Visual communication

2012-01-22T13:52:00.000-08:00

Mona is again on run.
Please vote for her.
http://KikiOmerzel.artistswanted.org/yr2011

UNESCO: International Design Competition

2011-11-09T23:33:00.001-08:00

International Design Competition for the creation of a Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

The Permanent Memorial Committee and UNESCO are pleased to invite proposals for an appropriate memorial on the following theme: Acknowledging the Tragedy; Considering the Legacy; Lest We Forget.

Pursuant to relevant United Nations Resolutions, this permanent memorial will recognize the tragedy of slavery and draw attention to the lingering consequences of the centuries-long trade in, and enslavement of Africans supplied to the colonies of the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. The legacy of hatred, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia are still evident today, closely linked to persistent economic and social inequalities in many parts of the world.

The competition will culminate in the selection of an outstanding design that will embody the legacy of millions of African captives whose untold stories, memories and contribution to humanity forever changed the world. The Memorial will also aim to strengthen the promotion of greater knowledge of and respect for the diverse heritage and cultures of the African Diaspora. Aesthetically, the Memorial is required to complement the landscape of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

UNESCO therefore invites artists, designers, sculptors, architects and other visual arts professionals from all over the world to take part in this global effort to commemorate the history and contributions of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The deadline for the submission of design proposals to UNESCO is 19 December 2011.

The international competition will consist of two phases: a shortlist of 16 finalists will be selected during Phase I. In Phase II, a jury of experts will determine the winning entry, which will be announced in spring 2012 and awarded a prize of US$ 50,000.

The Competition Guidelines and Rules can be downloaded here.

Golden Pen of Belgrade

2011-11-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

Golden Pen of Belgrade

Serbian Association of Applied Arts Artists and Designers
The 46rd Golden Pen of Belgrade

The 11th International Biennial of Illustration 2011
www.ulupuds.org.rs/pdf/Zlatnopero

The Biennial is open to artists all over the world. All categories of illu strations for books, magazines, newspapers, bibliophile editions, animated films, cartoons, electronic media, exlibrises, etc., shall be exhibited. Printed works and public at ions shall also be exhibited.

The organizer shall exhibit both published (bearing the name of the publisher) and unpublished works which have been made since January 1, 2009. The works shall deal with a specific theme or literary material. For works that have been published, we would welcome, besides the illustration itself, a book, magazine, newspapers, video cassette etc, which shall be exhibited too. Books, magazines, news papers, etc. shall not be returned, unless they are bibliophile editions.

Each author wishing to participate shall submit works dealing with one or two themes, taking the maximum space of 1.40 m² 2 x (70 x 100cm). The maximum size of one illustration is 70x100 or 100x70 cm.

Foreign participants may submit high quality reproductions instead of originals, though original illustrations are preferable. For participants from Serbia recommended that submit original artwork, although it is acceptable and good quality print. Artists participating for the first time may submit works created in the course of the last five years.

Illustrations can be made in all traditional and modern techniques, and should be sent unframed. On the back of each work submitted for the exhibition please write legibly, in lead pencil, the name and surname of the illustrator and the ordinalnumber of each illustration must be the same as the number this exhibit bears on the entry form. Authors may submit their entries individually, or through their art organizations, international unions, publishers, etc.

ENTRIES Entry-forms, as well as all information concerning other necessary documentation, can be obtained directly from the Organizer, or by e-mail on the ULUPUDS website.

Your illustrations and entry-form should be submitted by September 5, 2011, to the address below.

PARTICIPATION FEE
20 EUR per 1 entry form, for foreign participants is only for postage costs. Please enclose, with your entry form and works, the receipt confirming payment of the participation fee.

AWARDS
The International Jury shall award the following prizes: The Grand Prix, three awards
The International Golden Pen of Belgrade (аppropriate amount in dinars); three plaques
The Golden Pen of Belgrade; honorary diplomas to artists and publishers and Award for unpublished children’s illustration, given by the publisher Creative Center.

The Grand Prix winner is entitled to his own one- person-exhibition of illustrations within the 12th Biennial of Illustration in 2013.

The Serbian Association of Applied Arts Artists and Designers ULUPUDS
The Golden Pen
Terazije 26/II
11000 Belgrade
Serbia
tel: + 381 11/2685-780, 2688-721
fax: + 381 11/2686-548
ulupuds@beotel.net, kustos@ulupuds.org.rs
www.ulupuds.org.rs

V&A Illustration Awards

2011-11-09T23:24:00.001-08:00

The V&A Illustration Awards celebrate the best illustration published over the last year. Original artwork from the best illustrated book, book cover, editorial illustration and student illustrator of the year will be recognised.

Their aim is to encourage and celebrate high standards of creativity in the industry. The awards are free to enter and offer some of the most substantial financial prizes for illustration in the UK.

There are three published categories:

• Book Cover Illustrations

• Book Illustrations

• Editorial Illustrations

And there is one student category.

