Archive for the 'news' Category

CHARACTERS IN MOTION - VOL.3 TEASER

Published
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Peter
on 14. June 2010
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CIM2_headlinesPICTOPLASMA PUBLISHING
Pictoplasma releases the 3rd “Characters in Motion” DVD Volume, inviting you on a 3 hour psychedelic journey through the character populated worlds of over 40 forwardlooking, stylistically outstanding studios, animators and designers, including Asterokid, Saiman Chow, Marc Craste, Fluorescent Hill, McBess, Satoru Ohno, David OReilly, Fons Schiedon, Takafumi Tsuchiya, tokyoplastic, Joel Trussell, Nagi Noda, W+K Tokyo Lab, Lucas Zanotto and more…

Enjoy the little mashed-up teaser to the track “A New Error” by Moderat and get your full 3 hour treatment of animated gold > in our online shop!

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PEN TO PAPER

Published
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Peter
on 9. April 2010
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pentopaper_headlinesPICTOPLASMA EXHIBITION
To celebrate the release of Pictoplasma’s “Pen to Paper” publication, we presented a series of exhibitions in London, Paris and Berlin. The revival of analogue skills has injected immeasurable visual wealth into the world of illustration, fine art and especially character design. Artists reject the computer and channel their creativity through spontaneous freehand drawing to create untamed, edgy and exceptional beings.

All that seems left of our beloved cartoon faces, familiar consumer mascots and pop icon characters is a distorted, far away echo.

Pen to Paper showcased original work by Shoboshobo (FR), Allyson Mellberg Taylor (US), Seth Scriver (CA), Andrew James Jones (UK), John Casey (US), Luke Ramsey (CA), Eric Shaw (US), Thomas Bernard (FR), Lane Hagood (US), Joey Haley (CA), Kerozen (FR), Ian Stevenson (UK), Arnaud Loumeau (FR), Fia Cielen (BE), Frédéric Fleury (FR), Matt Lock (US), Ola Vasiljeva (NL), and Yu Matsuoka (JP/FR).

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PICTOPLASMA BERLIN FESTIVAL

Published
by
Peter
on 8. April 2010
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FESTIVALPICTOPLASMA FESTIVAL
Pictoplasma Festival, Berlin
09. - 10. 04. 2010
Kino Babylon Berlin-Mitte

With lectures, performances and presentations by:
Peter de Sève (USA), Fluorescent Hill (CA), The Blackheart Gang (ZA), Mymo (D) and Ville Savimaa (FN), Nina Braun (DE), Luke Ramsey (CA) and Jeremy Dower (AUS) and more…

Click on the image below to view the official Festival Opener by Fons Schiedon

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PEN TO PAPER

Published
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Peter
on 7. April 2010
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pentopaper_headlinesPICTOPLASMA PUBLISHING
Pen to Paper presents a fine selection of the most adventurous images from a global scene of artists, working mainly with a pen or analogue techniques such as water color, ink or collage.
This recent revival has injected immeasurable visual wealth into the world of illustration, fine art and especially character design. Artists reject the computer and channel their creativity through spontaneous freehand drawing to create untamed, edgy and exceptional beings.

Pen to Paper showcases the key players of what is being labelled ‘DIY art’, ‘fractured figuration’ or ‘new psychedelic folk’, including Mehdi Hercberg alias Shoboshobo, Allyson Mellberg Taylor, Andrew James Jones, John Casey, Luke Ramsey, Eric Shaw, Allison Schulnik, Thomas Bernard, Lane Hagood, Stéphane Prigent alias Kerozen and many more. Original essays by Michael Bonesteel and Alex Michon.

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FAITS DIVERSE

Published
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Peter
on 8. January 2010
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g_m_headlinesPICTOPLASMA PUBLISHING
The French duo Gangpol & Mit is well-known for its unparalleled symbiosis of vision and sound, following a unique work process. Starting in 2002, Guillaume Castagne and Sylvain Quément have continuously created their own universe of deviant cartoons and technicolor anthems. Guillaume emails some graphics to Sylvain, who then composes a melody and sends it back – or Sylvain coughs up a tune and has Guillaume translate it into animated worlds. The table-tennis collaboration continues until their graphic and sound collisions have reached perfect synchrony.
For the first time you can now enjoy this unique love-hate relationship between sonic and visuals on your own home entertainment system!
The book presents the visual worlds as original movie posters and scene shots of the most thrilling episodes, while the new tracks offer sceneries straight from doomsday.

