1 — 5 May 2024
Festival of Contemporary Character Design and Art
This May 1 –5, the 20th Pictoplasma Berlin anniversary edition unwraps a special 5 day celebration of contemporary character design and art!
While international creators and producers meet for a central conference to exchange strategies for the future of figurative aesthetics (May 2 – 4), the wider festival invites the general public to numerous exhibitions throughout the city, performances put characters into direct play with the audience, and the Open Sunday shows cutting edge animation screenings and offers the rare chance to stock up on design goods, original works and outstanding character craftsmanship at the Character Market.
GROUP SHOW
EXHIBITIONS
PERFORMANCES
AND PARTIES
OPEN SUNDAY CHARACTER MARKET
ANIMATION
SCREENINGS
FREE ENTRY!
4 group shows present works by international artists, many of whom are showing their work in Berlin for the first time.
VERWALTERHAUS
Verwalterhaus
St. Marien und St. Nikolai Friedhof
ag friedhofsmuseum berlin e.V.
Prenzlauer Allee 1, 10405 Berlin
verwalterhaus.kulturkapellen.de
Exhibition
1–3 May, 15:00–20:00
4+5 May, 12:00–20:00
The group show at the old cemetery’s former caretaker building features a selection of otherworldly works.
The hypnotising sculptures of Clémentine Bal (FR) materialise memories and emotions in the form of multi-coloured mountains and volcanoes, semi-human creatures and little hybrid ghosts.
The artistic duo Los Calladitos (MX) create paintings that add a magical touch to people and characters who represent communities. Illustrator and animator Joe Taylor (UK) gathers a multitude of characters in a large format busy picture.
Oskars Pavlovskis (LV) depicts characters that fuse urban cultures and natural environments, both in drawings and as felted soft sculptures.
neurotitan gallery
neurotitan gallery
Haus Schwarzenberg
Rosenthaler Straße 39, 10178 Berlin
neurotitan.de
Exhibition
1–3 May, 15:00–20:00
4+5 May, 12:00–20:00
At legendary project space neurotitan, which continues to exude the untamed creativity it fostered in the early 1990s, the spotlight is on illustration, storytelling and graphic arts.
Joseph Melhuish (UK) presents a billboard with fake posters advertising underground parties; partially created in VR, it brims with the digital look of the hour.
This rubs shoulders with the oversized cut outs and large inflatable, sassy female characters of Genie Espinosa (ES) and an array of graphical silk screen prints made with pixilated pressure plates by Eric Schwarz (DE/FR).
Josephine Rais (DE) installs her cheerful characters in a variety of media, while cute and kawaii reach new levels in the hand-chiselled wooden sculptures of Parn Aniwat (THA) and the expressive paintings of Mila Useche (COL).
Rainbow Unicorn
Rainbow Unicorn
Anklamer Str. 50, 10115 Berlin
rainbow-unicorn.com
Exhibition
1–3 May, 15:00–20:00
4+5 May, 12:00–20:00
At the bright and airy showroom, the sculptures of Ana Seixas (PT) are a celebration of colour, craft and design, while fashion and accessory products from So Lazo (ÉLSL) are an exploration of magic, clownery and identity.
Friends of the festival Yasi & Jana from Hamburg install their illustrated world How We Grow in the Woods, honouring the forest as a diverse community of trees, animals, mushrooms, roots and shoots.
Transmediale Studio
transmediale studio
Inside silent green
Gerichtstr. 35, 13347 Berlin
transmediale.de
Exhibition
1–3 May, 15:00–20:00
4+5 May, 12:00–20:00
At the festival centre, the focus is on digital media and its transformation into tangible artefacts.
Multi-disciplinary artist BORA (FR) invites you to enter a world populated by centaurs and mermaids, mixing painting, sculpture and video to stir the senses and explore queer representations. The sensual yet grotesque aesthetics of filmmaker Sophie Koko Gate (UK) are brought to the fore in her Milk Bath world, also a fluid combination of sculptures and video.
