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We Can Create is back
by Corinne Smith on 17/09/2012We Can Create, New Zealand’s alternative art and creative industries showcase, returns to Auckland in October. This time it is a more intimate event and for one day (Saturday 27th October) – perfect for those of us who can’t get off work to attend the Friday. Check out the WCC#2 side events page to find out more about how you can get up close and personal with these fantastic creatives.
Adbusters, Canada
The quintessential antithesis of pop-culture, Adbusters is an alternative articulate cultural review that challenges the status quo. It has been advertising free since it was founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz, award-winning documentary filmmakers.
“Adbusters is an ecological magazine, dedicated to examining the relationship between human beings and their physical and mental environment. We want a world in which the economy and ecology resonate in balance. We try to coax people from spectator to participant in this quest. We want folks to get mad about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons.”
- www.adbusters.org
Assembly, New Zealand
The local, and fairly new agency Assembly describe themselves as a company of aesthetic thinkers who like making images that tell stories. Their high-end commercial work is recognisable, with their recent work for the V Motion Project being particularly in-depth and interesting.
Jonathan Barnbrook, United Kingdom
One of the most well-known and respected graphic designers in Britain, Jonathan Barnbrook is a prolific designer with a strong social conscience.
“Design can change the world when it works in service of the right people and gets an issue on the mainstream political agenda.”
- Jonathan Barnbrook
Barnbrook participated in the ‘First Things First 2000′ Manifesto published in 1999, created a billboard in 2001 entitled ‘Designers, stay away from corporations that want you to lie for them’ (quoting influential American graphic designer Tibor Kalman). Barnbrook has an impressive portfolio of work for high profile clients and has art directed for Adbusters.
Sarah Maxey, New Zealand/Berlin
Sarah Maxey is a graphic artist, typographic illustrator, and award winning book designer who creates beautiful hand rendered work. Her recent collaboration with a poet and a typeface designer won the 2011 Purple Pin Best in Discipline in New Zealand’s design industry awards, and a Certificate of Excellence from the International Society of Typographic Design in the UK. Maxey’s work has recently been published in ‘Artists’ Postcards: a compendium’ a 2012 title by Reaktion Books.
Super Everything*, United Kingdom
Super Everything* is a new cross disciplinary project by The Light Surgeons, who will perform a live cinema finale at WCC#2. The project was commissioned by the British Council and resulted with The Light Surgeons working with a group of audio and visual artists from Malaysia. Filmed on location across Peninsular Malaysia, this project sets out to explore the relationship between identity, ritual and place. The resulting work is a truly immersive audio visual experience.
Thomas and Martin Poschauko, Germany
“Nea Machina is a wonderful thing: At my first encounter with the work of Thomas and Martin Poschauko I was consumed by an unbelievable desire to go into the studio and work.”
- Stefan Sagmeister
The twin brothers Thomas and Martin Poschauko set themselves a creative experiment: the task to create as many formal variations as possible. As constant for their design experiment they used a human portrait and the title ‘Nea Machina’. The gave themselves four months to create one thousand variations, and discovered many different styles emerge – resulting in the publication ‘Nea Machina’.
Rockin’ Jelly Bean, Japan
“Girls! Monsters! Girls! Monsters! Girls! Ah, who are we kidding? There’s girls everywhere in the world of Japanese artist, Rockin’ Jelly Bean. Even when he makes public appearances, sporting Mexican wrestling masks, there’s always a girl or two at his side.”
- www.juxtapoz.com
In 1996 he moved to the USA where he began to make his name. At the same time Jelly Bean was also establishing his own brand EROSTY POP! After seven years of working in LA he moved back to Japan and since 2005 he has been based in Osaka.
Rockin’ Jelly Bean has a distinctive style that has been described as a mash up of “pin-up with pin striping, the ’60s with the ’70s, cheerleaders with custom car culture, and of course a fascination with horror”.
Tickets are available online ($180 students / $240 general admission).
For more information visit wecancreate.co.nz
I’m there. I entered the bag design competition, hoping to win a ticket. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I’m particularly looking forward to it being in the smaller and more intimate/interesting Mercury Theatre.