Two weekends ago I had the freeze of my life. Temperatures under 10C, something you'd expect in the end of May, right? It was my first workshop with Kunstp
понедельник, 10 июня 2013
понедельник, 03 июня 2013
Yesterday I had a first go with my new Speaking Bag workshop. It was also my first soft circuit workshop aimed for kids. And I think all in all it went really well.
Despite the city being almost in a condition of a swimming pool with water coming from all four directions, there were 7 participants, just as planned. And a huge 'thank you' goes to Astrid who came to help me out!
Honestly, children are amazing. There are many things which they apprehend faster than adults. They get some concepts immediately and stick to the work until that something is finished. Well, at least sometimes 
The workshop lasted much longer than I planned, but there wasn't much you could do with that weather anyway.
The next workshop is for adults and it's on Tuesday night. And that one is already fully booked. But it's definitely not the last one, so stay tuned!
четверг, 30 мая 2013
Getting ready for the upcoming sound hacking soft circuit workshops. Sunday from 12.30 to 2pm for kids, Tuesday 6.30pm to 9.30pm for adults, Hansastra
четверг, 23 мая 2013
Last Friday our art collective Beddow 'n Battini had an opening of an exhibition hosted by the Hatched Gallery in London. It was part of our interactive art & literature project 100 Word Pilgrimage, which we were previously showcasing in December. I came over from Munich for the second day of the exhibition and was amazed by the set up which was so diverse and elaborated on many facets of a journey, encouraging the audience to join in.
Here is a new illustration of mine, and below is the accompanying animation, which is accessible with the augmented reality app Aurasma. (If you download it, you can test it where-ever you are by pointing at the illustration on your computer screen.)
This time new pictures and writings were hung up in a vivid curve, to support the flow and rhythm of the journey.
What really amazed me was a huge mural, which guys produced within just one week! I loved every bit of it! I wonder if we could take it on a journey as well. Despite the fact that artists with very individual styles have been working on it, it works really well together and all parts merge into one mural organically.
In other parts of the exhibition there were pieces from the previous show, a mind-map of the project development and an interactive corner inviting the visitors to share their own journey through London.
It is a very nice feeling to know that collaboration can also work over distances. It was inspiring to get these creative vibes from London while working in Munich. And midnight skype-clinic on composition and light with Tania are awesome!
The exhibition will be on until May 24! Southwark Studios, Rich House, 4th Floor, 40 Crimscott Street, London, SE1 5TE. Come along!
(Here is a review of the exhibition in Russian by moscowlondon.
Здесь можно почитать про выставку в жж moscowlondon по-русски.)
Here is a new illustration of mine, and below is the accompanying animation, which is accessible with the augmented reality app Aurasma. (If you download it, you can test it where-ever you are by pointing at the illustration on your computer screen.)
This time new pictures and writings were hung up in a vivid curve, to support the flow and rhythm of the journey.
Tania's amazing new piece: a Shoreditch hipster in winter time
Wumi's crazy perspective illustration
with a focus on Vietnamese people in Whitechapel
Ailish's delicate illustration with Tania's brilliant ink animation. loved it
It is a very nice feeling to know that collaboration can also work over distances. It was inspiring to get these creative vibes from London while working in Munich. And midnight skype-clinic on composition and light with Tania are awesome!
It all ended with suspiciously cheap burgers at Weatherspoon's )))
))) The exhibition will be on until May 24! Southwark Studios, Rich House, 4th Floor, 40 Crimscott Street, London, SE1 5TE. Come along!
(Here is a review of the exhibition in Russian by moscowlondon.
Здесь можно почитать про выставку в жж moscowlondon по-русски.)
воскресенье, 05 мая 2013
If you are in London between 11th and 24th of May, you should come, pop in, drop by, get down- you get the idea - to our interactive audio-visual exhibition A Journey from South to East - a continuation of the 100 Word Pilgrimage project! The opening is at Hatched Gallery, on the 10th of May, 6-10 pm.
There will be some new illustrations and written pieces on display, among others an illustration dedicated to Rotherhithe I've finally finished a couple of days ago. You will also see beautiful new illustrations by Tatiana, Wumi, Eddie, Kalinda and many more! Come and bring your portable binary friends of any size!
To give you the taste, here's a gorgeous invitation designed by Tatiana:
There will be some new illustrations and written pieces on display, among others an illustration dedicated to Rotherhithe I've finally finished a couple of days ago. You will also see beautiful new illustrations by Tatiana, Wumi, Eddie, Kalinda and many more! Come and bring your portable binary friends of any size!