Christopher Rutledge (US) showcases his bendable 3D mesh characters – a challenge to our spatial perception. And Peter The Roman (UK) exhibits eerie digital portraits that convey a sense of constant flux.
Streets of Berlin
AR Character Hunt
Streets of Berlin
pictoplasmacharacterhunt.wordpress.com
VIRTUAL Exhibition
1–5 May
To celebrate the festival anniversary, alumni of the Pictoplasma Academy from 2013 to 2023 have created and hidden 20 virtual characters within the streets of Berlin, each celebrating one year of the conference. Get hold of the map at one of the exhibition venues and use your phone at the locations to reveal the giants, the weird, the wonderful and the downright zany!
ACUD MACHT NEU
Opening Party
1 May, 20:00 // free entrance
ACUD MACHT NEU
Veteranenstr. 21, 10119 Berlin
acudmachtneu.de
The opening festivities kick off at ACUD MACHT NEU, with events sprawling through the different levels and spaces of the backyard building – including a food court, participatory activities, and lots of opportunities to meet old friends and make new ones while beating the Piñata or getting your hands dirty with a XXL birthday cake.
silent green
Character Performances
2 May, 20:30 // registered attendees only
silent green
Gerichtstr. 35, 13347 Berlin
silent-green.net
Animation filmmaker Sophie Koko Gate sings love duets with the characters from her latest film Milk Bath, combining grotesque characters, a sensual setting and absurdist narration. Next up, multi-disciplinary artist BORA performs with a transgressive mix of digital artefacts, installation, sonic exploration and costume, all immersed within the audience.
Colosseum
Screening & Filmmakers Reception
3 May, 22:00 // 10€ at the doors, free for registered attendees
Colosseum
Schönhauser Allee 123, 10437 Berlin
colosseumberlin.com
Honour the filmmakers of this year’s festival selection at one of Berlin’s most classy cinemas, which has been showing films since it opened its doors a century ago in 1924. Pictoplasma’s much-loved, fabulously trippy Psychedelic Midnight Mix screening is set to bend brains and upend the norms of storytelling with exquisitely animated question marks.
Zenner
Post-Picto Party
4 May, 22:00 // 10€ at the doors, free for registered attendees
Zenner
Alt-Treptow 15, 12435 Berlin
zenner.berlin
Shake off your visual overload with a live blast by Brass Riot, an energetic sax and drums trio that emerged from the Fridays for Future movement and blends Ska, Fake-Jazz and beats that play with house and electronic; VR artist Joseph Melhuish, aka DJ Return To The Dance, arrives straight out of London’s underground rave scene; and British-Nigerian artist Juba takes us through the night with their special blend of dance music from Africa and the African diaspora, techno and UK funky.
silent green
silent green
Gerichtstr. 35, 13347 Berlin
silent-green.net
SUNDAY OPEN HOUSE
CHARACTER MARKET
ANIMATION SCREENINGS
KIDS CHARACTER WORKSHOP
Sunday, 05 May, 12:00–18:00
For the third year running, Pictoplasma welcomes everyone to conclude the festival at its Sunday Open House.
A bustling Character Market invites you to stock up on rare prints, affordable art editions, zines, sculptures and other lovingly produced items from all around the world – and meet their international makers.
CHARACTER MARKET
Illustrator Nathan Jurevicius presents his recently released feature film for kids, Scarygirl (2023, PG/FSK 6, OV English), and a creative programme encourages visitors of all ages to mess with colours – and to meet and make together, while Paid 2 Draw, the podcast on illustration, sets camp at Pictoplasma to interview artists from the festival in the Atelierhaus.
The festival’s four-part animation programme is offered in full for a repeat (and final) viewing, recommended for viewers X+ (families and younger viewers allowed but advised), featuring 65 short films, music videos and experimental clips.
ANIMATION SCREENINGS
FESTIVAL FUNDED BY
HOSTED BY
SUPPORTED BY
Presented BY
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
