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Artist Displays Video Art on Best Buy Screens

by Amar Toor on October 12, 2009 at 09:38 AM


In a dramatic shift from the usual fare of live sports or snippets of 'The Rock' that has become the norm across most Best Buy HDTV displays, one Manhattan store has opened its doors to the art world, dousing its Home Entertainment section with a heaping tablespoon of hip.

Artist Borna Sammak joined forces with curator Thomas McDonnell to convince a Best Buy in SoHo to display a collection of his "video paintings" on all of its HDTVs on the lower level of the store. The installation, which combined surround sound-enhanced music with footage from nature documentaries like 'Planet Earth,' drew massive crowds, and injected a welcomed jolt of coolness that has never exactly been Best Buy's M.O. In an interview with Art in America, McDonnell noted that Best Buy was one of the few places in America that offered sufficient high-definition audio/visual equipment to absorb Sammak's work.

It's difficult to evaluate such an experiential exhibit based on a short video (embedded below), but the general idea is pretty cool. As much as we like seeing every bead of sweat on Roger Federer's forehead as we stroll around on a Saturday afternoon, it'd be refreshing to walk in and witness a different, more experimental variation on the HD theme. By simultaneously boosting Best Buy's cool quotient (Sammak's previous work includes this) and stretching the creative boundaries of high definition technology, Sammak may have introduced a new trend in mainstream technology marketing. [From: PopSci via Gizmodo]

Tags: art, best buy, BestBuy, nyc, top

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