The worldwide explosion of character design at the beginning of the millennium changed visual culture distinctively.
These graphically pared down and bright-eyed pictograms spread like wildfire across digital media, advertising, fashion and art. They playfully sample and remix the visual codes of pop, folklore, brand logos and comics, but resist being restricted to any one genre.
By engaging the viewer on a direct emotional level they are able to bypass language and cultural barriers - but can abstract designs really be the answer to our Utopian dreams of global visual communication?
In spring 2009, Pictoplasma and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt invite you to the world’s first ever large-scale presentation and celebration of the phenomenon.
From March to May, the art institution will transform into a character biotope and the 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 unique Pictoplasma Conference on contemporary character design and art returns for its 3rd edition to bring together makers from around the world. Presentations by 18 outstanding designers, artists and animation film makers, such as Klaus Haapaniemi (FIN), James Jarvis (UK), Boris Hoppek (DE/ES), Faiyaz Jafri (NL/USA) and W+KTokyoLab (JP). Animation screenings show focussed selections of motion graphics, short films and music videos and open workshops actively integrate the attendees and call for participation.
A series of performances, VJ-parties, installations and interventions will further add to the programme.
For the first time, a symposium discusses the cultural implications of the phenomenon from an academic perspective. With contributions by Christoph Bartneck (information design, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven/NL), Cindy Lisica (art theory, University of the Arts in London/UK), Geoffrey Long (media theory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge /USA), Ken Belson (New York Times / USA), Klaus-Peter Köpping (ethnology, Universität Heidelberg/DE), Ragnhild Tronstad (theory of performance, theatre and media, Universität Oslo/NOR) and Verena Kuni (art and media theory, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität Frankfurt/DE).
The first comprehensive exhibition of contemporary art, that applies or deconstructs the strategy of reduce figuration. Dive into a circuit of paintings, photography, sculptures, installations, video works and drawings, with contributions by Friends With You (USA), Olaf Breuning (CH), Allyson Mellberg Taylor (USA), Mehdi Hercberg - Shoboshobo (FR), Gary Baseman (USA), Tim Biskup (USA), Andrew James Jones (UK), Doma Collective (ARG), Motomichi Nakamura (JP/USA), Boris Hoppek (DE), Daniel & Geo Fuchs (DE), James Marshall (USA), AJ Fosik (USA), Edwina Ashton (UK), Waynehorse (NL), Akinori Oishi (JP), Ian Stevenson (UK), Doudouboy (FR), and many more.
As the official opening event to the Pictoplasma Conference, the Character Walk is a guided tour through over twenty galleries and project spaces in Berlin, showcasing different positions of artists working in the genre of reduced figuration.
The exhibitions will include the wooden figures of the Argentinean artist Juan Pablo Cambariere, a media installation by Swiss designer François Chalet and new paintings by Dutch multi-talent Fons Schiedon. Additionally, performances and installations in nightclubs and other venues in Berlin celebrate the “Characters in Rhythm.”
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.
The Pictoplasma Conference has recently travelled from New York to Argentina and will now return to it’s home turf with a lot of new, inspiring and bewildering impressions.
