photos: Vismante Ruzgaite.
These days Berlin is a little more colorful and crazy than usual thanks to the Pictoplasma Festival that is bringing us the best of character design to the city. The program includes exhibitions, screenings, symposiums, performances and parties at various places in Berlin including Silent Green, ACUC, Yaam and more. You should check out the details about what’s going on here.
One of the highlights is this year’s Inter_faces Exhibition in the underground hall of Silent Green – one of Berlin’s newest locations. As the name suggests a lot of the works shown there incorporate some kind of interface that lets the viewer interact with the characters. It’s a really stunning experience and one of the most fun exhibition we’ve ever seen in Berlin. Especially the futuristic set-up of the show with all these interactive projections on translucent canvases makes for a wonderful trippy experience that you shouldn’t miss. Have a look at our impressions of the show, but also make sure to visit the place this weekend. The show runs until Sunday, daily from 12-20h, Gerichtstr. 35 in Wedding. Free entry!
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by Frank | Art
artwork: Julian Glander.
This May, from the 8th till the 12th, the Pictoplasma Berlin Festival celebrates unconventional contemporary characters for the 15th time in a row. Pictoplasma is the world’s leading platform for contemporary character design and art. The project encourages the discussion and development of new illustrations down to animation, game to interactive design graphic arts. Thematically, this year’s festival focuses on the current hype surrounding the interaction with digital media and critical questions whether such an interaction is beneficial for both sides – human and computer.
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by Franziska | Art, Design
illustration: Rob Flowers
Berliner creatives, rejoice! Once a year, our incredible city becomes home to one of the coolest designer and artist gatherings, Pictoplasma Berlin, which showcases the latest trends in character design, bringing together artists, video game and animation designers, virtual and augmented reality creators, but also illustrators, graphic designers, even kids’ books and ceramic designers, inviting them to explore how far they can push their genre boundaries, and our grasp of what’s real.
As its central event, Pictoplasma holds a conference where creators and producers have the chance to exchange ideas on new strategies on characters and trends. And while they do their thing, the wider festival invites us to enjoy multiple screenings of selected short films, bringing us the latest anime eye candy, combined with the opportunity to learn a thing or two, as the makers hold Q&As right after the screenings. Along with that, exhibitions run in galleries all around Berlin: there, one gets the unique chance to be part of quite rare exhibition tours by artists themselves, where they present originals and new productions. Cool huh? Parties and further art happenings is also part of the deal- enabling some fun interaction with the festival’s audience and production members.
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by Stella | Art, Design, Events, Galleries
Yasmin May Jaafar
Wow, what a load of fun this year’s Pictoplasma festival was! We loved the new venue at the former Crematorium in Wedding now titled “silent green” and the main show (that was good, but maybe a bit small?) and even more so did we love the Academy All-Stars show at Urban Spree! Character design has always been something that deeply fascinates me and so all the creatures, monsters and critters doing funny things just make my heart jump like a candy bar does for a little kid. Enjoy my impressions of the group exhibition at Urban Spree after the jump.
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by Frank | Art, Photos
Gallery Weekend can be a little snobbish and too crowded from time to time. Fortunately there is one event I am looking so much forward to it that it makes up for all other little annoyances: Pictoplasma, the unique festival for contemporary character design is back in Berlin. Presenting a dense program of inspiring artist presentations, conference lectures, animation screenings, workshops, installations, exhibitions, performances and a big party it has something for everybody who is in love with cute art! Also there will be a pop-up shop at the Uniqlo store where you can buy things and get a little workshop with the Japanese artist Akinori Oishi.
The main exhibition under the title Form Follows Empathy with international artists awaits you in the recently re-discovered abandoned crematorium of Wedding, while a group show by last year’s Pictoplasma Academy Alumni will take place at our beloved Urban Spree. For the cinema lovers the big screen of Babylon am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz will show a unique animations program, while lively art happenings and performances at Platoon Kunsthalle ensure that you truly get into character. And the best of it: all of it is for free or with a quite small entrance fee!
And since we are friends with the festival for a couple of years we are giving away 3×2 tickets for the screenings. Just let us know the time and which screening you would love to attend in the comments section (including a valid email-adress). A little preview in pictures and the trailer after the jump. Read on…
by Claudio | Art, Galleries, Wedding
If you have less interest in abstract art and prefer something more fun and colorful we recommend you to visit the Pictoplasma exhibition at Kaufhaus Jahnsdorf that is still going on until May 11, 2014. Last week there was also another exhibition at Urban Spree with the results of the Pictoplasma Academy which we really enjoyed a lot. In case you missed that one, we would like to show you the amazing Character-Selfie series. The humorist spirit of the festival strikes again with this funny and satirical take on this digital trend. Where will all the selfie-narcism take us? Maybe one day even the characters will jump out of the screen or the sheet of paper just to take a selfie of themselves. More funny pictures after the jump. And don’t miss the Pictoplasma Character Gallery at Kaufhaus Jandorf.
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by Claudio | Art
illustration: Beck O’Brien
Since we love all things cute and colorful we were enthusiasts of Pictoplasma from its first events on. During the past decade the Pictoplasma project has hosted, encouraged and pushed forward a unique, playful and amazing portfolio of visual artists. To celebrate the 10th anniversary edition the festival for character design starts with the Pictoplasma Portrait Gallery at Kaufhaus Jandorf, an exhibition presenting original works by the 100 artists who have most influenced the festival in the past (open from May 1 to May 11). Just like in the past years you can wander around town and plunge into the Character Walk enjoying numerous exhibitions by emerging and established artists. The freshly graduated alumni of the first Pictoplasma Academy, held in October 2013, will present their works at Urban Spree. On three nights the Babylon Mitte brings unique animations to the big screen and on Saturday night everything culminates in the inevitable Big Birthday Party at Urban Spree. Plenty of opportunities to discover your playful side and celebrates creativity and fantasy. More pictures of what you can expect after the jump.
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by Claudio | Art
photos: Florian Braun
Retrospectives are usually more of a common thing for older, established artists and do not fit the usual style of the fast changing league of Berlin’s avant-garde. But it seems that looking back has become the new fast forward in this town. In the case of the dancing duo Jared Gradinger and Angela Schubot we really don’t mind to see a retrospective of all their work they have done so far at the HAU Theater. Gradinger has also created the little fluffy Pictoplasma monsters we love so much and gathered some international reputation working with Costanza Macras in the past. I prefer there earlier pieces like Is Maybe to the latest, but make up your mind for yourself. Check out the Facebook event for all the details. More hot dancing pictures after the jump.
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by Claudio | Theater

Pictoplasma
This week you shall not be surprised to see a lot of cute little monsters and quirky characters. No, it’s not the invasion of the new Pokémons, it’s the Pictoplasma Festival that brings a bunch of artists and illustrators to town that have specialized in character design. Of course this is by far not everything there is this week. See all the events after the jump.
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by Frank | Art, Party, Theater