Da ich das Projekt Pictoplasma liebe wie kaum ein anderes, hier der aktuelle Newsletter. Er macht Laune auf die Konferenz in drei Wochen. Sehen wir uns dort?
Be prepared: in less than a month the 3rd Pictoplasma conference sets off to explore new character territory, leaving little time to gear up for Pictopia.
By now the festival before us has grown into the most ambitious voyage Pictoplasma has ever faced, so here are just a few random outlooks to convince you that Berlin in March might be well worth a visit:
Our collective character excursion starts on the 17th of March with a two day stampede through more than 30 galleries, project spaces and art-institutions, presenting never before seen sceneries of exquisite international character design and art. From the hand knitted delights of shooting star Nina Brown and the west coast jewels of the Merry Karnowsky Gallery, via the findings of precious Argentinean silk screen and Tado’s neo-cute panda-porn, all the way to the select offerings of the i am 8-bit conquistadores – this year’s character walk is an endless succession of scenic view points. One definite highlight will be delivered by our residency winners: a double show in which landscapes of extinct Lithuanian gods are overshadowed by weakening American superheroes. All details and participating venues to follow shortly.
On the 19th of March we flock upon the majestic Haus der Kulturen der Welt, in the very centre of Berlin, where east meets west. Here unfolds our 3-day epic conference journey with artist presentations, panel discussions, workshops and performances by international pioneers, such as James Jarvis (UK), Gaston Caba (ARG), AJ Fosik (USA), Protey Temen (RUS), Charles Glaubitz (MX), Klaus Haapaniemi (FN) or W+K Tokyo Lab (JP). New to the marathon: Saiman Chow and a roller coaster ride through his latest animation projects, followed by Risa Sato, who will lecture on her Campaign series, that have lead her around the world with an oversized character on her back, while Studio aka’s Marc Craste takes us by the hand and into the making of his beautiful “Varmints”.
Long time companions and re-visiting friends such as Nathan Jurevicius, Fons Schiedon or Mehdi Hercberg will point their flashlight at their latest endeavors, while first time pictopian symposium speakers map out the theoretical terrain, placing us in the midst of things that have been and might come.
The trip continues with a daily dose of retina stimulus, as newly hatched generations of characters in motion hit the big screen during our animation programs. Besides oeuvres of minimal-maestro Don Hertzfeld, as-we-speak golden bear winner David OReilly and king of laid-back-psychedelia Ian Stevenson, we’ll experience the latest eye candy offerings by Phil Hunt, PandaPanther, Passion Pictures, Psyop, Partizan, Punga or Postgal – just to name a few.
The most ambitious excursion deep down into the delights of contemporary characterism is definitely the accompanying vast group show, the first ever thematic exhibition of today’s character driven art. While shipment of original artwork, paintings and drawings by Mark Ryden, Ben Frost, Hideaki Kawashima and Tim Biskup is underway, we are prepping all new, never before seen installations by FriendsWithYou, Boris Hoppek, Doma and Akinori Oishi – one of the biggest challenges undoubtably being an actual bumper car track in the center of the museum, but that will have to be the topic of a future newsletter…
Next stop: Pictopia ! – but only if you manage to book your ticket. That should be the easiest part of the journey, so head over to Pictoplasma.com and secure your adventurous days in Pictopia.
See you there,
peter & lars
