An Artist Talks with Sonja Rohleder, 26.01.2012, Kunsthaus Tacheles.

The first thing that striked me, when I met Sonja Rohleder, is her beauty. She has a delicate face with pale skin and dark red hair. I met her at an opening and we decided to meet for the talk.

Sonja Rohleder is an animation artist. She studied in Berlin and today creates within a team, animation films for private companies, in fields such as advertising and/or other commercial works.

She has her own projects, as well, that are shown in festivals. She is currently working on a funded project. She likes to start creating her characters with a simple paper and pencil, and from there give a  structure, bring in the movements and postures with sofware.

Her influences are mainly Japanese because of their incredible sens of details and a certain style of story telling. Of course she admires also the U.S. productions, such as PIXAR, their works have induced monumental technical improvements and have pushed animation sofware developement.  Today animation artists must keep up with new technologies and tools, and Sonja says it is a big part of her work, so discovering and learning how to use them, is an obligation to produce works of good quality.

She finds inspiration in every day life, searching through her experience to share a message or a feeling. Her creative process leads her to build characters from her imagination and environment, giving them a soul and spirit. She mixes all sorts of different techniques, combining film and animation tricks together. She must always determine which are the best techniques to use for a project.

Many precise rules are set to achieve this goal. Bringing life to a fictive character is a long, step by step, procedure. It comes little by little, with focus and alot of concentration. The animation artist  refines constantly his works, like a carpenter would chizzle the wood. Only with patience can one get close to a feeling of real life. The movements, for instance, she explains, must follow certain very precise mathematical rules, always moving inside a curve...

Most of her works are viewable online, I would recommend you to take time and have a look.

Sonja Rohleder is an artist full of mistery and charm, I will visit her studio soon and tell you more...

The studio, where the talk took place, was terribly cold. But we forgot about the temperature listening to eachother for a while. It was a good talk. 

http://www.sonjarohleder.de

An Artist Talks with Davidly, 08.12.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

 

Davidly is an American  music-producer and musician, living and working in Berlin. The first time I heard his music, was during the opening of the Berlinimportart event at the Forum Factory in Berlin last November.

He collaborates with other artists, such as, visual artists, singers, dancers and performance art artists. The performance that night was extremely impressive and the quality of the music composition was amazing. The music I heard was an electronic composition constructed in many ways alike classical music, both by structure and depth. The sound produced was mystical and enhanced by the participation of live classical singers, who brought a intriguing lyrical touch.

I had the feeling it would be nice to meet again and explore further his work. He kindly accepted my invitation to the artist talk.

He is a sensitive and first shy man. Though after a few questions he is very friendly and open, he has been creating for many years and worked with groups and singers. Today his focus is on moments. He fits his music into a context, confronts it to another art form. He works with electronic music but also with live instruments, depending on his feeling and inspiration. The collaborations are a good way to trigger new ideas and directions. He is extremely creative.

He likes to jam and improvise also in many places in Berlin it is possible and he had the surprise to meet a Mexican music producer while visiting the Kunsthaus Tacheles. They spontaneously decided to jam, after our exchange, as Alain Ledezma and his friend had already set up to play on the fourth floor.

I discovered the simplicity upon which he sets his creations, he does not push himself up as a master. Instead he remains accessible and curious to other young artists he encounters. I was inspired by his attitude and was pleased to, once again, have the time and space for this dialogue that took place in the New Gallery on the fourth floor of the Tacheles in presence of Alexander Rodin, the great Bielorussian artist, who’s paintings, I sadly remind, have been sequestrated in the 5^th floor of the Art House.

I do hope we will have the pleasure to meet again. It was an instructive talk.

An Artist Talks with Jan from Created Mind, 27.10.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Jan from created Mind is a young music producer, who lives and works in Berlin. He is playing regularly in the Kunsthaus Tacheles. The created Mind started with his cousin, who also produces music.

They are both fascinated by trans music, which has given him this taste for hypnotic spychedelic productions. As he discovered the trans scene and his passion for this specific music, his enthusiasm brought him finally from djing to producing his own sound.

Jan has an easy way of going about things and life. He was brought up by very open- minded parents… maybe a field for his spontaneous friendly approach to music.

Jan likes to create events and organize special trans parties. It is fun for him because of the setting and decorative part. He invites visual artist, painters and installation artists to participate his events. He likes to bring joy and share his easy-going way of life.

To this extent, it seems almost, that trans is sort of like a religion, unlike other electronic music scenes, where people are very generous and kind. There is a sort of brotherhood that comes out of it. This is a true experience for him, also enhanced by the strong collaboration with his cousin and close friends.

It is almost like his music production is alike a family business, where everyone has his place and purpose. And with Jan everything is still possible. He has very positive vision as an artist and music producer.

The last party in the Goldener Saal of the Kunsthaus Tacheles was a tremendous success. The lights and the fluorescent colours gave this typical psychedelic groove, so special to the trans scene.

He has his own label and has uploaded most of his tracks on his my space, free to hear and share. You can easily meet him and take time to talk about political and social issues, that are a center of interests for him. He believes in certain values and wants to share them. And  believe me, his music production is one of the things, he shares the best!

Please, if you have not yet experienced the pleasure of this music, come to Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Oranienburger strasse 54, 56 and give it a try.

We had a nice time talking.

Thank you.

www.myspace.com/createdmind1