Entrants may submit up to three images of their work. All images uploaded must be in the JPEG format, maximum file size of 1MB and not larger than 900 pixels in width.

The winners will be contacted by the V&A and announced publicly at the presentation ceremony on 11 June 2012.

Eligibility

The awards are open to illustrators living in the UK or publishing within the UK Market. Work published in 2011 are eligible for this year’s awards.

Student Illustrator Award entries are encouraged from anyone who has attended an illustration course at any time during 2010 or 2011.

Prize

The winner for each category will receive £2,000 (approx. 3,200 USD) and a trophy. The overall winner of the V&A Illustration Awards will receive an additional £2,000.

The Student Illustrator of the Year will receive £2,000 and a trophy. The runner up will receive £1,000 (approx. 1,600 USD).

How to enter

New article about illustration

2011-07-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

In new agust Playboy Slovenia. About Illustration.

http://www.playboy.si/branje/novice/izsel-je-avgustovski-playboy/

Thank you Anita Kunz, Yoko Furusho, Laura Laine, Michael Kutshe, Mijn Schatje, Barnaby Ward, Niccileta Ceccoli, Linda Evans and Bill Carman, for your suport.

ARTBOMB – JOIN THE GROWING INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN AN ACTION TO SAVE THE ARTS

2011-06-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

Trans Artists would like to make you aware of ARTBOMB

ARTBOMB – JOIN THE GROWING INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN AN ACTION TO
SAVE THE ARTS

Dear friends,

Express the value of art! Show your support for culture!

On Friday the 24th June at noon, your local time, we need you to
join this initiative in shrouding art locations across the world in
coloured smoke. This visual act will be a sign of resistance against
the growing disdain for the arts within societies and governments
worldwide, and a sign of support for colleagues who face major
cutbacks. Now is the time to act to show your appreciation and the
necessity of the arts!

ARTBOMB is a peaceful art intervention initiated in The Netherlands.
The Dutch Government is about to cut 40% of all cultural funding.
This will result in the disappearance of a multitude of
organizations that excel internationally in their field. This loss
will be felt not only by the Dutch public but by the international
community.

One signal, one moment, one act to show support. You can contribute
visual ammunition against the disproportionate cuts to the arts
budget.This visible intervention will rise up around the world
where people value the arts and want to express their support for
artists and cultural organizations.

Everybody who joins the ARTBOMB intervention will become part of
this chain reaction and is invited to upload the photos and films of
their own intervention to the website www.artbomb.nl as a token of
solidarity and a symbol of strength.

WHAT             IGNITE COLOURED SMOKE AND DOCUMENT THE EVENT

WHEN             12 NOON LOCAL TIME, FRIDAY 24th JUNE

WHERE          ART LOCATION OF YOUR CHOICE

AFTER           UPLOAD YOUR IMAGES/FOOTAGE TO www.artbomb.nl

Information about ARTBOMB and how to join: www.artbomb.nl

Email: artbombnow@gmail.com

Join the Facebook Community

Wijzig uw gegevens of meld u af van de nieuwsbrief.

Istanbul

2011-06-20T00:14:00.000-07:00

I was in Istanbul in April and I was impressed by the miniatures I saw in Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, they were gorgeus, something the most beautiful i saw. I admite I was always in love in miniatures, all kinde.

I adore Gennady Spirin, russian illustrator. I am great fan of medival illuminations.

But this was something special, seeing this books in life. So I sat for the next three days in confectionary and draw. The the waiter brought me sweets every now and then, I ate gorgeus puding and drank sweet turkish coffee. And I made this.

On the last day on airport and airplane I made this. Bosporus as it was long time ago.

building again

2011-06-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

Next week I am at my favorite place. I made some sketches. When I will come back I will have photos to.

We are makeing the place where you can create and experiment. A secure environment, created especially for that possibility, in which we can relax, as nothing can go wrong and everything is just a game.

We will have workshops there.

http://www.spitama.si/dates_eng.html

2011-05-27T03:36:00.000-07:00

30 DAYS OF CREATIVITY

30 Days of Creativity is a social initiative encouraging people to create stuff (anything) every day for 30 days in June.

Your brain is like a muscle. When you exercise it, it gets stronger.

http://tumblr.com/xdw2i9eiqg

MSGSU TEXTILE & FASHION DESIGN DEPARTMENT: Moda İllüstrasyonu Atölye Çalışması

2011-05-12T03:53:00.000-07:00

I had workshop at GÖNDEREN MSGSU TEXTILE AND FASHION DESIGN DEPARTMENT. it was great. we all ENJOYED our work together.

MSGSU TEXTILE & FASHION DESIGN DEPARTMENT: Moda İllüstrasyonu Atölye Çalışması: "18-22 Nisan tarihleri arasında Ljubljana Design Academy öğretim üyelerinden Kiki Omerzel, Erasmus Öğretim Üyesi Hareketliliği Programı kapsa..."

Do you still believe in the power of culture?

