Wieden + Kennedy helped establish Nike's brand, reinvigorated Old Spice, and helps companies compete across the globe, but the latest campaign to come out of the famous idea factory is designed to bring attention to their next-door neighbors. The London branch of the international agency has created a program called Hello Neighbour that invites artists working within a one-mile radius of the firm’s Hanbury Street office to design an installation for their heavily trafficked storefront window. This August the window/gallery is home to REAL LIFE AT WORK, a monochrome cardboard office inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings, but designed to give W+K employees their Warholian 15 minutes of fame.
>We wanted to give the office space a life of its own.
REAL LIFE AT WORK is a collaboration between graphic artist Emily Forgot and installation artist Laurie D and their installation recreates an office tableau worthy of Madmen. The setting is packed with mid-century modern furnishings delineated with Pop Art lines, surfaces filled with conspicuous halftone patterns, and interactive elements that spring to life, giving the exhibit an animated feel—and occasionally startling inhabitants. “Essentially, we wanted to take an office space one step further and give it a life of its own,” says Laurie D. “Wherein an ideal world time runs backwards, the phone continues to ring and paperwork has a mind of its own.”
W+K employees take turns working in the office tableau typing up emails and crafting presentations, all in view of people walking past the window, who occasionally try to get involved with the creative process. Fans of the agency around the world can watch the Office Space homage through a livestream during business hours.
The meeting rooms at Wieden+Kennedy are famous for their theming and have even been parodied on a Portlandia sketch, but this is a rare opportunity for the public to get a look behind the curtain. “REAL LIFE AT WORK gives an opportunity for the rest of the world to experience an insight to the goings-on of W+K, and some of the wonderful characters they have on the team,” says Laurie D. "The office window is setting a stage, so it'll be up to the workers at Wieden+Kennedy how it gets used," says Forgot. "I am suspecting there will be some things to watch out for over the duration of the window.”
REAL LIFE AT WORK will be on display in London until the end of the month.
Want to know what it's like working in such a public Mise-en-scène? Click through the slideshow to read the firsthand accounts of workers who have spent time in the installation.
