Walking in nature can feel like reconnecting with an old friend. The forest’s restorative properties benefit our minds, bodies and souls; alleviating the stresses many of us feel in our modern lives. Earth, our magnanimous provider, continues to offer us spaces of healing in this pivotal time. As temperatures rise and nature responds to our increasingly harsh treatment, the steps we take today serve as a reminder of our role to protect the future of our planet and humankind.
In partnership with environmental organization Sierra Club and taking place at the Life is Beautiful music and arts festival in Las Vegas, Forest Bath was created for visitors to contemplate the relationship between ourselves and the natural world. Taking inspiration from the Japanese practice of “Shinrin-Yoku” (meaning “forest bathing”), festival goers were invited to wander, reflect and relax in sound and visuals drawn from Earth’s healing resonances and beauty.
Throughout the weekend, over 15K visitors came through Forest Bath and signed up to join Sierra Club in the fight against climate change.
Creative Direction and Curation: Albie Alexander
Visual Art: Sam Cannon
Environmental Design: Jenn Whitney
Music and Soundscape: James William Blades
Lighting: WorldStage
2019 Results: 82K Total Attendees / 7 Markets / 1BN+ Press Impressions / 131MM+ #29Rooms Instagram Impressions / 3.96MM+ Organic Instagram Impressions
Ushering in the next evolution of 29Rooms, Expand Your Reality was an invitation into a realm of abundant thinking, built for creating what’s possible. Phone-free Experiences that called for introspection or self-expression, hands-on art making, live performances, and social experiments challenged guests to open and engage with themselves and strangers while challenging public perceptions of what 29Rooms could be.
Key Collaborators & Partners: Lena Waithe, Yara Shahidi, Kesha, ACLU, Rupi Kaur, Carlota Guerrero, Uzumaki Cepeda, Hoodwitch, Reebok, Aldo, Amazon, Moxy Hotels
Conversations with Nature was an exhibition curated and creative directed by Albie Alexander that examined our deep connection with the natural world through introspective experiences that invited visitors to engage in a deep dialogue with the environment. Themes of activism and healing permeated the exhibition, which explored resonances of mindfulness in an effort to develop new understandings of ourselves and achieve new visions of the future we want. Taking place during Miami Art Basel 2019 at Brickell City Centre over the course of four days, a series of installations and happenings invited visitors to experience their interconnectedness with each other and with Earth as a pathway to inspire positive action in the fight against climate change.
Featured installations:
Inner Landscapes by Brittany Asch of BRRCH + Yrsa Daley-Ward
Awakening by Sarah Meyohas
Legacy Oasis by Basia Goszczynska
ARTivism Studio by Greta Thunberg + Friday’s For Future
What science tells us is that everything in the universe (including us) originated from star matter and continues to flow through us today. This ocean of energy is everywhere in the universe and we as human beings are an intrinsic part of it, creating ripples with every move and feeling that impacts the world around us.
Launching at the Galaxy Studio in London, The YOUniverse, was a never-been-done-before experience taking place across eight cities around the world. It comprised of three custom installations where consumers were invited to power the environment by their collected YOUniverse “star matter” biometric data, simultaneously showcasing the new Samsung Galaxy S10’s unique features and creating a meaningful shareable experience.
Installation 1: Field of Hearts
Every person has a unique heartbeat and when we combine two different rhythms, something special can occur. Inspired by the Galaxy S10’s Power Share feature, the Field of Hearts invites you to share your pulse with a friend to create a symphony of infinite light. During your experience, the Galaxy S10’s Ultra Wide Lens will capture the vastness of your shared YOUniverse.
Installation 2: Sonic Radiance
Our voice carries more power than we know, it is our source of strength and gives us the ability to shape our world. Inspired by your unique sound take a step inside Sonic Radiance, where you will use your voice to unlock new dimensions of your YOUniverse. Play and experiment with different sounds to paint your environment with light, and use the Galaxy S10’s Dual Aperture feature to capture the illuminated space you’ve created.