To give you the taste, here's a gorgeous invitation designed by Tatiana:
As I was announcing earlier, this weekend I participated in Make Munich - the fist Maker Fair in Germany. And a very successful one indeed! (In case you are wondering what this maker culture is all about, here is a nice article in German.) The huge Tonhalle was full of creatives, nerds, tinkerers, hackers, DYI and hands-on fans, families and just curious people. The whole event was organised by several enthusiast, such as Nils, Karim and Rachel, who have been working in their spare time for free. They rented a space and invited makers of all kinds to participate. It turned out that there were more than enough people eager to showcase their work. Within the two days of the fair, instead of expected 1.500 visitors the organisers counted around 3.000!
There were plenty of 3D printers, laser cutters, robots, arduinos, DIY jewellery, T-shirt printing, seed bombs and even a board game version of Packman! Visitors could explore several workshop areas, I personally laid my hand on soldering which was fun fun! All sorts of workshops were led by the FabLab, Guerilla Gardeners, HUJI, eHaJo, and of course, myself (on the picture above you can see the workshop area above the main hall, in the very back).
The soft circuit workshops were a huge success! Many people passing by were really excited, saying that they have never seen anything like this in their lives. I had many participants on both days, who dedicated the entire three hours of their time at the fair to soft circuits! Being used to female participants who are not familiar with electronics, it was quite a surprise to have a male-dominated audience who had no or very little sewing experience. A very exciting twist it was! On the second day I had many children around the table, which was obvious if you think of the toy robots we were making, but still totally unexpected from my side. Next time I'll be prepared
(Here is a BR's video, to see my workshop jump to sec. 24.
And here is another review of the event, jump to the seventh picture there.)
There were plenty of 3D printers, laser cutters, robots, arduinos, DIY jewellery, T-shirt printing, seed bombs and even a board game version of Packman! Visitors could explore several workshop areas, I personally laid my hand on soldering which was fun fun! All sorts of workshops were led by the FabLab, Guerilla Gardeners, HUJI, eHaJo, and of course, myself (on the picture above you can see the workshop area above the main hall, in the very back).
Being taught and shot by Hannes
This one taken by Nils?
Picture taken by Severin
by Severin
All in all, it couldn't have been better. I met so many amazing creatives, tinkerers and technology enthusiast. Exactly the kind of people I was looking for in Munich. Hope to keep in touch with everybody! And there are definitely many more wearable technology / soft circuit workshops coming up! Stay tuned
The 100 Word Pilgrimage project is on tour again! The next exhibition is going to take place at Southwark Studios, on the 10th of May. Initiated by the art collective Beddow 'n' Battini of which I am part, this time it will be a journey from East to South London and will include brand new stories, illustrations, animations and other secret things. Come along if you are in London!
Meanwhile a sneak peek of an illustration I am working on for the exhibition: an ode to Rotherhithe, South London.
Here is what I wrote about the 100 Word Pilgrimage exhibition in December.
Meanwhile a sneak peek of an illustration I am working on for the exhibition: an ode to Rotherhithe, South London.
Here is what I wrote about the 100 Word Pilgrimage exhibition in December.
If you are around Munich during weekend, come down for my soft circuit electronics workshop and plenty of other exciting things at the makers' fair Make Munich! Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 5pm, at the Tonhalle in Kunstpark Ost. The tickets cost 13,37? for the whole fair (+ 5? for my workshop to cover the supplies). It's a non-profit event, everyone's working for free, even the organisers. So the price is really fair. (Read about the workshop here.)
Somebody special popped by to learn the basics of wearable technology, to have some tea, biscuits and a good laugh...
Somebody special popped by to learn the basics of wearable technology, to have some tea, biscuits and a good laugh...
Remember when I wrote about this in July? So, good news: a video from the Moving Forest Event is available now! A twelve-hour sound art opera of betrayal and rebellion against London Olympics 2012, based on Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, devised by Shu Lea Cheang. A series of various performances which took place at the Chelsea College of Art. Lots of crazy people, huge fun and my first experience as a workshop leader. To see my soft circuit graffiti workshop, jump to min. 8:11, act 4 insurgency.
End of February I was giving a seminar on Facets of Media Art for BA Art & Multimedia and MA Media Computer Science students. 22 people in total, 5 days of presentations about different media artists and their work, daily workshops, and a full day at ZKM in Karlsruhe.
Check our super cool seminar blog for information on artists and projects presented on the course, and our activities. What a great time! Despite really long presentations it was never even close to boring or too much. We had plenty of talks, laughs, discussions, glitchy moments and blinking electrical monsters! Everybody seemed to be really pleased with the course in the end. Especially me, who was so lucky to have curious and excited students!
