In 1991 Nike produced the Air Max 180 sports-shoe, which became highly popular for its cutting-edge technology and artistic roots. For the first time, Nike collaborated with artists from the very beginning to tell the story of innovation born from creativity.
For their re-launch in 2006, Nike commissioned Pictoplasma to find a designer to revive the original spirit in a new, iconic character, giving tribute to air and zero gravity and at the same time transmitting an urban quality. Pictoplasma developed this idea a bit further to not only design a character, but to produce it as a costume that would incorporate the figure into our world.

The German artist Wayne Horse, known for his innovative graffiti, animation and art projects, designed a new character and took over the production of the full-body costume.
Max had his first appearance at the 2nd Pictoplasma Conference where he mingled with an international audience, was host of his own gallery exhibition, initiated urban interventions and had a big appearance at the main venue, animating attendees to sing at the closing karaoke party.
Pictoplasma further incorporated the character in its PR communication, which led to a wide visual circulation.

Area Code, the most innovative agency for urban games based in New York, commissioned Pictoplasma to produce a family of more than 150 individual character designs, allowing visitors of the American pavilion at the Expo Shanghai 2010 to engage in a unique interactive adventure. The challenge was to enhance the exposure of Johnson & Johnson with an installation that not only engages the viewer into a playful experience, but also communicates notions of caring and connecting. Visitors were encouraged to give birth to their very own, individual character on a huge presentation screen by texting personal messages via their mobile phones.

The incoming messages acted as the DNA to create unique critters that would accompany the visitors during their long stroll through the exhibition, and could be given further instructions to playfully interact with other characters on their way. Each interaction was accompanied by a little, rewarding animation and generated points that were ultimately transferred to real currency and donated by Johnson & Johnson for Chinese charity purposes.
The individual characters live on and can be revisited while they continuously populate an ever-growing interactive website, where they can be re-transferred to the mobile phones of their creators.

After having seen Fons Schiedon’s wonderful paintings and experimental animation for his solo-exhibition “Before in place; Earlier in time” at the Character Walk 2009, he was commissioned to create the official opener and CI for the 2010 Pictoplasma Festival. The pitch was to reference the nouveau vague of 3D cinematography, while playing with the essential problem of flat, abstract character design being a strictly graphical, disembodied species. The resulting video can be viewed in classic 3D with red-cyan anaglyph glasses.

Production: Pictoplasma
Direction: Fons Schiedon
Sound Design: Bram Meindersma

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In 2009 the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin) invited Pictoplasma to curate the world’s first large-scale exhibition on contemporary character design and art. “Prepare for Pictopia” playfully explored the phenomenon and offered new and surprising insight into a growing scene of graphic designers and artists that work with a shared set of icons, opening up new contexts and correlations. The exhibition examined the contemporary vague of reduced figuration as a strategy for producing a vitalism outside established narratives. These so-called characters are reduced to the anthropomorphic function of eye contact which seems to look out from flat pictorial space at the viewer.

Besides a large number of site specific work created especially for the occasion by Akinori Oishi, Doma Collective, Doudouboy, Doma, Juan Pablo Cambariere, Rinzen, Borris Hoppek, Waynehorse, FriendsWithYou and Shoboshobo, the group show presented original artwork by: Mark Ryden, AJ Fosik, Ben Frost, Daniel & Geo Fuchs, Dylan Martorell, Edwina Ashton, Faiyaz Jafri, Fons Schiedon, Gary Baseman, Golan Levin, Hideaki Kawashima, Ian Stevenson, James Marshall, Jeremy Dower, Motomichi Nakamura, Nagi Noda, Olaf Breuning, Sam Gibbons, Tim Biskup and many more…

French designer Florent Feys aka Doudouboy has worked extensively for the luxury industry – his luscious, oneiric and crystalline illustration style is the perfect match to brand high-class products such as haute couture or radiant perfumes.
In 2009, Pictoplasma commissioned Doudouboy to collaborate on a large-scale, walkable installation, playing on the topic of perfect and sterile consumer aesthetics incorporating minimal, yet engaging characters. The aim was to create a maximal notion of desire while keeping the viewer at unreachable distance.

The installation “Brilhante” employs the optical illusion of an infinity room by arranging mirrors to seal and extend a closed space. This endless void is the perfect stage for an over-sized, gently revolving koala bear statue covered in exclusive fur.
A soundtrack sets an uncanny mood, as the visitor is tempted to touch, hug and cuddle the precious creature, only to see his own image endlessly reflected in the life-less eyes and infinite space of the installation.