Installation 3: Ocular Odyssey
It has been famously said that eyes are the windows into the soul. Sparkling like a beautiful starry night, they are galaxies of wonder and magic. Inspired by the Galaxy S10 True Eye feature, take a journey through the Ocular Odyssey where you can explore your YOUniverse by unraveling your eyes’ hidden cosmos. With the Galaxy S10’s Live Focus camera, capture every frame of this kaleidoscopic experience as it unfolds.
Opening in 2023, MSG Sphere is a state-of-the-art venue that will use cutting-edge visual and audio technologies to create a boundless experience for Las Vegas tourists and locals alike. Sphere is a whole new medium and multi-sensory platform, with unparalleled experiential technology programming directly to the senses.
We consulted for MSG on the creative development of their immersive experiences and show techniques specific to the unique technology and canvas of Sphere.
The history of Harlem is a study on human resilience and tenacity, triumphing over systemic adversaries from racism to police brutality to gentrification. And in 2021, its people were fighting a new kind of battle – closures in light of COVID-19. As nearly 66% of BIPOC-owned businesses in America face the risk of closing permanently (vs. 57% of non-minority owned businesses).
In 2021, we launched the Thrillist Block Party and turned Harlem into a roller disco, dance party, and food festival, all in one. (Plus music, parades, competitions, and general neighborhood good- vibes celebrations.) Hosted by our Executive Producer Tren’ness Woods-Black, Queen of Hospitality, we brought out the best of Harlem with a one-of-a-kind event that blended culture, commerce and entertainment. Always in the spirit of giving back to the community, this event benefited Harlem Park to Park and provided funds to Black-owned businesses helping to keep the neighborhood, and entrepreneurs thriving.
To launch the Samsung S9+ phone in Chicago, the essence of the Windy City was brought to life in a cinematic installation that portrayed the spirit of the city from day to night.
At the beating heart of the experience, clusters of mirrored Chicago skyscrapers were built for guests to navigate and create the sensation that they were taking a limitless stroll through the city. Surrounding the installation, a 360 panoramic screen displayed an abstract film that captured 24 hours in Chicago through a mixture of vibrant color gradients and footage filmed on the Samsung S9 phone. Scored to a bespoke poem written by local poet Raych Jackson, this experience was the ultimate immersion into the soul of Chicago.
Harnessing the power of LED display technology, we created an installation that turned the SAG Awards red carpet into a energetic, immersive art experience. Utilizing mirrors and motion graphics the red carpet booth served as a brightly colored backdrop for celebrities to express themselves. All the videos were edited together in under ten minutes each and then sent to the celebrity talent to share on their own social channels.
29Rooms: "Turn It Into Art" was a call to action to celebrate the transformative power of creativity, building 29 experiences to channel art’s ability to unify, heal, uplift and provoke new ideas and new actions. Across our 4-city tour and attracting over 70K attendees, we invited bold leaders and visionaries to shine their light and celebrate the indomitable spirit of ART. Through this transformative experience, we opened attendees eyes to the most powerful tool we yield: the radical possibility of the imagination.
Reaching 1 in 2 users on instagram globally and taking our experiential sensation to NY, LA, Chicago and San Francisco this year, our attendees became part of the art - they were the content creators, fueling an epic social halo that drove viral engagement.
Key Collaborators + Partners: Janelle Monae, Margot Robbie, Chloe x Halle, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jill Soloway, Planned Parenthood, Benjamin Shine, Women’s March, Juno Calypso, Maisie Cousins, Google, Cadillac, Adidas, Marc Jacobs.
Timed to New York Fashion Week, this annual event took place in a 70,000 square foot warehouse in Bushwick and disrupted social channels and the press, featuring exclusive performances, art exhibitions, interactive installations, virtual reality, film, food, and more.
