A definate highlight of the lecture program was the highly original presentation of Swiss designer Francois Chalet.

Francois Chalet’s 2d digital alter-ego in action

Chalet controlled a two dimensional puppet representation of himself on screen whilst delivering the talk in another room. The character, in a series of pre-programmed gestures, was able to respond directly to the audience’s reactions while displaying a selection of Chalet’s minimal 2d character design work. It all reached a very interesting conclusion where one audience member raised their hand and asked defiantly – “where are you?” Chalet quickly responded by moving his geometric character with the appropriate gesture and saying “I’m here!”, having his final laugh with the audience and using his humanoid character to humorous effect.

Mad character scientist Francois Chalet in his secret room

On a more serious note, Argentinian artist collective ‘Doma’, who established themselves as street artists in the late 80’s, offered up a family of characters with strong political references and a small dose of irony thrown in. They comment on established systems of control, public surveillance, and consumerism, by modifying symbols of corporate culture and adding their own chaotic audio to the imagery to present a disordered audiovisual world. It was a succinct and effective display of work which left no doubt as to the powerful use of symbology in mass media in Western consumerist society.

Participants were able to escape from the effects of information overload at the artists’ lectures with a number of other events held in and around the main Cafe Moskau venue.

Kino International

The Kino International, a striking DDR building directly opposite the Cafe Moskau, housed the Pictoplasma Animation screening, which was a wonderfully curated program featuring some quite breathtaking animation, from animated short works to a selection of new motion design and character animation pieces, illustrating just how far animation software technologies have evolved to create new and imaginitive aesthetic styles.