Take a peak by clicking on the image below…

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3. PICTOPLASMA CONFERENCE

Published
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Peter
on 19. March 2009
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CONFERENCEPICTOPLASMA FESTIVAL
3. Pictoplasma Conference, Berlin
19. - 21. 03. 2009
Haus der Berliner Festspiele

With lectures, performances and presentations by: Boris Hoppek (ES/GER), Faiyaz Jafri (NL/USA), Risa Sato (JP), James Jarvis (UK), Andrea Crews (FR), Charles Glaubitz (MX), Klaus Haapaniemi (FIN/UK), W+KTokyoLab (JP), Protey Temen (RUS), AJ Fosik (USA), Gaston Caba (ARG), Saiman Chow (USA), Christoph Bartneck (NL), Geoffrey Long (USA), Ken Belson (USA), Ragnhild Tronstad (NOR) and Verena Kuni (DE) and more…
View the official Opener by David OReilly

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BUMPER CARS

Published
by
Peter
on 19. March 2009
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bumper_headlinesPICTOPLASMA EXHIBITION

As the central installation for the exhibition “Prepare for Pictopia” at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (2009), Pictoplasma produced a series of five unique, interactive bumper cars referencing iconic characters by international artists Motomichi Nakamura (US/JP), Boris Hoppek (DE), Nathan Jurevicius (AUS), Tado (UK) and Doma (ARG).
Every hour lights gradually faded as the sun set in the exhibition hall, while the central marked place arena came to life in an illuminated fire-work of sounds, lights and colours. The dodgem awoke and invited visitors to hop in the character cars for a truly psychedelic ritual.
Accompanied by the special, 6 channel soundtrack composed by Künstler Treu, a synchronised light-show in blue, red and white revealed the previously hidden multilayered inhabitants of the graphical arena designed by Steve Alexander from the art-collective Rinzen.

The Bumper cars have since made a reappearance at the Internationaal Beeldfestival in Rotterdam, where visitors were able to literally bump away each others visual fatigue.

View a little snippet by clicking on the last image…

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PREPARE FOR PICTOPIA

Published
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Peter
on 19. March 2009
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pictopia_headlinesPICTOPLASMA EXHIBITION

In 2009 the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin) invited Pictoplasma to curate the world’s first large-scale exhibition on contemporary character design and art. “Prepare for Pictopia” playfully explored the phenomenon and offered new and surprising insight into a growing scene of graphic designers and artists that work with a shared set of icons, opening up new contexts and correlations. The exhibition examined the contemporary vague of reduced figuration as a strategy for producing a vitalism outside established narratives. These so-called characters are reduced to the anthropomorphic function of eye contact which seems to look out from flat pictorial space at the viewer.
Besides a large number of site specific work created especially for the occasion by Akinori Oishi, Doma Collective, Doudouboy, Doma, Juan Pablo Cambariere, Rinzen, Borris Hoppek, Waynehorse, FriendsWithYou and Shoboshobo, the group show presented original artwork by: Mark Ryden, AJ Fosik, Ben Frost, Daniel & Geo Fuchs, Dylan Martorell, Edwina Ashton, Faiyaz Jafri, Fons Schiedon, Gary Baseman, Golan Levin, Hideaki Kawashima, Ian Stevenson, James Marshall, Jeremy Dower, Motomichi Nakamura, Nagi Noda, Olaf Breuning, Sam Gibbons, Tim Biskup and many more…

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FUN HOUSE by FRIENDSWITHYOU

Published
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Peter
on 18. March 2009
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funhouse_headlinesPICTOPLASMA EXHIBITION

In the months and weeks prior to the exhibition “Prepare for Pictopia” (2009), a selected group of international artists were commissioned by Pictoplasma and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt to create new site-specific artwork. These works played on the main topics of the exhibition: the remix of a common visual vocabulary, the animistic physical presence of character design and the approach to interact with characters in ritualistic play. One of the most ambitious tasks was to transform the venue’s vast, empty lobby, so Pictoplasma invited Miami based artist duo FriendsWithYou to join in and create an unforgettable experience.
The areal with over 800 square meters was re-designed as a full-grown interactive installation referencing a suburban landscape, including private hide-aways, cheerful picket fences and FriendsWithYou’s legendary bouncing castle “Fun House”.

Not only was the installation the first to greet visitors of the exhibition, thus having to introduce and transport the exhibition’s core topics. Most importantly it had to be carefully conceived and produced in such a way to stand up to the enormous – and sometimes uncontrollable – willingness, of the more than 30.000 visitors to engage in wild, limitless and untamed play.

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BRILHANTE

Published
by
Peter
on 7. March 2009
in news
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BRILHANTEPICTOPLASMA EXHIBITION

French designer Florent Feys aka Doudouboy has worked extensively for the luxury industry – his luscious, oneiric and crystalline illustration style is the perfect match to brand high-class products such as haute couture or radiant perfumes.
In 2009, Pictoplasma commissioned Doudouboy to collaborate on a large-scale, walkable installation, playing on the topic of perfect and sterile consumer aesthetics incorporating minimal, yet engaging characters. The aim was to create a maximal notion of desire while keeping the viewer at unreachable distance.

The installation “Brilhante” employs the optical illusion of an infinity room by arranging mirrors to seal and extend a closed space. This endless void is the perfect stage for an over-sized, gently revolving koala bear statue covered in exclusive fur.
A soundtrack sets an uncanny mood, as the visitor is tempted to touch, hug and cuddle the precious creature, only to see his own image endlessly reflected in the life-less eyes and infinite space of the installation.

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