for two reasons: 1. because I was happy with the exhibition, the performances, and the design of the Salon. 2. because it was very well attended. My goal as a curator is for more and more people to be exposed to relevant artistic and cultural content, wherever it is placed.

A short Flickr slideshow of images from Sebastien is viewable here

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