5th Christmas Tree Exhibition. Modern Xmas Tree Art From HfG Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.

It's another year for the exhibit of various designer interpretations of the traditional Christmas tree at Germany's Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. The images below are from various submissions to the exhibit over the past few years. The show is in its fifth year this year and has had hundreds of unusual and imaginative entries. The deadline for this year's entries was December 12th (I'll show you those trees next year). Here are a few of my favorite entries since the inception of the show in 2004.

First off, what is the history of the Traditional Christmas Tree? According to wikipedia:
The Christmas tree is one of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. Normally an evergreen coniferous tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, a Christmas tree is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during the days around Christmas. An angel or star is often placed at the top of the tree, representing the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity story.

Now, onto the designer interpretations. Here some of my faves from the 2007 entries:



above: Tire and tree tread by Cornelia Sieg

above: cristina irrgang and moritz willborn

above: miriam bauer

above: keifer & michalski

above: masa busic

above: viola kup

above: thomas beckstein

above: piero glina

above: nadja schoch

Above: suzanne feldt

above: lauren walter

above: peter bube & felix grunschloss

above: gotz gramlich

above: cecile noel

above: alice henry

above: elvira heise

above: stefanie miller

above: lia stoeckel

above: bea stach
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some of my faves from the 2006 entries:


above: förderer & schäfer & schmid & vogel

above: juli foos

above: markus gläser

above: sogol shirazi & saskia noël

above: jérôme nelet

above: kun wang

above: marko grewe

above: max kosoric

above: kosoric (detail)

above: kathrin jilg

above: päivi raivio & niko venäläinen

above: simon roth

above: yunwei zhu
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and some of my faves from the 2005 entries:


above: stefan legner

above: marcel besau & jan eilts & philipp sholz

above: claudia kappenberger

above: kappenberger detail

above: benedikt achatz

above: volker albus

above: matthias mai

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and some of my faves from the 2004 entries:


above: katrin sonnleitner

above: volker albus

above: johannes marmon & johannes müller

above: christina irrgang

above: berta riera

above: susanne könig & charlotte montanus

above: tom förderer

above: kai richter

above: martin sämmer


5th Christmas Tree Exhibition
12.12.2008 - 21.12.2008
HfG Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design
THE IDEA (in their words): One for all!
»Enjoy it, love it, hate it, destroy it and revive it again!« This just about sums up in one sentence our original intentions in 2004. But in fact, at the inception of the project, we didn’t really know where we were going with the idea or what—to all intents and purposes—made for enjoyment and what for destruction.
• We wanted to initiate a project everyone participating in would have fun with, one that would bridge the divide between the different departments at the school—a project suspended on a truly interdisciplinary platform. Taking it to the next level and addressing an open invitation to professors, staff and outsiders wasn’t that far off—but rather the more appealing. Absolutely anyone could take part in the project: no guidelines, no selections or short-listings, no limitations on submissions.
• The topic »Christmas tree« seemed fitting, intuitive more than planned: everyone would know what it was about. Anyone could pick out an image, a memory of or an association with a Christmas tree. At the same time, the image of the Christmas tree was abstract enough to be reworked in any manner of ways and with all assorted media—we could invite graphic and product designers, media artists, art historians and scenographers. The field offered enough space for texts, pictures, posters, sound installations, objects and other production methods.
• It only really became clear how perfectly suitable the subject was in the proceeding years. There are few objects that are so spot on as the Christmas tree. On one hand, it embodies such a specific, distinct and popular image—a cone-shape covered in green needles, (red) balls and (white) candles. On the other hand, it encompasses a symbolism that alludes to so much at large. As both a pagan and Christian symbol, it stands for fertility and commerce, stands at Christmas markets and supermarkets, in the living room and on the main square—in Stockholm and Cape town, Miami and Peking—featuring different faces according to different positions and perspectives.
• Considering that this tree is rooted in foundations that are religious, profane, commercial, formal, historical, familiar, and social—among others—and that despite all of this, it has still grown to become such a distinctive and unmistakable evergreen icon, seems to have given participants the grounds for idealisation, ironic critique, critical analysis, collage, persiflage, re-drafting, malapropism and other forms of refiguration.
•»Some of the best exhibitions are ones that don’t take themselves too seriously«—so read the headline of Wallpaper magazine’s web article on the trees this summer—hits the needle on the head: the exhibition should be fun, anyone and everyone can show what they want and what makes them happy, can think about it as much as they like or don’t, work diligently or not. And so it goes—hopefully all over again!
jjoo - Johannes Marmon & Johannes Müller

Oh Tannenbaum - Designer Christmas trees Book:

A book with essays and 25 Christmas cards with motives from the annual Christmas Tree Exhibition. You can order the book here.

