Pictoplasma | Berlin 2013

The stunning container architecture of PLATOON KUNSTHALLE Berlin houses this year’s Character Lab, where international conference attendees and speakers come together for spontaneous doodle sessions, workshops, happenings and art performances:

Jeff Soto works overtime to finalise a large mural, Osian Efnisien and Genevieve Gauckler spread their trademark characters in live-painting performances, Felt Mistress demonstrates the art of soft sculptures crafting, Sue Doeksen awaits you for an animated Paper Jam, Anna Hrachovic recruits an army of Mochimochi Monster Knitters and David Kamp’s imaginary Sound Creatures invite you to live drawing classes.

The Character Lab provides a lively podium for artists and their immediate creation and function as a vivid epicentre to all character victims until late in the evening. Help yourself to a coffee or a beer at the PLATOON Bar, meet new friends and join spontaneous doodle orgies and sketch book massacres.

This is also your unique chance to rub shoulders with the international Pictoplasma Conference speakers such as Jeff Soto, Geneviève Gauckler, Felt Mistress, LowBros or Osian Efnisien, and witness how they approach their media of choice, from a sheet of paper, or a large format canvas, all the way to a pile of felt.

APRIL 11 - 13, Daily 15:00 - 20:00

If you thought the days of plain paper, scissors and glue are a thing of the past, Sue Doeksen, illustrator from The Netherlands, is here to prove you wrong! Together with animators Michelle van Mil and Max Italiaander, Sue lovingly installs a temporary stop motion studio in the centre of the Character Lab, inviting attendees to join her for a playful experiment with colors, shapes and movement! The result will be collaged in real-time to create beautiful graphical creatures and surprising animated clips.
Additionally, the Paper Jam workshop will climax in a true visual explosion: the best clips of the workshop are to serve as main ingredients of Sue’s CharacterScope VJ performance, at GRETCHEN on Friday night!

APRIL 11 + 12, 15:00 - 19:00

Motion designer, animator and VFX buff Fabian Koppenhöfer shares his inside knowledge of the Cinema 4D software and demonstrates how to tame the tool to create stunning 3D animation. In an intense, knowledge driven tutorial, a hand full of attendees have the chance to walk through the various stages of sketching, modeling and texturing, via compositing and rendering, all the way to the final frame.

A demo-version of the necessary software, MAXON CINEMA 4D, can be downloaded from the company’s website. Alternatively, a free demo will be supplied on data-DVD.

APRIL 11, 17:00 - 19:00, BABYLON

IMPORTANT: Workshop attendance is limited to 20 participants. Pre-registration information will be sent out to all attendees at the beginning of April.
Participants are required to bring along their own hardware (a good laptop) with the following minimal requirements.

Anna Hrachovec (USA), whose knitted universe under the Mochimochi label has a worldwide standing in the DIY-scene, invites to a communal needle and yarn session during her Monster Knitting workshop. The Session is open to all: Daring knitters are recruited to create an army of wooly creatures, with new Mochimochi patterns created especially for the occasion.

Beware:
This is not a beginners course!

YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW HOW TO KNIT,
EXPERIENCE USING DOUBLE-POINTED NEEDLES IS RECOMMENDED!!!

APRIL 13, 15:00 - 17:00

IMPORTANT:

While yarn, stuffing material and basic patterns will be provided, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO BRING ALONG YOUR OWN SET OF DOUBLE-POINTED NEEDLES!

With his sound creatures project, composer and sound designer David Kamp passed on short snippets and loops of audio depicting fantastical sound creations to illustrators, animation filmmakers and graphic artists – and asked them to come up with the visual essence of the sound as a character. The resulting crypto-zoological inventory is filled with unseen life forms, perfectly blending with the sound that has sparked their creation. This year the live drawing session moderated by Miss LaLaVox returns to the Character Lab, inviting you to create images of unheard creatures.

Sorry, still no nudes – but: 90 minutes of new, raw sounds to trigger your imagination!

APRIL 13, 17:00 - 19:00

PLATOON KUNSTHALLE Berlin

Schönhauser Allee 9

10119 Berlin

Germany



The Character Lab at nearby PLATOON KUNSTHALLE Berlin invites festival visitors and conference attendees to get inspired, play and interact. The vast, modular architecture consisting of 34 standard freight containers carefully stacked upon each other, offers the perfect setting for a lively collaborative atmosphere with presentations, workshops, jam sessions and parties.

Located only two comfortable walking minutes from the main conference venue BABYLON, the PLATOON KUNSTHALLE Berlin building is a remarkable land-mark in the city and the new it-space since July 2012.

For the next 2 years, the stunning structure and surrounding 4500 m2 of industrial area, including PLATOON FACTORY and PLATOON ARTIST LAB, serve as a central hub for creative events, playful urban experimentation and inspiring interventions.

For more information check kunsthalle.com/berlin and facebook.com/platoon.berlin