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Dresden: Magic City – Art of the streets

February 21, 2017 butterfly 2 Comments

Opened since last October in the German city of Dresden, ‘MAGIC CITY – THE ART OF THE STREET‘ is a touring and evolving exhibition showcasing over 40 international street artists as well as local graffiti writers with their different practices and tools within 2500 square meters. Visitors can learn more about the different art forms, explore the streets of this dream city and interact with the immersive installations.

Curators Carlo McCormic and Ethel Seno declared that their goal was to create a “playground for the imagination”, in a new hybrid form. Starting with an initial ‘ white walls ‘ gallery setting , the streets are getting more and more covered with artworks and installations as the exhibition evolves and continues to tour.

The show starts with a chronological introduction to graffiti with a pictures gallery from legendary photo-journalists Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, as well as Graffiti writer Daze, who bombed the New York subways in the mid-1970s and writer FINO’91 who grew up in the 1970s in the American sector of divided Berlin.

Rats have a favorite place in the heart of street artists. This week end saw the reveal of additional artworks to the Magic City exhibition from Ericalcaine to Banksy.

To celebrate the European premiere of the documentary ‘Saving Banksy’ , the special week end was featuring an all-nighter of documentaries and talks with Blek Le Rat, Colin Day, Herakut, Jens Besser, Remi Jaccard, David Chaumet, René Kæstner, Andreas Schanzenbach, which we were honoured to participate. In parallel kids could improve their graffiti writing skills in the Spike Labs with Akim Walta and graffiti legends.

Foto: @[100890010083913:Frank Embacher Photographie]
Discussion photos by Frank Embacher Photographie

In the first room of the exhibition, the public can play and create their own artworks using laser pens on the multimedia interactive screens by Akrylonumerik or get immersed within 3D anamorphic installations by Leon Kerr, Truly, Replete, The Yok & Sheryo .

Looking up, twin brothers Skewville ‘dogs have invaded the alleys, while shopping trolleys have been transformed into a playful seating duo. Asbestos ‘Lost’ posters advertise items never to be found.

Activist artists like Icy & Sot, Biancoshock and Ori Carino & Benjamin Armas present works about the refugee crisis in Europe while SpY and Shepard Fairey highlight the surveillance society.

The city also contains a square with a colourful carrousel by crochet queen OLEK, a phone booth installation by Ernest Zacharevic as well as a red light district decorated by AIKO.

Walking along the streets, visitors can play with the wooden panels by ROA and enjoy the murals by HERAKUT, Tristan Eaton, MadC, Ron English, discover an urban installation by Brad Downey made of found material andet immersed within the miniature city of Isaac Cordal.

Magic City also features a cinema with a selection of movies curated by our friends Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington at Brooklyn Street Art.

Full list of participating artists includes Akrylonumerik, Andy K, Asbestos, Ben Heine, Benuz, Biancoshock, Bordalo II, Brad, Downey, Dan Witz, Daze, Ernest Zacharevic, Ganzeer, Henry Chalfant, HERAKUT, Icy & Sot, Isaac Cordal, Jaime Rojo, Jens Besser, Juandres Vera, Lady Aiko, Leon Keer, Loomit, MAD C, Mark Bode, Martha Cooper, Oakoak, Odeith, Olek, Ori Carin / Benjamin Armas, Qi Xinghua, Replete, ROA, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, SpY, Tristan Eaton, Truly, WENU Crew, Yok & Sheryo.

Photos by Butterfly Art News unless otherwise stated.

View the full set of pics here

Big Thanks to the SC Exhibition Team, Christoph Scholz, Oliver, Thobias, Britta, Colin Day, Hera, Blek Le Rat, Remi Jaccard, Akim Walta, Dizy, Astrid, René Kæstner, Andreas Schanzenbach, Frank Embacher and the participating artists.

Magic City – The art of the streets
Dresden – until 12 March 2017
Kultur-Quartier Zeitenströmung
Königsbrücker Straße 96
01099 Dresden

Paris, Shows

Paris: Lab14

February 17, 2017 butterfly

Between December and 26 Feb 2017 a former building belonging to the French Post Office in the 14th district of Paris has been transformed by 30 street artists before its refurbishment. Supported by ARTANA, Poste Immo and Altarea Cogedim, the project LAB 14 is an ephemeral experimental creative space with artist residencies, workshops and creative interventions across 1600 square meters.