2011-05-11T13:33:00.001-07:00

http://www.wearemore.eu/manifesto/

July sees talks start on culture's share of the next EU budget.

Direct support for arts and culture currently represents 0.05% of the total EU budget. Sign the manifesto NOW to ensure vital support for culture in the next EU budget.

To national governments - to European decision-makers

We call on you to strengthen the recognition of the role of arts and culture in the development of our European societies by increasing the support to culture in the next EU budget.

2011-04-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

3 Revitalization of Inner Creativity

from 2 to 9 July 2011

The most basic is the path of energy and the number three, which is linked to physical development and energy. The basic drivers are curiosity and a childish carefree attitude. Research indicates that creative functioning is strongest in children just before they enter school. Since our school system functions primarily on the basis of promoting the rational and thus the functioning of the left side of the brain, very few children maintain that creative functioning past the age of seven. From then until adulthood, a high level of creative functioning is only present in 2% of people. Others bury creativity away in some drawer. Now as adults, we cannot find closet, let alone the drawer, in which we buried our creativity. All we can find is the room we played in.

Infomation on internet site are just general in nature, a detailed presentation will be sent individually on our recuest (form).

2011-04-13T03:11:00.000-07:00

PublicAdCampaign’s Madrid takeover

2011-04-08T01:46:00.000-07:00

PublicAdCampaign’s Madrid takeover

Jordan Seiler. Translation - Make love to your city, caress and hold her tightly.

On March 30th, Jordan Seiler and some Madrid-based helpers disrupted bus-shelter advertisements throughout Madrid for PublicAdCampaign‘s latest takeover, MaSAT (Madrid Street Advertising Takeover). Over 100 artists and everyday people from around the world contributed to MaSAT by supplying text which was then printed on the posters that Jordan and his crew installed. Here are a few of my favorites:

TrustoCorp

Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere. Translation - advertisement for a bad movie

Joe Iurato

Logan Hicks

And the MaSAT project is particularly interesting to me because Jordan is participating in the Street Communications panel that I am moderating this weekend at Haverford College and because both the Schillers and I (Marc and Sara will also be on the panel) participated in MaSAT by sending some text:

Marc and Sara Schiller of Wooster Collective

RJ (me). Translation - Hi Carmen. I hope you’ll smile today!

Creative life

2011-04-07T13:47:00.002-07:00

Only three things can achieve unlimited growth and development is a limited space: insanity, creativity and love (Jörg Martin Wilnauer).

The most creative people have been and will always be distinct individuals and visionaries who see, and consequently know, more than others. Each of them had or has a special and personal relationship with the ability to create. Their
common thread is their relationship with the world, preserved from youth and subsequently updated. And, of course, the fact that they apply this relationship regularly.

Methods of creation are seemingly different, although the internal structure and consequences of actions are always the same. We need to recognise the causes and triggers that drive us to action. In that way, we will also be able to find within ourselves the appropriate process to unleash creativity. We spend the majority of our lives fighting ourselves and thinking that we must change, because were are not what we ourselves wish or what other expect from us. There is another way practiced by Zen masters, Taoists and Tantrists, who say that we should accept ourselves for how and what we are, and explore and work from that point. We must become conscious of the personal ways in which we function and use that recognition to create anew. Thus, we can only stimulate creativity in others when we breakdown the internal barriers and concepts that limit us from being what we have always been.
In the words of the Zen master Ikju: "Please, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid, because you can never be different from what and where you are."

THREE METODS

Revitalization of internal creativity
The method of three energies: positive, negative and neutral. In contemporary scientific findings from physics, neurology and psychology, scientists have discovered that we live in a state of duality, that the brain and body are significantly more connected than we think and that every thing has positive and negative opposites. This coincides with ancient teaching, represented best by the symbol of yin and yang. Ancient wise men knew that there existed, not just two, but also a third neutral aspect, representing the cause or spark of an event.

Experience creative leadership
This method comprises four ways of responding to the world. The number four appears frequently in symbolism, mythology and science. The ancient Greeks gave us knowledge of the four elements (water, air, earth and fire) that constantly interact and create the world between and with us. Space has four directions, while time has four seasons. C. G. Jung described four archetypes of man: the id, anima/animus, ego and self. At the beginning of the previous century, the mystic and human researcher George Gurdjieff compared man with a carriage at his lectures: "The carriage is the body, the horse the feelings and the driver reason. Above all of these is someone who knows where he wants to go and who manages all three. We call him God."

Evolution of the creativity of communication
This is a method of communication, understanding and creating a new reality; a path for forming creative and full relationships with people and situations.

Each method combines tested techniques that teach us to feel the body, focus our senses, free our intellect and thus achieve harmony between the body and mind.
http://www.spitama.si

THE PRAISE OF LAZINESS

2011-03-25T03:50:00.000-07:00

As an artist, I learned from both East (socialism) and West (capitalism). Of course, now when the borders and political systems have changed, such an experience will be no longer possible. But what I have learned from that dialogue, stays with me. My observation and knowledge of Western art has lately led me to a conclusion that art cannot exist... any more in the West. This is not to say that there isn't any. Why cannot art exist any more in the West? The answer is simple. Artists in the West are not lazy. Artists from the East are lazy; whether they will stay lazy now when they are no longer Eastern artists, remains to be seen.

