BOOK A STREET ARTIST MAGAZINE ISSUE 3 / JUNE 2014
ESPAÇO DE INTERVENÇÃO . CULTURAL . GALERIA . COWORKING . ATELIERS SALA REUNIÕES . SALA EVENTOS . YOGA . WORKSHOPS . RESIDÊNCIAS
R. Rodrigues Faria 103 Pav.I-3.21 | Lx Factory 1300-501 Lisboa Tel: +351 264 072 . email: info@nobalneario.org www.facebook/balneariolx
BOOK A STREET ARTIST MAGAZINE ISSUE 3 / JUNE 2014 EDITORS IN CHIEF Guille Lasarte & Charlotte Specht CREATIVE DIRECTOR Guille Lasarte guille@pantamagazine.com MARKETING DIRECTOR Mario Rueda mario@bookastreetartist.com CONTRIBUTORS Konstantinos Angelos Gavrias, Nick Broad, The Busking Project, Magda Wallmont, Larsen Soleto, Robyn Landau, Luis Bellagamba, Filippo Fiumani, Mine Gurzumar, Inês Santos, Stefanie Moshammer, Helena Adams, JOS*, Bordalo II, Soryang, Kaja Clara Joo, Dirk Schuster, Swantje Hinrichsen, Fabian Stürtz, Yuki Poudyal, Kolor Kathmandu SPECIAL THANKS TO David Stiehl, Gisa Golpira, Boardbrothers, Mark Cain, Christian Grosselfinger, DJs Doris&Dagmar www.pantamagazine.com FOUNDERS OF BOOK A STREET ARTIST Charlotte Specht charlotte@bookastreetartist.com Mario Rueda mario@bookastreetartist.com www.bookastreetartist.com
Cover photo by Filippo Fiumani
4
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Another four months have passed, and with that, we bring you a new issue of PANTA. Issue 2 views went through the roof, and that just motivates us to work harder to keep improving the magazine and to bring readers interesting and appealing material. In this third issue, we stayed true to our concept and kept a high level of quality and diversity. We are so thankful to each and every individual who has contributed to the magazine, without which, it couldn’t exist. For the occasion of the launch of the third issue, the PANTA team has organized a collective exhibition at LX Factory in Lisbon, which will present the work of a wide array of artists that have been featured in the magazine. The exhibition will include design, illustration, photography, painting, collage and tattooing. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by! You can find more info on the exhibition on our website. Art in a community can be a powerful and productive thing. We hope this magazine encourages people to create more art and to team up to build artistic projects that can have a strong impact on society. We hope you enjoy lucky number three!
5
14
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography by Konstantinos Angelos Gavrias
Greek photographer Konstantinos Angelos Gavrias was born in Germany in 1978. He studied Photo Design at Ruhrakademie in Schwerte, Germany, and took Fine Arts classes with Rita McBride at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions around Europe. His work ranges from commercial, fashion, portrait to fine art, linked by a particular artistic style that is identifiable in most of his works, regardless of their category. Konstantinos is influenced by British documentary photography and artists such as Guy Bourdin, Teller, Wolfgang Tillmans, Daido Moriyama and Larry Clark. He finds inspiration in many different media: painting and sculpture, as well as video installations, because he believes artists should never limit themselves to a single creative field, as there are countless practices that can be inspiring and valuable to one’s artistic development. At the moment, Konstantinos is based in Germany and continues to pursue studies in Fine Arts at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. However, he spends most of his time traveling between Germany and Greece. www.angelosgavrias.com
ILLUSTRATION
luis bellagamba
27
Luis is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer born in 1975 in Montevideo, Uruguay. lbellagamba@gmail.com
This page: Cover Art Opposite page: Lucky People
To See Or Not To See
1
2
This page: 1. Angel Eduardo Mateo 2. Fair Play Opposite page: The Beginning of Forever
CULTURE
I
Text by Helena Adams Illustration by JOS*
t’s noon on a Friday, the rush of the week is waning and you can’t wait for the weekend; most likely bored of the daily routine, you check your Facebook for the umpteenth time and find yourself with a link from one of your friends to a website or article that “you have to see to believe it!” Normally you don’t open these links, but your level of boredom has reached its peak so you go ahead and check the link. As the images unravel one by one on your screen, indeed they take you by surprise. You’ve heard of these images before, this new trend called Street Art, and you’ve surely ran into some of those annoying and impossible to understand graffiti writings on your way home in the underground. And you’ve even heard of the infamous Banksy, along with other major players in the scene. But beyond that, you’ve never paid too much attention, so these images at least entertain you. Sound familiar? If you’ve received and clicked on these kinds of links in social networks, you have been smacked by Viral Art, and if they’ve prodded you to look further as to find more related images, post them and re-post them on your social media universe and even to track down some of the creators behind them, congratulations! You have officially become a part of what Evan Roth calls the “Bored at Work Network”. What am I talking about?
