Agenda: Filling Up Empty Space
For Aaron Levant, the interior of the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center is nothing but empty space.
He plans to fill much of it up for the next Agenda trade show, scheduled for Jan. 5–6 at the Long Beach, Calif., events hall. The new show is forecast to take more than 235,000 square feet, more than double the 110,000 square feet of the August 2011 Agenda show floor.
For past Agenda shows, venues such as the San Diego Concourse and the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa in Huntington Beach, Calif., supplied all the show ambiance, Levant said.
“This is the first time we had to create an atmosphere and create a vibe. It’s a cool challenge,” he said.
But this project also will be a balancing act. Part of Agenda’s mission is to provide vendors with a clean, minimal aesthetic where no booth, company graphics or sound system will dominate the show floor. However, the fashion, streetwear and activewear trade show also intends to make a statement on the various art scenes that inspire it.
Enter visual-display company Way LA. Levant hired the 1-year-old visual-display company recently. While show plans are still being developed, Way LA, based in Los Angeles, agreed to design a scaffolding installation at the show entrance.
It will be 30 feet tall and 200 feet wide, said Jared Vale, a partner in Way LA. “Agenda is growing; we’re building something monumental,” he said of the installation’s message. “It will block out a lot of the blahness of being inside the convention center.”
The installation will be positioned to steer buyers to Agenda’s registration desk. It also will provide a canvas for the street art that has inspired so many Agenda vendors.
The bottom of the installation will look like construction barricades. But unlike most barricades in urban areas, artists will be invited to paste posters onto the Agenda barricade.
Behind the barricade, several towers will be constructed out of raw metal. Construction canvas will be architecturally layered across the scaffolding.
Agenda’s devotion to street art also will be displayed in the show’s posters and flyers. For the upcoming show, street art’s leading luminary, Obey/Giant founder Shepard Fairey, designed the show poster. The poster features an Obey icon and a tree growing on a skull and a motto from punk rock band The Clash: “The Future Is Unwritten.” A limited number of posters will be sent to key Agenda buyers.—A.A.