Laziness is the absence of movement and thought, dumb time - total amnesia. It is also indifference, staring at nothing, non-activity, impotence. It is sheer stupidity, a time of pain, futile concentration. Those virtues of laziness are important factors in art. Knowing about laziness is not enough, it must be practised and perfected. Artists in the West are not lazy and therefore not artists but rather producers of something... Their involvement with matters of no importance, such as production, promotion, gallery system, museum system, competition system (who is first), their preoccupation with objects, all that drives them away form laziness, from art. Just as money is paper, so a gallery is a room.

Artists from the East were lazy and poor because the entire system of insignificant factors did not exist. Therefore they had time enough to concentrate on art and laziness. Even when they did produce art, they knew it was in vain, it was nothing.
Artists from the West could learn about laziness, but they didn't. Two major 20th century artists treated the question of laziness, in both practical and theoretical terms: Duchamp and Malevich.
Duchamp never really discussed laziness, but rather indifference and non-work. When asked by Pierre Cabanne what had brought him most pleasure in life, Duchamp said: "First, having been lucky. Because basically I've never worked for a living. I consider working for a living slightly imbecilic from an economic point of view. I hope that some day we'll be able to live without being obliged to work. Thanks to my luck, I was able to manage without getting wet".

Malevich wrote a text entitled "Laziness - the real truth of mankind" (1921). In it he criticized capitalism because it enabled only a small number of capitalists to be lazy, but also socialism because the entire movement was based on work instead of laziness. To quote: "People are scared of laziness and persecute those who accept it, and it always happens because no one realizes laziness is the truth; it has been branded as the mother of all vices, but it is in fact the mother of life. Socialism brings liberation in the unconscious, it scorns laziness without realizing it was laziness that gave birth to it; in his folly, the son scorns his mother as a mother of all vices and would not remove the brand; in this brief note I want to remove the brand of shame from laziness and to pronounce it not the mother of all vices, but the mother of perfection". Finally, to be lazy and conclude: there is no art without laziness.

Work is a desease - Karl Marx.
Work is a shame - Vlado Martek.

Mladen Stilinovic
Born in 1947 in Belgrade (Yugoslavia). Member of an informal group "Six Authors", which had a significant impact on the development of radical Croatian art in the second half of the seventies. From 1982 heading the Galerija Prosirenih medija. Lives in Zagreb (Croatia).

http://www.guelman.ru/xz/english/XX22/X2207.HTM

Images of perfection?

2011-03-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

Alenka Sottler, Kiki Omerzel, Lukatarina

curatores: Ana Grobler, Jadranka Ljubičič

The Alkatraz Gallery, Ljubljana
8th – 18th March 2011

Illustration is a medium used by many female painters to enable the women to survive ina art. It used to be the market gap for female artists as the field of the “artistic” had been taken and controlled by their male colleagues that had been better accepted in it and had also gained more recognition. Despite the contemporary multi-disciplinarity of male and female artists, the expert domain still considers illustration as something secondary and not ultimately artistic. Similar understanding applies to design; should a female or male artist evolve from the field of design, the label “artistic” tends to slip away for the description of their entire opus. Such generalization does not always prove appropriate as there are
artists currently getting involved in various projects, also such with an obvious artistic engagement – it is the content invested into their works and their attitude that matter. Reflections on art and the current society can be – regardless of the discipline of its execution, artistic.

The exhibition at the Alkatraz Gallery, deals with the status of women in the society and emphasizes the critique of stereotypical depiction of female images and roles, exposes illustration as the “real” artwork. It negates the stand towards illustration as Secondary, overseen in the relation to art and defined as a deviation, reconstructing its importance as equal to painting. Simone de Beauvoir has, in her book The Second Sex written: »One is not born a woman, but becomes one. Considering her most famous quote, the exhibition wishes to turn over the understanding of illustration.

Alenka Sottler is a recognized illustrator who has received many prizes and awards for her works. Quite deliberately she always inserts critique of contemporary society and relations into her illustrations. The artist also creates works that are not based on orders; and there she ever again conceives new, innovative and creative solutions, speaking primarily about the economy of consumer system that surrounds us. These are critical, but rarely exhibited works with a subtle and refined sense of humour and cynicism. At the Alkatraz Gallery there will be several of her illustrations on display. The illustrations for a book of a French poet Malcolm de Chazal depict women in various situations and positions. The letters in the illustrations represent texts by an existentialistic philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson.
In two of them the two depicted naked female figures hold a silhouette of the lower part of a female figure (up to the waistline) as if they are putting it on as an article of clothing. Their content decisively outlines the fact that the importance of appearance has become too-big-a-burden and concern. One of the images depicts a female figure frontally, putting on “buttocks”. The viewer is faced with a question concerning the importance and perception of female body in the society. »Are tits and bum staring at the viewer the only physical attributes determining a woman?«

