AJ Fosik
Akinori Oishi
Ben Frost
Borris Hoppek
Doma Collective
Doudouboy
Edwina Ashton
Friends With You
Gary Baseman
Golan Levin
Hideaki Kawashima
Ian Stevenson
James Marshall
Jeremy Dower
Juan Pablo Cambariere
Mark Ryden
Motomichi Nakamura
Nagi Noda
Olaf Breuning
Sam Gibbons
Shoboshobo
Tim Biskup
The Berlin-based Pictoplasma project has been following developments in contemporary character design for nearly a decade, promoting the visibility of this new figurative phenomenon, initiating creative networks and establishing a lively exchange of ideas. Its numerous publications and events have made Pictoplasma a character-design platform with international acclaim.
In March and April 2009, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and other venues will host the Pictopia Festival, the world's first ever large-scale presentation and celebration of the phenomenon, including the 3rd Pictoplasma Conference, the Pictoplasma Animation Festival and the large scale Pictiopia Exhibition.
The program starts on March 17 with the opening for the Pictoplasma Character Walk, a series of exhibitions ind more than 30 Berlin galleries, including the DISK/CTM related project space General Public (see below 2).
DISK/CTM has been invited to set-up two nocturnal clubbing events at Berlin's Tape and Weekend clubs (see below 3 and 4) . On top, DISK/CTM co-organizer Remco Schuurbiers under the name of Mobiletti Giradischi spins records under at Haus der Kulturen der Welt on March 19 alongside Candy Hank aka Patrick Cataini. See you all there!
Pictopia playfully explores the phenomenon of contemporary character design and art. The exhibition examines the contemporary vague of reduced figuration as a strategy for producing a vitalism outside established narratives. Including original artwork by: AJ Fosik, Akinori Oishi, Ben Frost, Borris Hoppek, Doma Collective, Doudouboy, Edwina Ashton, Friends With You, Gary Baseman, Golan Levin, Hideaki Kawashima, Ian Stevenson, James Marshall, Jeremy Dower, Juan Pablo Cambariere, Mark Ryden, Motomichi Nakamura, Nagi Noda, Olaf Breuning, Sam Gibbons, Shoboshobo, Tim Biskup, and many more…
More than 30 international artists and designers transform the Haus der Kulturen der Welt into a living world of "Characters". Artistic strategies of remix and sampling, surreal and uncanny condensation and larger-than-life incarnations play as much a role here as interacting with the characters in digital and analog media.
The collective “Friends With You "(USA) stage a utopian landscape in the foyer made of gigantic toys that can be walked through. In the exhibition hall, Akinori Oishi (Japan) creates infinite language systems though simple typographic characters. James Marshall (USA), a former pupil of the artist Takashi Murakami, deconstructs Mickey Mouse and gives him a new identity. Sam Gibbons and AJ Fosiks (USA) wall sculptures made of wood reminiscent of totems are juxtaposed to paintings by "Pop Surrealists,” like Mark Ryden (USA). A new installation by Boris Hoppek - inventor of the provocative "Bimbos" - shows the political dimension of character figuration. The Argentine collective Doma construct a gigantic marionette. Drawings by 20 international artists revolve around the difference between the reduced image world and real physicality. Olaf Breuning (CH) satirizes mass media phenomena in his staged photographs. As in the foyer, the visitor is not only a spectator here: Drivable characters like bumper cars invite you on board. When darkness falls, hitherto inanimate figures intermittently come alive - Twilight Zone Pictopia.
A project by Pictoplasma in cooperation with Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds
Read more on http://www.pictoplasma.de
Press office
Anne Maier Tel +49 (0)30 39787153 Fax +49 (0)30 39787159 presse@hkw.de
Pictopia Festival: March 17–21, 2009
Pictopia Exhibition: Macrh 19 – May 3, 2009
Haus der Kulturen der Welt and others
John Foster Dulles Allee 10, Berlin