Inspired by the theme “Powered by People”, we built an experience that explored how individuals can create change both big and small. The installations put the attendees at the center of the event, sparking engagement and creating a live social broadcast of self-expression and meaningful dialogue.
Key Collaborators and Partners: Lady Gaga and The Born This Way Foundation, RuPaul, Adwoa Aboah, Tinashe, Hilary Rodham Clinton, Nicola Formichetti, Fossil, Perrier, Ford
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, we created thirdplace: a virtual meeting place of extraordinary online experiences for curious minds. Led by culture creators, artists and makers from around the world, each thirdplace experience was crafted to ignite creativity and teach tangible new skills.
From dream interpretations to movement meditation and hula hooping, thirdplace was a celebration of art in its many weird and wonderful forms and an opportunity for artists around the world to earn income in what has been one of the most challenging times for humankind in modern history.
Visit www.third-place.com to explore.
Launching in September 2015, 29Rooms was created in celebration of Refinery29’s 10-Year Anniversary as a way to bring the brand to life physically. We aimed to disrupt the exclusivity of New York Fashion Week by creating an inclusive event that made style, culture, art, and technology accessible. In order to celebrate the topics and creative voices that resonate most with our audience, we partnered with visionaries like Petra Collins, Shantell Martin, and Solange Knowles to co-create 29 distinct artistic experiences. The experience blew audiences and press away with Time Out hailing it as the "NYFW event of the year" and Wall Street Journal calling 29Rooms as "an event of massive scale and creativity".
Today, 29Rooms has become a vibrant event where culture, creativity and imagination are unlocked and celebrated year after year. Through our traveling tours and ever-changing spaces, new artists, partners, and visionaries continue to bring ideas to life through interactive installations, performances, workshops, and more. This first-of-its-kind event brings together a vibrant, creative crowd and engages millions globally through live experiences designed to unlock the creativity inside us all.
In celebration of the anticpated finale of HBO's hit series "GIRLS, Refinery29 created an interactive exhibition that attracted thousands of faithful fans to explore a retrospective sequential timeline that highlighted key moments from the show. Taking over the John Doe Gallery in Brooklyn, this two-day living exhibition experience brought nostalgia to viewers who have followed the iconic storyline and generated buzz through social moments inspired by the unique visual setting that included a recreation of Hannah's living room.
La Maison Cointreau was an immersive theater experience that took guests from a library to a kitchen to a hidden cabaret with performances from the likes of Dita Von Teese and Lady Rizo, allowing them to experience the history, experience the use, and be entertained by the historic brand. Decor was designed as a traveling theatrical set (inclusive of 70 linear feet of faux bookcases), allowing us to transform any old mansion we found into La Maison Cointreau.
NewFronts is an event that gives Refinery29 a chance to present our video content to important decision makers across brands, agencies, production companies, and press, and show them what R29 is all about!
This year, with the theme of ”Claiming Power," the Refinery29 mission to inspire and serve the most powerful generation of women EVER was on full display. Through a slate of incredible new video programs and some amazing new partners -- we premiered content that truly embodies the idea of what it means to claim your power.
Special presenters included Morgan Spurlock, Gaborey Sidibe and a powerful performance by Nobel Stepz and Marawa the Amazing.
Refinery29's two day mini-golf course disrupted the conventional NYFW landscape with an interactive and inclusive experience open to the public. Editorially driven, The Refinery29 Country Club spotlighted both new and iconic New York designers and borrowed inspiration from their most signature pieces in the form of nine custom built holes. The event captured massive media coverage and became a pop culture sensation garnering over 360MM press impressions and 7.9MM social impressions.
Refinery29 received a FAME Award Honorable Mention in the First Time Event category for R29 Country Club.
Toyota & Refinery29 brought together three artists who use visual language to speak to their personal experience within a common city: LA. We designed so the artists murals would be presented on separate mirrored panels, merging individual perspective with unifying collaboration and championing the design of the Toyota vehicle.