The next illustration – a handbag that outgrows the woman in the background by its size - surely points out the over- burdenness with being busy. Proposals for a graphic work EX Libris for Slovenian Word, (print on paper, coated with white tempera paint), depict a woman with a vacuum cleaner between the letters. In palimpsestic manner, the letters are coated and superimposed several times, blurred and added anew, representing intellectual work. The message of all the proposals is clear; women intellectuals are nevertheless still women and household chores belong to female tasks and duties. Even though emancipation has brought new opportunities it has not wiped out the old rules, resulting in a doubly burdened women.

Household chores are only one of the voluntary unpaid chores in the life of a woman. A duo called Lukatarina (Katarina Mrvar and Luka Mancini) speaks about love and serving as women’s tasks. Their digitally supported illustration DeSACRARIUM, the Loves and Passions of a Cosmic Woman, placed above a female image on a crucifix, bears the inscription »Love all, serve all« in the manner of altar icons. The expression of the depicted woman shows panic, hysterical overburdenness with ever new demands the environment expects from the woman. The authors have taken the content primarily form the images of mass media and pop culture and used it in the manner of pop art, the manner in which the society glorifies, recycles and co-creates the image of a contemporary woman. They have been very successful as the images provoke resistance in the viewer. The position, the image and relation towards the woman in society is what they are interested in. They illustrate them by two mutually intertwined aspects. The first one is the woman as the archetype of the mother who protects and represents support, leading them to the Saint Mary, the personification of chastity. The other, in mass media incessantly used aspect is the one of the woman as an object attracting the looks and attention, serving as a tool in the marketing of mass consumption products. Various details in the illustration illuminate numerous nuances of the situation, each of them bringing to awareness a new aspect of abuse of the woman and her body for advertising and ideological purposes.

Kiki Omerzel shows the results of these impossible demands on a female body with Mona, (acrylic on canvas). The
aged Mona Liza of Leonardo da Vinci who was looking for the ideal woman in the look, smile and gestures shows its
complete opposition. This is a sad and embittered old woman that has never in her life done anything according to her
own will, but has, instead, only followed the instructions of the world surrounding her. This is a portrait of a woman,
the sagging silicon breasts alluding that she cannot come to terms with herself and her age. Contemporary society
only supports the cult of a young body, leaving no room for individuals who are – according to their physical looks,
psychological state and capacity over 30. The struggle for perfection leads to dissatisfaction as the demands for the
appearance the body cannot fulfil create inner conflicts. Mona shows the trap a person can be caught in when he/she
swaps the meaning of life with the hound for success and popularity at any cost.

The solution of the situation may be offered by the author’s Purushas. More than just resembling pudenda, disclosing the soft tissue; the paintings unveil the look at the Essential. The contact with the Essential brings about the discovery of the inner strength, usually covered by entangled thoughts, memories and perceptions, caused by the limiting environment, prescribing its rules. Alenka Sottler’s illustrations in the book Prividi (Mirages) brings an affirmative message. White and black tempera on paper paints a landscape of perfect hills with female figures sitting on their tops. The ratio of the size between the hill and the female figure is similar to the ration between a breast and its nipple.
Here, the women are the ones taking over the hills, they have, once again become the masters and the owners of the hill (their body) and claim their power back.
Ana Grobler

The designer duo Lukatarina are designers Katarina Mrvar, who has graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in 2006, and Luka Mancini, who graduated there in 2005, currently completing his Master’s studies. Being self-employed in the cultural domain they are engaged in dealing with various problems in the field of visual communications. They struggle to contribute their share to the improvement of the society and environment with their knowledge and talents, therefore they create for customers, that are aware of environmental and social responsibility. Simultaneously they are developing their own self-initiative educational-research and artistic projects. They have received several awards for their works (Brumen Award for diploma thesis of Luka Mancini, Brumen Award for the Simtype typography of Katarina Mrvar).
http://www.lukatarina.net/

Alenka Sottler lives and works as a freelanced artist in Ljubljana. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in 1981, where she also completed her post-graduate studies in 1983. For several years she was writing articles on fine art for children for the children’s magazine Kekec. She illustrates poetry, is engaged in graphics as well as works on paper. She has illustrated over 40 books and was
presented at numerous solo and group exhibitions. Recently she has devoted her attention to fairy tales – the modern ones such as the fairytales of Oscar Wilde, Svetlana Makarovič and Bina Štampe Žmavc, as well as classical ones like the World’s Fairytales, brothers’Grimm Cinderella. She has received international awards and prizes in the field of book illustration for her black and white interpretations of
the World’s Fairytales, for the illustratory interpretation of the fairytales Cinderella she has received the Golden Apple Award.