As much as we may try to dismiss graffiti writing, street and performance art as a fashionable hipster-revivalist trend, the reality is that they are art expressions that have crossed the boundaries of trendiness, fashion, pop and vintage-reliance. If you ask around, probably most of your acquaintances have bumped into a piece of street art or graffiti writing, but if you ask them where, the answer uncovers the fascinating topic of this article: the Internet, the Digital-Virtual Space, the next extension to be conquered by these forms of art in their ongoing pursuit to be seen, known and freely distributed. RJ Rushmore, editor-in-chief of the street art and graffiti blog “Vandalog”, has made this topic the subject matter of his second book entitled Viral Art, published last year under a creative commons license, that is, that everybody can read it online or download it for free, following the ethos of the art he praises. Viral Art is a reflective work upon how communication technologies have affected graffiti writing and street art. For over 350 pages, Rushmore takes us through a genealogy of street art under a communication technologies approach, from the cheap zines, the first photographers, the hand-made magazines and some expensive books all the way to the contemporary digital documentation accomplished by more at-hand means such as a camera, a computer and a connection to
35
40
ART & TECHNOLOGY
Text by Mario Rueda Photos & Illustrations by Filippo Fiumani
41
F
ilippo Fiumani, an Italian designer in his mid-20s, joined me to share his experience on how technology can take artists and designers to another level. As a designer, Filippo believes that the best artistic results are achieved when using different technologies in the same project. While mixing different devices he had available, he stumbled upon an artistic concept that has not just changed his life, but also inspired many others. “Everything started while I was living in Brazil”, says Filippo. “I got inspired by the texture and carefully designed pieces of Pre-Columbian art”. Pre-Columbian art itself was what introduced him to the history of tattoos. “The magic world of tattoos”, as Filippo calls it, “is not just drawing on the skin. It is a vast, interesting and complex world from the history, meaning and anthropology, to the pen, tattoo tools and design”. The result of this passionate involvement with the world of tattoos is “LE MANI” (in Italian: the hands). LE MANI is a research project on new forms of visual art with a very unique and impacting result: a pen that allows the blind to draw, enabling them to “see” designs through tactile means. LE MANI as a concept was a step-by-step process that somehow “appeared” in a moment of revelation. “LE MANI was hard work”, says the Italian designer, “First, I started reading about tattoos on Russian prisoners, US Navy troops, and symbolism in general. Then, I got really obsessed with designing. I could not stop designing. At that point I realized that if I wanted to do something meaningful with my Master’s thesis, which I was starting to develop at the time, it needed to be related with design”. A documentary about how Russian tattoos developed inspired the designer to take the first steps in building the pen for blind people. “For me it was very interesting to see how prisoners used the latest technology back then to improve their tattooing techniques. For example: the small engine of a Walkman helped them create more efficient tattoo guns. By using this small engine, the tattoo lines became more precise, and the designs were definitely more clear”.
“THE MAGIC WORLD OF TATTOOS” IS NOT JUST DRAWING ON THE SKIN. IT IS A VAST, INTERESTING AND COMPLEX WORLD FROM THE HISTORY, MEANING AND ANTHROPOLOGY, TO THE PEN, TATTOO TOOLS AND DESIGN.
In this photo: Frank
44
Although he did not have any specific purpose, he knew that his tattoo pen was not necessarily to design on human skin. “I built my own tattoo pen, and I started using it on unusual surfaces: the fridge, my skateboard, on walls, cotton, wood. I would try it on everything. I was having fun. One morning, I woke up and as usual I had some bananas for breakfast. That morning, my pen was lying right next to one of my bananas. I started designing on the banana, and realized that after 2 minutes the banana skin started turning black. It started oxidizing”. The next days Filippo bought many bananas. He thought it was a very cool way of making street art while leaving a message in an ecofriendly way. “I didn’t have to print out any flyer or poster to leave a message. I would put the bananas with different designs on different spots in the city to learn from people’s reaction. Some people ate the bananas. Others stopped and stared at them weirdly. There was even one guy at the supermarket that saw my designed bananas next to the “regular” bananas and told his colleague: “Hey dude, the Colombian graffitied bananas arrived!” After experimenting with bananas as a canvas, Filippo moved on to experimenting on harder surfaces. He realized that his battery-run pen could be a good tool for creating artistic designs with embossed patterns. The idea of using the pen for designing something that you could touch and feel with your hands, rather than just seeing it, became Filippo’s obsession.
In this photo: Filippo
HE HAD MANAGED TO CREATE NOT JUST A TECH TOOL THAT ALLOWS THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED TO MAKE ART, BUT ALSO POSSIBLY AN ENTIRE MULTI-SENSORIAL ARTISTIC MOVEMENT: ART THAT YOU CAN SEE, TOUCH, AND FEEL. www.fiumani.it
“While I kept on working on my pen, trying to improve it, I started researching about blind people. I met Frank from Angola, who became blind at the age of 19. I got very close to him. We spent a lot of time together. He would come to my house to teach me how to read and write in Braille. At the same time, I would put some of the designs I had created with my pen in front of him to see if he would understand any of them. At the beginning, I designed very simple stuff so that Frank could get it right away: a triangle, a square. Then I moved on to more complex designs. I remember that I drew a human face, but I was skeptical about Frank recognizing it…” Surprisingly, Frank started recognizing the nose, mouth, and eyes, as his fingers were touching the drawing. “Even more unexpected, was when Frank grabbed the pen and started drawing! Just like that. I was the happiest person in the world. So was Frank!”
