// Pictopia Festival: 17 – 21 March 2009
// Pictopia Exhibition: 19 March – 3 May, 2009
// Various venues, Berlin
The Berlin-based Pictoplasma project has been following developments in contemporary character design for nearly a decade, promoting 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 spring 2009, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and other venues will host the Pictopia festival, the world’s first ever large-scale presentation and celebration of the phenomenon. CTM has been invited to set-up two nocturnal clubbing events at Berlin's Tape and Weekend clubs.
In March and April, this multidisciplinary event location will be transformed into a character biotope and a meeting point for an international scene of designers, artists, producers and an interested public. At the heart of the festival is an exhibition which explores the huge diversity of the character universe, where artists remix and sample, condense the surreal and uncanny, inflate all proportions and stage bizarre rituals to introduce their characters into contemporary culture.
The festival program features the long-awaited 3rd Pictoplasma Conference (March 19–21) which, since its inception in 2004, has set the standard for a playful yet concentrated approach to the subject. For the first time, scientific light will be shed on the character phenomenon in a symposium, which brings together experts from the fields of art history, cultural studies, robotics and media theory. The Pictoplasma Animation Festival (March 19 – 21) will put the characters in motion, steering well clear of the mainstream. The Pictopia Exhibition (March 19 – May 3) will playfully explore the phenomenon of contemporary character design and art. As the official opening event to the Pictotopia Festival, the Character Walk (Opening March 17, duration till March 22) is a tour through over 30 galleries and project spaces in Berlin, showcasing different positions of artists working in the genre of reduced figuration. All exhibitions are free of charge. General Public, the project space to which the members of DISK/CTM regularily contribute and that is situated in the same building as our offices hosts one of teh exhibitions.
Friends of CTM take notice, we have contributed two night clubbing events to round out the Pictopia festival:
// Wed March 18, 22h
CHARACTER WALK AFTER PARTY @ WEEKEND
Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts (Live )
Crackhaus (Live)
plus DJs
// Sat March 21, 23h
CHARACTER SCOPE SHOWDOWN PARTY @ TAPE
Tobias Thomas (DJ)
Pan/Tone (aka Sid Le Rock, Live)
Gangpol & Mit (Live)
Ben Butler & Mousepad (Live)
O Tannenbaum DJs
plus performance action with Andrea Crews' Character Catwalk, an installation by Motomichi Nakamura and an AV-set by W+K Tokyolab with sound by Scott Monteith (aka Deadbeat)
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!
Further information on Pictopia Festival:
> www.pictoplasma.com |