Kiki Omerzel works in Ljubljana for several years. In 1997 she graduated from the Academy for the Fine Arts, in painting and enrolled for post-graduate studies with prof. Barši at sculpturing department at the Academy of Fine Arts. Since 1994 she has participated in various group and solo exhibitions (Urbanarija – Soros center Ljubljana, Magdalenska mreža – Maribor, Break 21, Mala Loka castle, Lamut Gallery – Kostanjevica, P74 – Ljubljana, Art Salon Celje, Jakopič Gallery – Ljubljana). Her projects vary and include design, illustration, painting and performance.
http://www.kiki.si/

top art blogs

2011-01-27T00:17:00.001-08:00

1. VANDALOG
Top Art Blog of the Year
blog.vandalog.com

A perfect blog. Regular and interesting postings about street art across the world have created a genuine international community interested in this art form. To date there are just under 4000 followers, who are active in debating and posting and it is all very nicely brought together by its editor, RJ Rushmore. If you are looking to set up a blog to promote a specialist art form, then use this one as a model.

2. ARTS JOURNAL
Art News Blog of the Year
www.artsjournal.com

With its daily digest of the art news, seventeen highly qualified bloggers and a huge following, Arts Journal wins a top prize here. The sections are divided into clear sections such as: architecture, issues, art, music, culture, ideas, and the bloggers include leading figures in the academic and art world. The content is intelligent and the debate real. A guaranteed good read every day.

3. JONATHAN JONES ON ART
Art Blogger of the Year
www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog

Jonathan's short blogs fuel your brain and tell you exactly what you should go and see. We particularly liked his recent piece 'The streets have stolen a march on modern art'. Working for The Guardian, his brief must be to feature events of 'national interest', but he manages to weave into this an eclectic mix of shows across the country in all sorts of places and not just the big names and brands. Other journos on the nationals should follow suit. We had many votes for Jonathan sent in to us, and the number of daily comments on his site shows that he a serious community of followers.

4. THE ART NEWSPAPER - FAIRS
Art Magazine Blog of the Year
www.theartnewspaper.com/fairs

If you did not received The Art Newspaper's Daily bulletins from this year's art fairs then you have missed out. The well-designed and up-to-the-minute newsletters drop into your inbox feeding you with news, opinion and gossip on the daily events at Frieze and Miami. For a moment in your morning you too are under canvas rubbing shoulders with oligarchs and celebrity collectors.

5. CATHEDRAL OF SHIT
Art Polemic Blog of the Year
cathedralofshit.wordpress.com

If you like a bitter rant against the art establishment with lots of expletives, then this blog is for you. It is very active, with plenty of anonymous researchers on the ground picking holes in government policy and exposing in-fighting, hypocrisy and nepotism in the art world. Examples are favourable reviews by national art critics of work by their personal friends. The design is pretty basic but the comment notable.

6. 1000 WORDSPHOTOGRAPHY
Photography Blog of the Year
1000wordsphotographymagazine.blogspot.com

This photography blogs highlights a sensational array of photographers, many of whom are relatively unknown. The blog, written mostly by Tim Clark, offers a mixture of well-written book and exhibition reviews, advice to photographers and news of fairs and competitions. The organisation also runs events in places such as Fez. Truly international.

7. SELF SELECTOR
New Art Blogger of the Year
selfselector.co.uk
Absolutely loads of people put forward Lorena Muñoz-Alonso for art blogger of the year. She clearly has a passionate group of followers. Lorena reviews exhibitions in such a way that you feel that you have been there. She asks enough questions about the art to challenge it, but she is not deliberately controversial or egotistical. She draws together exhibitions from public, commercial and alternative spaces, in a thematic way that makes you look at wider cultural issues.

8. ARMAGHOCLOCK
Artist's Blog of the Year
armaghoclock.wordpress.com

There are so many good artists' blogs that this is very difficult to choose. We were very careful not to select any artist that we represent or know as we don't want to be outed in 'Cathedral of Shit'. We have a preference here for the artist blogs that simply bring you behind the scenes as we are not artists ourselves. This blog was put forward by a subscriber and is an excellent example of an artist writing a journal on the development of a project. It brings you into the making of the work over the course of a year with clever use of images and sound. Unpretentious, clearly written and interesting.

9. ART RABBIT
Art Listings Blog of the Year
www.artrabbit.com

So many listings sites let us down because the searches don't work or give you too much information or the content is out-of-date. This one doesn't. It is beautifully designed and works perfectly - commendations to the graphic and software designers as well as the editors. The opinion pieces are nicely-written and the email blogs give you exactly the information you want on your selection of exhibitions opening or closing across the globe. A big thank you to Art Rabbit for bringing so many visitors into galleries and museums this year.

10. ART FAG CITY
Urban Art Blog of the Year
www.artfagcity.com

Curator, lecturer and journalist Paddy Johnson goes around New York's galleries and events and reports on art in the city with a fair amount of gossip and news too.