In the months and weeks prior to the exhibition “Prepare for Pictopia” (2009), a selected group of international artists were commissioned by Pictoplasma and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt to create new site-specific artwork. These works played on the main topics of the exhibition: the remix of a common visual vocabulary, the animistic physical presence of character design and the approach to interact with characters in ritualistic play. One of the most ambitious tasks was to transform the venue’s vast, empty lobby, so Pictoplasma invited Miami based artist duo FriendsWithYou to join in and create an unforgettable experience.

The areal with over 800 square meters was re-designed as a full-grown interactive installation referencing a suburban landscape, including private hide-aways, cheerful picket fences and FriendsWithYou’s legendary bouncing castle “Fun House”.

Not only was the installation the first to greet visitors of the exhibition, thus having to introduce and transport the exhibition’s core topics. Most importantly it had to be carefully conceived and produced in such a way to stand up to the enormous – and sometimes uncontrollable – willingness, of the more than 30.000 visitors to engage in wild, limitless and untamed play.

As the central installation for the exhibition “Prepare for Pictopia” at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (2009), Pictoplasma produced a series of five unique, interactive bumper cars referencing iconic characters by international artists Motomichi Nakamura (US/JP), Boris Hoppek (DE), Nathan Jurevicius (AUS), Tado (UK) and Doma (ARG).
Every hour lights gradually faded as the sun set in the exhibition hall, while the central marked place arena came to life in an illuminated fire-work of sounds, lights and colours. The dodgem awoke and invited visitors to hop in the character cars for a truly psychedelic ritual.

Accompanied by the special, 6 channel soundtrack composed by Künstler Treu, a synchronised light-show in blue, red and white revealed the previously hidden multilayered inhabitants of the graphical arena designed by Steve Alexander from the art-collective Rinzen.

The Bumper cars have since made a reappearance at the Internationaal Beeldfestival in Rotterdam, where visitors were able to literally bump away each others visual fatigue.

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In 2009 Pictoplasma commissioned upcoming talent and animation wunderkind David OReilly to create the Pictoplasma Festival’s official opener and CI. David OReilly’s animation is known for a dark sense of humour and psychological suspense. David has produced a wide variety of shorts (winning the ‘Golden Bear’ for best short film at the Berlinale 2009) in parallel to projects for feature movies or bands such as M.I.A. or U2.

Production: Pictoplasma
Direction: David OReilly
Music: Bob Gruen

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In 2008 the TodaysArt Festival, Den Haag, invited Pictoplasma to come up with an open, collective urban game. We accepted the kind invitation and set up a real-life, Mario-Kart-like race, straight through the passage in front of the Ministry of Environment (tellingly named VROM).
Two huge trucks brought in hay to mark the track and the “Character Collision Army” recruitment office was erected, where festival visitors were drafted, drilled and prepared for a truly character-driven combat.

The result was a gasoline infused thrill with roaring go-karts, a high speed radio edit by Jason Forrest blasting from the ministry’s propaganda speakers, drill-instructor Jared Gradinger shouting out commands and the opportunity for clue-less passer-byes to support their favorite character clan, designed by Motomichi Nakamura, Fons Schiedon and Rinzen.

In retrospect we are all puzzled that no one was seriously hurt…

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In cooperation with TodaysArt (2007), Den Haag, Pictoplasma produced a truly interactive installation of taming and repulsion, enabling visitors to enter an intriguing world of a seemingly harmless archetypical being. “The Character Ride” invites you to witness the simplest of icons coming to life. A central character sculpture designed by Akinori Oishi (JP) smiles at you and turns around to follow your movements. Hop on and give it a ride! Powered by a mechanism similar to a rodeo machine, you will definitely fail to tame the beast.

So be aware: Cute can hurt…

After its premiere at TodaysArt, “The Character Ride” made a reappearance at the Pictoplasma Festival Berlin (2007), where Geisha-gone-singer Hanayo attempted the impossible: She agreed to perform her live-act while in full gallop.

Since then “The Character Ride” had the honour of shaking off “It-Girls” Julia Allison and Meghan Ashaat at the DLD Conference in the Haus der Kunst, Munich; nearly knocking out it’s own creator Akinori Oishi at the opening of “Prepare for Pictopia” in Berlin; as well as disgracing numerous courageous attendees of the Internationaal Beeldfestival, Rotterdam (2009).