Check our super cool seminar blog for information on artists and projects presented on the course, and our activities. What a great time! Despite really long presentations it was never even close to boring or too much. We had plenty of talks, laughs, discussions, glitchy moments and blinking electrical monsters! Everybody seemed to be really pleased with the course in the end. Especially me, who was so lucky to have curious and excited students!
Two weeks ago I was in Berlin, assisting YoHa in putting together the Evil Media exhibition for this year's Transmediale - a media art festival which draws out new connections between art, culture and technology.
Evil Media is a direct visual response to Matthew Fuller's and Andy
Goffey's recent book release, where they talk about the grey media and
their distribution of power.
Here is what YoHa writes about the incentive:
"It's sometimes useful to think about technical objects as having a directive side which encourages us to alter our minds, behaviours and bodies in order to better use them. This modification of ourselves is often rewarded by allowing us to more clearly tune in to them and receive cleaner channels of information. The ability to manipulate the directive side of technical objects can be one place where resides, the kind of evil described in Matthew Fuller and Andy Goffey's book 'Evil Media'."
The exhibition consisted of over 60 objects representing grey media and
accompanying 100 words written by various contributors. Some objects
were physical and some digital.
Here is a text I contributed:
A data storage medium used in 19th and 20th centuries. Punch cards were made of thin cardboard with holes punched manually or mechanically. A modern 96 columns punch card as developed by IBM in the 1970's stored up to 64 bytes of data and weighed 2.4g. Thus, 1GB of data weighed 40.265 tons.
When deployed for the US census in 1890, punch cards reduced the length of data evaluation to one year instead of ten. Ever since an entire nation could be fitted into holes. Throughout the 1930s IBM supplied Hitler's regime with punch cards and tabulation equipment, ensuring that every Jew could be traced and eliminated by the Nazis.
The prettiest thing in the middle is an X-Ray. Right: a telephone switch.
Middle: PIN-code buttons. Left: a sphymograph
My personal pride: a bottle of prozak with a photoshoped label
andsugar sweet capsules inside.
30 objects were represented digitally in a one-hour video.
Later, the rest of our OSA family arrived and it was absolutely amazing to spend time with everybody. At some point we were four generations of MA Interactive Media dining at one table!
The venue: Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Voting whether Pluto should get back its planet status.
Pneumatik post - the Octo project
Glitchy installation
Glitchy workshop
various performances
and talks - Geert Lovink on the dark side of social media
Olga Goriunova on Bakhtinian aestheticisation, teens internet culture and LOL cats
Siegfried Zielinski on "evilness" of the overhead projector
Matthew Fuller and Andy Goffey presenting their book Evil Media
It was lovely to meet the helpful team of Transmediale and to
look behind the scene in general. (For instance, now I know that
skilled technicians are as good as gold.) Also,
spending so much time with Graham and Matsuko was very special. Looking forward to the next year's Transmediale!
среда, 03 апреля 2013
A couple of weeks ago I was setting up an exhibition with students of the Russian Cultural Centre GOROD in Munich. The opening was on the 16th March and the show will be on for at least another month. For this project I teamed up with Alya, the content pro. My part was to develop a visual concept, to co-coordinate and produce.
The exhibition is based on young people's stories around photographs from their family archives, narrated in Russian and German. Set up as a train trip, it takes the visitors on a journey through time and space, from the middle of the 20th century to the present time, from Germany to the East of Russia.
This exhibition wouldn't be possible without a number of people involved. Firstly, I want to thank the incredibly inventive technicians Borja Fischmann, Ilja Galle and Lew Tyves who were working around the clock. Secondly, the young authors themselves, who helped to produce the exhibition. They were cutting, painting, gluing, etc. etc., and stayed up until 6am to finish the set-up in time before the opening! And thirdly, all the people who were around at the right time and helped out with whatever was on. THANK YOU!
And a bit of making of:
For all those who can, here is a lively review in Russian.
The exhibition is based on young people's stories around photographs from their family archives, narrated in Russian and German. Set up as a train trip, it takes the visitors on a journey through time and space, from the middle of the 20th century to the present time, from Germany to the East of Russia.
Pictures bellow taken by rromashka
This exhibition wouldn't be possible without a number of people involved. Firstly, I want to thank the incredibly inventive technicians Borja Fischmann, Ilja Galle and Lew Tyves who were working around the clock. Secondly, the young authors themselves, who helped to produce the exhibition. They were cutting, painting, gluing, etc. etc., and stayed up until 6am to finish the set-up in time before the opening! And thirdly, all the people who were around at the right time and helped out with whatever was on. THANK YOU!
And a bit of making of:
For all those who can, here is a lively review in Russian.
пятница, 08 февраля 2013
After the Alternative London Tour which I did in October and was praising it to heaven (here), my expectations for the Alternative Berlin Tour were probably too great... Our guide couldn't quite live up to my expectations. He turned out to be a passionate squatter, but didn't seem to be particularly interested in street art. Moreover, he was talking about my favourite street artist in a slightly ignorant manner.