Gingerbread Man

2011-01-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Medenjaček or Gingerbread man is one of the most important and well known stories. It was a great challenge to interpret traditional story in a modern way. My basic was a tempo of happening. Everything is repeating three times so I used variation as basic of visual appearance of a book. My wish was to show to little reader that we can see our world in many different ways. It all depends in what position we are. There are three animals in a book: snake, cat and stork, so we have three different perspectives of the world: from the ground like a snake, in the middle like a cat and up in the sky like a stork. Similar variation happens at the end of a book, where the water slowly floes over a book just like fox is closer and closer to the ginger bread man. I also designed a book so it is complete visual appearance that maters and text is here to help the child in visual reading, because it is first way of reading stories. Base is in color and composition and reading of a story is only a melody for imagination to dance.

Playboy Slovenia

2010-12-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

My new article and illustrations for Playboy magazine.

kundabufer

2010-11-26T23:05:00.000-08:00

Formlæssence is a formless dance. An act of exploring physical movement through the spiritual and the internalized. Formlæssence is a dance that comes from one’s inner self. It is based on the fact that every single person moves in a unique and unrepeatable way.

The technique of formlæssence dance was developed by Bodin, a psychotherapist, master of dancing on fire, shamanic sweat lodge ritual, ancient breathing techniques and other methods of purifying one’s mind, opening energy centres in human body and, not least, opening one’s inner being. Today the technique of formlæssence dance is passed on only by Bodin. After 15 years of research and experimenting, Bodin invented a method of formlæssence that can arouse such abilities in “every single” individual.

What makes formlæssence essentially different from form-based dances is its complete freedom. All other kinds of dancing are about form, steps, thinking, finding rhythm, etc. Formlæssence, on the other hand, poses no limitations. It allows the dancers to develop their own being and physical abilities to the maximum. Only then can they dance to express what cannot be expressed by ordinary dances.

In addressing these questions, Bodin has come to a conclusion that their dance transcends the boundaries of material perception, because it has to do with energy. Experiencing music. Complete surrender to the energy created by music. By mastering formlæssence one obtains the ability of completely devoting oneself to the energy of music and become one with it. This is a moment when it is rendered impossible to distinguish where the music stops and the dancing begins. It is an imitation of life – the perpetual interaction between energy and matter. It is a passion that becomes alight when we start to burn like the flame of life.

Similar descriptions and terms may be found with dancers who fall into a trance. Although the state in question seems much like trance, formlæssence dancers reach it at full awareness and retain their consciousness throughout the dance. The body loses itself, surrenders to the music, and interacts with it. Nevertheless, the dancers remain fully conscious and aware throughout the dance.

Formlæssence dancing is the conscious surrender to the music. Tones become one with movement. When the latter fills the void between the cells and turns the matter into movement, the dancer and the music merge into one. They become indistinguishable. The dancer becomes the music and the music becomes the dancer. The dance is a game that knows no boundaries.

This is why formlæssence dance is so important for the dancers’ development. It is an upgrade of the knowledge of dancing that is not lost with the use of this technique, but evolves into quality, sensitivity and greater power of expression. The experience and sensation of dancing deepen. Using this method dancers can ascend to a higher level of consciousness of their bodies and expression through dancing that transcends the confines of concepts, ideas and the current state of mind, but is, owing to its primariness and energy power, closest to the kind of dancing that derives from the beginnings of human creativity when dancing constituted one of the basic manners of transferring important pieces of information that could not be conveyed verbally. They could, however, be conveyed through dancing. It is precisely this feature that brings formlæssence the closest to the expression through symbols and dancing as a primary form of information transfer.

However, the power of expressing through one’s body is also crucially dependent on motor abilities of the body. Dancers retain all the previously acquired knowledge, which becomes more vivid in a complete absence of thought that would limit it and change the dance with respect to dancers’ momentary disposition. What ultimately remains is a pure relationship between the music and the dancers that becomes a new reality – a reality in which everything is possible, as if for a child to whom all ways are open.

The story that is thus being made is not a story that comes from the mind, but from beyond it. From a conscious reality, free of mental blockages and prejudice. Dancing is no longer subjective and subjected to one thousand interpretations. Even though all dancers still express themselves in their own specific manners that seem most suitable to them. This,, then, is what makes it a formless dance, because it is not limited by any move or combination. What brings all dancers together is the same expression, sensation and manner of communication. The dance is objective, primal, and the dancers always convey the same message – the essence of life.

Formlaessence dance in Zadar from Kiki Omerzel on Vimeo.

persian miniature

2010-11-26T02:30:00.000-08:00

Fourth element or how to stimulate creativity

2010-11-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

When we are creative, we are uninhibited and therefore see beyond reality. We soon realize that we are the makers of reality with our attitude and communication. Consciously or not, we create reality on the fly. Artists use both ways but are freer when they are conscious of the creation process. It is this awareness and lack of personal involvement that make the difference between an amateur and an artist.