Participating artists include: ANIS, BOJAN, CANNIBAL, LETTERS, DEM, DILLON, DOSE, DRIKA, CHAGAS, ELSA LEMESLE, EVAZÉSIR, NO RULES CORP, FKDL, GREM, HOBZ, JBC, JIBÉ.P LABOLIC, LEK, LÉONAR, LILIAN PERDEREAU, MADAME, MADEMOISELLE MAURICE, MARKO 93, MR. LOLO, MINUIT, MORNE, MOSKO, NICOLAS BARRAUD, NOSBÉ, OLIVIA DE BONA, ONSEPT, PHOTOGRAFFÉE, RÉAONE, RÉTRO GRAFFITISM, SEIZE HAPPYWALLMAKER, SLYTWO, SMERG, SPOILE, SNEZ, SWAR, TCHEKO, TEMPO.

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LAB 14
Until 26 Feb 2017
140 Boulevard du Montparnasse
75014 PARIS

Paris, Shows

Paris: Cleon Peterson ‘ Victory’ @ Galerie du Jour

February 13, 2017 butterfly

American artist Cleon Peterson presents his first solo show at Agnés B’s Galerie du Jour in Paris. Entitled VICTORY, the new body of work features sculptures and paintings with his instantly recognizable black and white characters entangled in vicious cycles of violence. With a fascination for violence, brutality and power, the artist shares a reality he experienced and still observes within the current socio-political situation in the world.

He further explains – “This show explores the hedonistic triumphs of those who recognize themselves as victorious in the unfolding mirror of history. Their right to pleasure hinges on their projection of pain onto the unvictorious other. This often expresses itself in pleasure derived from the misfortune of the defeated. As the winners display their hubris and take their trophies the losers are left insignicant and marginalized. VICTORY explores one mans victory over another, what that victory looks like and the result that victory has on the losers.”

View the full set of pics here and a video interview of the artist by We are Our Choices

Cleon Peterson – Victory
Galerie du Jour
Until 18 February 2017
Paris

Paris, Street, streets

Paris: Invader PA_1266

February 8, 2017 butterfly

In parallel to his current show ‘Hello My Game is’ at Musee en Herbe (covered) , French artist Space Invader is back to the streets of Paris with a new large mosaic featuring a self portrait in action, masked and running away with a ladder after putting up a framed invader in a starry night. For all Flash Invader addicts it is PA_1266.

Space Invader - Paris 2017

View the full set of pics here

Hello my game is… will run until 3rd September at Musee en Herbe, 23 rue de l’Arbre-Sec, 75001 Paris.

Paris, Shows, Uncategorized

Paris: Invader – My Game is…@ Musee en Herbe

January 30, 2017 butterfly 1 Comment

Invader takes over Le Musée en Herbe in Paris for an exhibition entitled Hello, My Game Is… with over 100 new works on show.

It’s the first exhibition of Invader in Paris since 2011 (see our coverage of the 1000 exhibition) . The title refers to the name stickers, popular in the graffiti scene, with a twist on the name emphasizing the playfulness of the work as Hello, My Game Is… seeks to engage with the inner children within us all.

Invader explains – ‘I have myself often drawn inspiration from the world of childhood. Besides, who other than an adult with a child’s soul could devote his life to invading the world with video game characters? Also, this exhibition is very close to my heart because children represent the future. Education and dialogue with children are the key to a good future for humanity and tomorrow’s world.’

Upon entering the museum, children and fans alike can collect stickers from the vending machines and swap any doubles.

Since the creation of the Flash Invader app many years ago, which involves hunting down his street pieces across the world, the level of engagement with his work has been deepened with 13,000 registered users to date. For all Flash Invader fans eager to top up their score, the most recent mosaic has been placed inside the museum.

The first room references both video games such as Pac-Man and Q*bert and characters from children’s animation including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Miyazaki’s Ponyo that have inspired Invader’s work. People from all ages are invited to try and play the infamous arcade games.

A large-scale interactive map of the world is showing the 67 cities which have been invaded over the course of the last 20 years as well as lifesize ‘alias’ mosaics that have been installed across the world, from London CCTV flower (covered), Toulouse Pink inavsion (covered) to the one in the ISS station.

The Rubik Cubism room is a nod to the 80’s Rubik’s Cubes game. Rubik Cubism pieces on display include Disney characters as well as Peter Pan, who previously appeared in PA_1085. This particular work is made from 1,320 Rubik’s Cubes making it his largest such piece to date.

A magnet wall allows children, both young and old, to create and remake their own 8-bit inspired creations. The last room presents works on paper as well as a series of masks used during Invader’s streets interventions and a glimpse of the artist’s studio.

A 40-page book containing games and stickers published by Casterman also accompany the exhibition.