Trying to overcome these negative vibes, I managed to take some nice pictures.
The most impressive part of the tour was walking around Hackescher H
Trying to overcome these negative vibes, I managed to take some nice pictures.
The most impressive part of the tour was walking around Hackescher H
Having done the Alternative London Tour in September and praising it to heaven, I went on the Alternative Berlin Tour... but was a bit unlucky with the guide, who turned out to be a passionate squatter, but didn't seem to be particularly interested in street art. Moreover, he was talking about my favourite street artist in a an ignorant and disrespectful manner.
Trying to ignore these negative vibes, I managed to take some nice pictures.
The most impressive part of the tour was walking around Hackescher Höfe:
Our anarchistic guide
left: beautiful calligraphy by ?, right: a scary creature by BLU
If this monster swallows your euro and you are lucky enough,
it will spread its wings, bounce a bit and open its tired eyes.
Anna Frank by Jimmy C
To quote our guide: "And I don't know what this fetish with dead
animals should be anyway." It made be turn red...
Turns out that this piece is part of the Nike campaign. Yes, not very comme il faut in street art scene, but I'd still mention Vils other pieces and his amazing technique, if I was a guide...
Can't remember the artist's name. Apparently, when it's dark they project a flag on
the wall, so that it looks as if the astronaut was holding it in his hand. Wicked.
And after work I also had the time to sneak
into this fantastic Museum of Communication!
All the geeky joy! I could stare for hours at the cables,
triodes or these porcelain insulators for telegraph poles!
An early telegraph with electric needles
And also I discovered this magic place known as Medienarchaeologischer Fundus at the Humboldt University. Not only was it funny to meet the author of a book I was using for my MA thesis (especially me telling him: "Oh, you know this guy who wrote this book..."). But also hilarious to find out that they actually borrowed us three objects for the Evil Media exhibition!
Last week I was working at Transmediale in Berlin. And I tried to make friends with the city really hard this time. Our relationship got better, but dear Berlin, I'm still not convinced that you can be as charming and complex as my old cham London. Yes, I am biased, but what can I do.
Luckily this time I had more time to discover exciting sides of Berlin, and the weather allowed it too! I really loved the underground stations:
And now for something completely different...
a family-run Turkish fish restaurant
London-style cafes
The veggiest Dönner I ever had, mmm )
A cute French cafe with great coffee, madeleine and truffles
A 1929 silent film "Man with a Movie Camera" by Dziga Vertov,
with live-band, in the currently fancy Neukölln area.
Loved the so-not-Munich side of Berlin:
And the gorgeous old houses!
Many thanks to Yulia and Laura for hosting, drinking, laughing and walking in the rain
Here are some subtle clues:
Two days, 17 hours of work, several film shoots taking place in the same building with constant shouts: "Quiet please! Rolling!... Cut!", people running up and down, and huge fun. I thought drawing a mural would be quite a lonely matter, but I had the best company I can imagine! With my beloved Beddow 'n Battini mates (thank you so much Wumi, Tatiana and Adeeb!) helping me out and supporting me, and with wonderful Scarlett and Rosy who run the 47-49 Tanner street venue. It was so much fun to work with them! They are doing an incredible job, supporting the local and creative community! Thank you for a joyful and intense time!
pic byTatiana Alisova
pic by Wumi
pic by Wumi
Working on my first mural and having a lot of fun!
Next week I'll be flying over to London to paint a mural commissioned by the 47-49 Tanner street, a Victorian warehouse used for BBC productions, film shoots and all sorts of exhibitions and public events.
Here a sneak peek into sketches. Guess which theme I'm working on...
Mood: ultra excited
Goodbye London -
hello Munich!
A new beginning in the new year. New flat and new jobs to come, and hopefully a new city to rediscover. Until then: lots of food.
This year was a special one, taking place in a vibrant extraordinary city which became part of myself.
In numbers:
- took part in two exhibitions, one performance and one workshop
- became a Master of Art and a fan of media archaeology and glitch art.
- became obsessed with wearable electronics, conductive ink, arduino and makey-makey
- became a street art fanatic
- met fantastic media artists, illustrators, glitch artist, animators and other crazy people
- visited three Secret Cinema events and one Future Cinema
- traveled to Berlin, Bristol, Brighton, Bath, etc. Spring in Ireland and autumn in Wales. WARM SUN! I MISS U!
- learned to bake scones and perfected the art of cupcakes
- hosted 25 people in a studio flat
Wish everyone a happy, peaceful and warm year!! And a lot of creative energy!