However, in order to understand what we do, we have to understand how we do it. Our workshop raises awareness of the four levels of experiencing art that leads to creativity. Although our starting point is illustration, the term is so wide that it encompasses all the styles, techniques and media the participants of the workshop are interested in.

Experiencing through the body. A physical reaction is the most predictable and is the same for everyone. Red colour still raises our blood pressure, for example. We are mostly interested in the responses that are the same for everyone. We act at body level.

Experiencing through the mind. The concept. The emphasis is on the rational understanding of what we see, especially concepts, beliefs and our image of the world. This level of experience is very subjective and depends on our personal understanding of the world that surrounds us. Although we claim the contrary, this level of experience is changeable. We act at concept level.

Experiencing through emotions. While emotions are individual to some extent, they are mostly universal. The intensity and depth of our emotions are individual. Strong emotions are key to creativity. We act at concept level.

The highest level of understanding. At some point, the mind stops evoking emotions and is replaced by a sensation that is beyond polarity, beyond positive or negative feelings. Its main characteristics is the fact that it exists. This level of experience takes us to the state of emptiness that enables impersonal and intensive experience. Awareness.

We will bring together everything we have learned so far and will try to act at a new level.

Emotions evoke experience. By being aware of what we experience, we can achieve creative energy. Only what we experienced consciously can be understood and then repeated. Only when we are able to repeat are we able to re-create as well. Creation is impossible without understanding or experience.

This is why the fourth element is crucial for creativity. At this point, individuality is no longer an issue because we have overcome it and have reached a clear, objective understanding of the world. We see it without the concepts, associations and perceptions we learned and grew up with. We have reached the point at which we can express ourselves clearly because our work of art has the same effect on everyone.

beastiary and my beasts

2010-11-18T00:03:00.000-08:00

I am searching for a publisher for my new book. If it happened that you know the person ... let me know. and her are some pictures from it.

plastic treat

2010-11-16T23:58:00.001-08:00

For A.L.I.C.A conference

I'M FANTASTIC BECAUSE I'M NOT PLASTIC

One of the he thing humans can't controle any more is an overdose of junk we made, especially plastic junk. Plastic bags which are hanging like strange fruits from the trees near the rivers are as much estetic as ecological problem. There are many different solutions to solve this of corse. I will present just a some of them, which are also good examples of social design.

There are three ways to concur the plastic enemy.

Pedagogic: to educate people about the sustainable development.

When we say education we usually think about young people, but when the mater comes to ecology I think that we should educate an adult first. We have not so much time. Adults are the main consumers and they are parents and an example to their children.

An good example is the Traditional charity event which had been held by Ona magazine and Merkator d.o.o. This year designers from Slovenia were asked to design different bags, which they give for free and buy by famus people to help children from poor families.

(Fig. 1., Oblikovalka: Ajda Miška, foto: Mavric Pivk)

Artistic: make things beautiful and to give them meaning

Mula bags are non-plastic bags made by Lukatarina, slovenian designers who work a lot on ecological and social design. Their bags are complete designers work with good concept and solution. They are made in a sense of ecology from the matrix to final look. Mula bags are talking about a relationship we should have to our planet.

(Fig. 2., Oblikovalca: Lukatarina)

Scientific: to invent new materials

This is a part I will do with my students in second semester. We will make a research for the sustanable solution and make Earthfriendly packaging design out of it.

A.L.I.C.E.

2010-11-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Architecture | Landscape| Interior | Culture | Emotions - event, organised by the Academy of Design in Ljubljana, an independent institution of higher education, in Ljubljana on November 24th 2010.

The event consists of a scientific conference, exhibition and fashion show.
The aim of the conference is to raise awareness of design in European Union and Western Balkan countries, to explore current global issues where design has a role in determining future outcomes and to understand how cultural influences affect designers' approaches to design problems.

The art of communication

2010-11-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

The role of communication

A clear goal is very important in communication because it enables the recipient to receive the message in the intended form, not subjectively and full of individual interpretations. Visual culture wasn't psychotherapy or community service in old times , its goal was communication at deeper levels. Today we are worship the concept which has nothing to do with art or knowledge. It is just an idea or a thought that sprung up by coincidence and that the artist identified with. Now the artist believes that it is their concept, their art. But in truth, it is just a product of their narrow-mindedness and idiocy. In these terms, art is just a way to channel off the tension that builds up by the artist’s narrow-mindedness.

But real visual communication is here to shock us, to change the way we feel and to tell us something about ourselves and our attitude towards the world. This can be achieved in two ways; through a hard but superficial shock or through love and joy.

Difference between objective and subjective

At this point, individuality and subjectivity is no longer an issue because we have overcome it and have reached a clear, objective understanding of the world. We see it without the concepts, associations and perceptions we learned and grew up with. We have reached the point at which we can express ourselves clearly because our work of art has the same effect on everyone.

So what is real?

wellcome to my new blog

2010-11-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

It is a good day to start a new blog. so here I am. Pure new like a virgin. You will find here all sort of things about communication. Mostly about visual ... so firs I must rearrange this one.