Perennially edgy auto manufacturer Scion recently announced an ambitious bicoastal art event called Want2BSquare, scheduled to take place April 2007 at Skylight Studios in New York City and at the Scion Installation LA Gallery in Los Angeles. The events will of course feature several music guests familiar to anyone who has attended any of the dozens of Scion functions over the past four or five years. Scion-endorsed DJs Cosmo Baker and DJ Ayres of the EMERGE-approved DJ teamThe Rub will helm the turntables in NYC, while underground fixtures DJ Ramses and Denimslinger work the LA party.

The event isn't a musical one for the most part. Each of the parties will celebrate the work of acclaimed street artists Dalek, Matzu, Maya Hayuk, Sage Vaughn, Kelsey Brookes, Upso, and Freddi C, each of whom have submitted two works on square canvasses in a nod to the Scion xB's boxy silhouette.

Each of the canvasses have been assembled into cubes which hang suspended from the ceiling, creating exterior and interior viewing environments for spectators who walk beneath the hanging artwork. For those unable to attend one of these sure-to-be-interesting collaborations between Toyota and the underground art community can learn more at the enormously overdesigned Want2BSquare website created by celebrated design shop Attik. The site offers a vast array of Want2BSquare content including games, videos and other "quirky experiences."

Whether this sort of thing sells any cars for Scion is anyone's guess. What is certain is that Scion is making a very serious effort to put its marketing muscle where its mouth is and really stake a claim on the leading edge of art culture as a marketing strategy.

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