Slow Burn NYC - The Come Down
A promo video produced for the curatorial duo Slow Burn NYC's Fall 2019 show, "The Come Down: Portraits and Sobering Truths"
Slow Burn NYC - Julia Sub & Michelle Nguyen
Video and Graphics - Kagan
Music - "horizons" by Sphinx
Design Process
The Come Down: Portraits & Sobering Truths, to use Slow Burn’s own description, was “a group show based around ideas of introspection and observation in the form of epiphanies… an unveiling of vulnerable revelations of today’s economic, environmental, consumer, and cultural climate.”
With these themes in mind, as well as with some initial branding aesthetic from Slow Burn, I initially designed the following style frames, taking inspiration from graphic designer Patrick Thomas.
After some reflection and discussion with Julia and Michelle, we agreed that the imagery in these initial style frames was a bit too on-the-nose and literal. Like oh yeah? A cigarette to convey addiction? Great job, dude. We decided a more mellow, tongue-in-cheek and tangential approach would be a nicer way of referring around the heavier themes of the show.
I ended up taking further inspiration from both Erik Winkowski’s awesomely eerie video collages and Sebas and Clim’s promo for "Connections” (like the super long aspect ratio.)
Video was shot in my kitchen and portraits were borrowed from a few exhibiting artists’ childhoods.