At that moment, Filippo understood that he had managed to create not just a tech tool that allows the visually impaired to make art, but also possibly an entire multi-sensorial artistic movement: art that you can see, touch, and feel. Artistic designs that go beyond what the eye can catch. Since the creation of the first pen, Filippo has developed new models and versions. He has improved it by making it lighter, faster, and more energy efficient. While he looks for private funding to bring the pen to the market and make it more accessible to the blind (and to the non-blind as well), he proactively looks for ways of expanding the idea of LE MANI and its multisensorial artistic concept. Ultimately, LE MANI’s message is very simple: “Use your hands more. Stop thinking. Start building. Build something unique and useful. If it is neither unique nor useful, you are not quite there yet. Think again. Build again”. ◆
COLLAGE
imagining
SL
AM Text by Charlotte Specht Collages by Swantje Hinrichsen
47
Swantje Hinrichsen (1980) is a Cologne-based freelance graphic designer and illustrator. She works in various fields of visual communication: conceptual, playful, and solution-oriented. Both her primary school arts teacher and her university design professor agreed on her lack of drawing skills. Ignoring their opinion, Swantje followed her passion anyway. Imagination and perseverance made her become the successful designer she is today. As part of an open and long-term project, Swantje creates collages dedicated to poetry, language, word, photography and Dadaism. Using photos shot by Fabian Stürtz at Cologne’s Poetry Slam Rhyme in Flames, she creates compositions of the speakers and their poetic pieces. Each collage depicts a slam poet and elements from their act, reproducing the words visually. Rhyme in Flames, the “most charming Poetry Slam of Cologne” takes place every last Tuesday of the month. All slam poets have 5 minutes to convince the audience with their lyrics and compete for the honor to be named “slam poet of the night”. www.swantjehinrichsen.de www.reim-in-flammen.de
Photo by Fabian Stürtz
Okhaldhunga: Street art by Dishebh Raj Shrestha & Ujala Shrestha
ABROAD STORY
painting
NEPAL Text by Yuki Poudyal, Director of Kolor Kathmandu Photos by Kolor Kathmandu Kathmandu has been bombarded by the visual manifestation of political rivalries and the ubiquity of consumer culture. Big billboards preaching doctrines of consumerism engulf entire buildings, and loud political slogans leap out from the city’s walls espousing hollow rhetoric. The footprints of urbanization spread throughout the city, distancing Kathmandu from the realities of the rest of Nepal. We thus felt the need for an out-ofthe-box intervention that opens both the eyes and minds of the public to how our streets and neighborhoods can be reclaimed. Sattya stepped in to deliver this intervention using a “weapon of mass creation” in the form of Kolor Kathmandu. We believe that visual arts are powerful agents of change. When brushes blend with paint and artistic minds, we believe, the resulting splash of colors can evoke hope and inspiration. Using murals as our vehicle, we wanted to present an alternative side of Kathmandu and also address the disconnect between the city and the rest of the country. Murals are an art form that break the shackles of space and reach people directly because they are not confined to the closed doors of museums and art galleries. They challenge people to think and create their own interpretations. They set out to conquer minds and foster inquisitiveness.
By painting 75 murals inspired by Nepal’s 75 districts, we brought stories, lessons, and elements of different parts of the country to its capital. In the process, we fostered a positive and enabling environment where citizens can reflect on and witness the socio-political and cultural revival of Nepal and partake in the celebration of inclusion and diversity. While the country moves towards a new identity, we aimed to transform the face of the city with artistic hues that truly represent the new nation that Nepal is transforming into. Deeply rooted in the spirit of ‘activism’, Kolor Kathmandu worked with over 65 artists, including 25 from outside the country. We brought together a community that cares deeply about art and genuinely wants to learn about Nepal. We worked with people of various backgrounds – from professionals working in street art for over 15 years to closeted hobbyists brimming with talent but afraid of venturing beyond the domain of sketchbooks. We introduced a new language of mural art to Kathmandu hoping to highlight its impact on people. And the result has been incredible! What began as a small project envisioned by one individual has turned into an artistinitiated grassroots social movement fueled by a desire to claim the city. ◆
For more info on Kolor Kathmandu, check out: www.kolorkathmandu.sattya.org www.facebook.com/KolorKathmandu
67
68
1. Mahottari: Mural by Saran Tandukar 2. Bajura: Mural by Shraddha Shrestha 3. Illam: Mural by Marina Menuka Lama 4. Doti: Mural by DanaĂŠ Brisonnet 5. Tehrathum: Mural by Shramdip Purkoti
69
Kathmandu: Mural by Prabal Shrestha, Shramdip Purkoti & Shristi Shrestha
72
1. Bhaktapur: Mural by Bandana Tulachan 2. Parbat: Mural by Ricole Fedyna 3. Gorkha: Mural by Bathroom Painter (Shunnal Ligade)
Dadeldhura: Mural by Sabek