Refinery29 created an immersive video booth on the red carpet for the 23rd Annual SAG Awards in Los Angeles. The booth was used as a set to create social-first content that was edited within hours and send to celebrities for instant social sharing. Click here to see some of the videos in action.
67% of American women are plus-size — size 14 or larger — yet the plus-size woman accounts only for 2% of the bodies represented in the mainstream media.
In partnership with Lane Bryant and Aerie, Refinery29 has launched The 67% Project, a movement toward representing the truth about the who the American woman is in the media.
The Every Beautiful Body symposium brought together thought leaders in fashion, media & retail, influencers, and celebrities. But most importantly, it was open to everyone, with over 400 guests in attendance. Through a program of panels & workshops, interactive activities & art, we used storytelling and facts to enlighten, empower and challenge women, triggering a seismic shift towards the representation of Every Beautiful Body in the media.
In celebration of Primark’s USA launch and to truly create a FOMO inducing experiential moment, Refinery29 hosted "Club Primania" in a raw warehouse space in Philadelphia.
We created a destination where stylish consumers were introduced to Primark’s US debut collection and raised awareness of Primark’s second location at King of Prussia with a party featuring massive live musical performances and a fashion show-meets-dance performance on an elevated scaffold runway!
With over 1200 consumer RSVPs, the buzz surrounding Club #PRIMANIA was undeniable. Fashion-loving Philadelphians took to their social media channels to trumpet their excitement for Primark, amassed over 19 million social impressions and made #PRIMARKUSA a global trending hashtag on Instagram.
Following an evening celebrating The CFDA Awards, the fashion world let loose atop The Top of The Standard for the official after-party hosted and created by Refinery29. Influential guests such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Gigi Hadid and Jude Law danced and mingled the night away at what was the best dressed party of the season. The event garnered over 2.2million social impressions and 332 million press impressions.
During Cannes Lion, we created the Refinery29 Villa which was a beautifully serene retreat for guests to escape the hustle and bustle of Boulevard de la Croisette. In the beautiful hills overlooking Cannes, we took over a villa and completely transformed the space with hand picked modernist furniture from Milan and actors who immersed guests in the true essence of the French Riviera. Throughout the duration of Cannes Lion, the Refinery29 Villa hosted a number of cocktail parties, talks and performances that created both social and media buzz.
During SXSW Interactive, Refinery29 and Neiman Marcus welcomed VIP’s, celebrities, influencers, tastemakers and consumers to the School of Self-Expression. Inside these walls, we encouraged guests to raise their voices, break the rules, and live outside the lines.
Located in the beating heart of Austin, we launched the experience with a party hosted by Kate Bosworth followed by two days open to the public where nearly 3,000 guests attended. At the School of Self Expression, we curated a unique programming calendar of interactive masterclass crash courses in creativity, technology and style led by a diverse range of cutting-edge talent including Chuck Grant, Cleo Wade and Wynter Gordon.
In an effort to make the mall more relevant to millennia shoppers, Refinery29 and Simon Malls partnered on The Shopping Block; a six-city tour that drove thousands of consumers in-store with a traveling pop- up boutique, personal styling sessions, and DIY activation. Not only was the event loved by consumers, but it received huge press accolades including a front page feature in WWD. The original inspiration for the Shopping Block took from shipping crates, and we created plywood blocks that opened in the space to reveal these unique shopping storefronts. The minimalism of these pieces combined with the sophisticated neon lights made this experience stand out in the mall environment.
Highly interactive activation that took the streets of New York City by storm. Inspired by the Summertime tradition of Ice Cream Trucks, The Timex Truck offered guests free Ice Cream and their choice of watch.
In order to encourage social engagement during the activation, we implemented an Instagram contest. Attendees were encouraged to take pictures of their new watches and use #timexscoops for an opportunity to win prizes. Between social promotion, influencer posts and the contest entries, there were over 3 million social impressions.
