Converse to Artists: If the Shoe Fits...

Posted by Sheila Shayon on June 14, 2011 02:00 PM

What do you get when you put 480 Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars together, 20 shoes high x 24 shoes wide, weighing 400 kg, with 20 modules, and each shoe mounted on a servomotor that can rotate 180 degrees?

Converse's European ‘The Canvas Experiment,’ an experiential project that handed over the brand's iconic Chuck Taylor All Stars to artists to reinvent.

Converse describes the arts-based project as:

The Canvas Experiment is about playing with our most iconic blank canvas – the All Star Sneaker – to see how far we can push the boundaries of independence and creativity. We got things started by trying something we always wanted to: building a motorized Chucks Wall. The 5 x 4-meter installation features nearly 500 Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers working together and independently to make a 400kg interactive screen that displays patterns, words and images.

Built by Perfect Fools, the interactive wall creates a brand experience that's fun to interact with, whether by artists or the public.

“One side of each shoe is red, the other blue, while the fronts are white. As it’s effectively a low-resolution screen, users can physically render any image on the Canvas, as well as animations, video games, films, and music equaliser graphics. By linking the Canvas to a webcam, users can see their silhouette recreated in sneakers,” according to Converse.

The sneaker brand also commissioned three artists to create a series of ‘bespoke pieces’ for the project, including German collective Mentalgassi’s abstract flag:

Dutch artist, Diederik Kraaijeveld’s Chuck Taylor All Stars portrait made from salvaged flooring from a basketball court:

and French artist Olivia Fremineau’s fusion of photography and art:

The sneakers were also programmed to play classic video games:

Musicians also jammed with the installation:

The culmination of this unique fusion of digital, retail, and art was celebrated at a Converse party in Paris late last month, when all three works joined for the first time, as French rockers, The Dodoz, plugged into the Canvas using all 480 shoes as sound equalizers.

Canvas window installations were on display in flagship Converse retailers including Courier in Paris and the Converse Store in Berlin (below), interacting with movements of people passing on the street.