NIKE FLYKNIT COLLECTIVE

NIKE FLYKNIT COLLECTIVE  is a platform for creatives in all fields to generate dialogue in their own way and in their own communities. ESKYIU was invited to join the Flyknit Collective as Curators for Shanghai and Greater China, and also to design an interactive installation for the Flyknit in Nike’s Festival of Sport (Shanghai August 2012).  Nike Flyknit is a revolutionary design technology from which footwear is made with a knitted  upper. Precisely engineered yarns are used to create a lightweight, form fitting and virtually seamless upper, designed to deliver great performance while reducing material waste. The  “Flyknit Collective” workshops uses the features of Nike Flyknit as inspiration for four innovative and engaging workshops during the summer 2012. The outcome will be a practical, physical structures that will inspire communities in transformative ways.

ESKYIU multi-disciplinary architecture studio and project curator Eric Schuldenfrei and Marisa Yiu joined leading regional innovator Arthur Huang, and Nike’s Ben Shaffer and Dave Cobban, to unveil Huang’s unique “Feather” pavilion installation within the confines of the Nike Festival of Sport in central Shanghai. The Nike Festival of Sport is the largest grassroots multi-sporting event of its kind in the region, attracting more than 150,000 youths in four days during its inaugural run in 2011. This year 2012 it was attended by global icons such as Lebron James and Kevin Durant as well as local Olympians and the region’s top grassroots athletes who have qualified to compete via territory competitions. Marisa and Eric curated and designed unique creative briefs for Shanghai’s Nike Flyknit Collective workshop series,  to combine sport, creativity and arts in an integral manner. These workshops have already enjoyed tremendous success in Milan, New York, and London.

ESKYIU collaborators include: Arthur Huang for the “Urban Mining” workshop; LED Artist for the  “Fire-up” workshop; and Yin Yi for the “Soundscapes” workshop. Nike’s daily workshops around the installation took place  from August 23-26 2012, each led by an innovator from the region and tackling a specific Nike Flyknit tenet:  August 23 (Sustainability led by Arthur Huang), August 24 (Lightness led by ESKYIU and LEDArtist), August 25 (Formfitting led by ESKYIU) and August 26 (Performance led by Shanghai-based sound artist Yin Yi).

Acknowledgement: Curators of the Nike Flyknit Workshops: Eric Schuldenfrei & Marisa Yiu; Assistants: Siobhan Lee and Maggie Hua. Supported  and created with Nike Greater China team; Matthew Jung ; Feather Pavilion designed and created by innovator: Miniwiz team: Arthur Huang and Ivan Perez-Rossello.

Images above are generated from the workshop, with creative participants from Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. LED light painting photographs are led by Eric Schuldenfrei, LED Artist: Kevin Li, Vanh Wan, Ricky Lo and HK team members.

Details here on Nike Stadiums on the Shanghai Collective Project. more here.

FLYKNIT MULTIPLY.  ESKYIU created and conceived the “Flyknit Multiply” a collaboration between XEX+ESKYIU, an inaugural interactive installation for F.O.S Shanghai Flyknit collective. It brings together visual arts, new technology and community expression to a new level. Inspired by the Flyknit shoe, the real-time installation utilizes bespoke digital computer codes, elegant analog descriptors, architecture spatial design and a trampoline to inspire unique real time portraits. Athletes, visitors to F.O.S, super star celebrities such as Le Bron James, Rudy Gay to returning Olympians such as the Beach Volley Ball team: Xue Chen and Zhang Xi, and inspiring youth generated their own flight, as multiple extensions and weave formations in dynamic ways. click here to see Marisa’s flight captured in real time; and Eric’s flight here.

Details are here on Nike Stadiums’ interview with ESKYIU. more details here.