Johannes Marmon & Johannes Müller
e-mail: christmas@hfg-karlsruhe.de

address:
HfG Karlsruhe
Christmas Tree Exhibition
Lorenzstr. 15
76135 Karlsruhe
Germany

From Bleak To Beautiful: The American Dollar's 'Anything You Synthesize'. A Time-Lapse Tilt-Shift Changing Landscape.

take a look at this beautiful music video from Dutch studio Onesize for The American Dollar’s “Anything You Synthesize.” One of the first to use the "tilt-Shift" technique, the time lapse video focusies on a changing landscape, from bleak to beautiful, for the band The American Dollar's "Anything You Synthesize" video.



Some screen grabs for you:










As quoted from the production company, Onesize:

•After listening to the song over and over, we came to the conclusion that the track felt like “landscape-music” to us.
•Seasons, mountains, time-lapsed skies, day, night, drama, decay, cinematic, slow-paced, out of the ordinary… to name a few keywords.
•We finally decided to build a looping landscape that would decay during the track. Very simple, but never the less a challenge to us, because we'd simple never done such a thing before.
•A simple camera movement traveling from left to right during the song, and while it travels we see the landscape decaying from a beautiful fresh mountain-view-landscape into a dead, flat desert.
•Also, during this trip we would see all 4 seasons of one year go by, even day and night. So, it actually is a non-linear and a non-chronological time-lapse of a decaying landscape.
•We had split-up the track in 9 pieces, equally in length. Each piece is one loopable landscape, panning from left to right. Then we also cut the song into 4 seasons and in addition, to make it more complex for ourselves, we also needed 3 smooth transitions from day into a short night.
•After preparation we started the actual production. Because of the fact that this was a “personal” Onesize project, we had to work on this during our spare time and in between projects.
•The idea was to add some live action (in-camera) effects, like rain, snow, lens flares, dust, etc. but we ended up with a fully CG production.

Funny thing is, once they were just about done with the piece, they looked at it and decided it worked better in reverse, so now it begins as a decaying landscape that becomes a flourishing one. Either way, it kept me in rapt attention.

CREDITS:
Audio: The American Dollar
Director: Kasper Verweij
Design & Animation: Menno Fokma, Harm van Zon, Reinier Fleas, Heerko Groefsema, Kasper Verweij, Rogier Hendriks
Post: Rogier Hendriks
Production: Onesize

Emma Hack Takes Body Art To A New Level With Her Latest Collection

We've seen body painting before. I've posted about well-known hand painter, Guido Daniele and the body painting of shoes on feet by Temptu. And how could I forget Veruschka?* But it wasn't until I saw her work on the cover of India's Platform magazine, that I was introduced to Australian artist and body illustrator Emma Hack.



Above: The image used on cover of Platform magazine from last year that piqued my interest in the work of Emma Hack.

An artist with several skills; sculpture, multimedia, photographer and more, I'm sharing images of her body painting for this post because it's simply amazing. Her work uses the naked bodies of both men and women as canvases and incorporates the backgrounds to give us the illusion of a flat surface in which the bodies are so well camouflaged against wall coverings, it's hard to even see them.

About this stunning collection: Emma’s Wallpaper 2005, 2007 and 2008 collections feature Florence Broadhurst wallpaper designs mixed with her body illustration. Emma continues to work blending her ‘wallflowers’ with the beautiful designs of Broadhurst.

Emma’s recent 2008 collection, featured during the Adelaide Fringe Festival, features exotic Australian animals, nude landscapes and a continued collection of Florence Broadhurst wallpapers. Emma photographed this collection herself, evolving her talents further. Here are her most recent works from her Wallpaper series:












And earlier works in the series:










In her Evolution collection, she actually painted animals!
An alligator, a possum, a dragon and turtles:






A bit about the artist:
Emma began her career as a make up and hair stylist and painted children's faces. She has evolved into a world-class body illustrator with several awards and acclaim, as well as a sculptor, a photographer and more. She's involved in several projects and continues to stretch and hone her talents.




Emma is represented in Adelaide by:
Art Images Gallery
32 The Parade Norwood
SA 5067
Phone: 08 8363 0806

*addendum:
I had to amend this post to answer to the several emails I've received reminding me of the amazing body painting and transfigurations by Vera Lehndorff (aka Veruschka). I was remiss in not referencing her work in a post about body painting- because it is superb and especially since my colleagues worked with her to produce a Lexus TV and print campaign in the mid 90s.

After beginning her career as a model in the 60’s, Lehndorff used the Veruschka pseudonym to enter the public domain, becoming one of the most sought-after and heavily publicized models in international fashion. Prior to crossing over to the art world with a renowned series of camouflage body-paintings, Lehndorff worked with many prominent photographers, including Helmet Newton.


above: self portrait by 'Veruschka'

Vera von Lehndorff (aka Veruschka)'s myspace page.