First up is the ANDAM award, one of the biggest and oldest fashion awards, which for it’s first edition had rewarded the work of a young man named Martin Margiela…

Now it’s 2013 and the ANDAM jury is supporting the accessible menswear of AMI (“friend”) aka Alexandre Mattiussi.

a PREMICES FILMS production
with THE STIMULEYE

more info,
ANDAM.fr

28TH INTERNATIONAL FASHION & PHOTOGRAPHY HYERES 2013
HYERES EXPRESS
06 AWARDS
07 MOOD

A THE STIMULEYE PRODUCTION
directed by Antoine Asseraf
filmed & edited by Julien Pujol & Thibault Della Gaspera
coordination Clementine Colson
interviews Filep Motwary
sound design Ça Va Chéri

Mister Raf Simons likes it sharp but prefers his pictures in blur. Sequence by Antoine Asseraf

To me it’s really important for the generation who enters into this context to realise what kind of platform this is. I think it’s enormous. The amount of press that is there and the staging of the garments on a super high level.

I did see there were people who were working on their collection, from the moment they were chosen to the moment it went on stage, and there were people who did not. That showed also in the final result: the ones who had been working on, got better.

Hyères Alive - Award Ceremonies

“Refined sensibility” – I think the winner [Léa Peckre] stood out for that at the end.

Marc Turlan: protest board 1 and 2, a collaboration with british photographer Timur Celikdag.
Courtesy gal Anne de Villepoix

Marc Turlan: Statement Carpets. Courtesy gal Anne de Villepoix

Left: Marc Turlan's "Star Rack", and right: the artist himself

The first room of EXO STAR with "Home Star-Gym". Courtesy Gallery Anne de Villepoix

The collage sonore / sound collage installation in room 2. Courtesy Gallery Anne de Villepoix

Object in room 3 at Gallery Anne de Villepoix

She was discovered by the legendary illustrator Antonio Lopez, whom she considers to be one of the great influences in her life, as well as a very close friend. She inspired and collaborated closely in the design studios, with Christian Lacroix, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier. Suzanne von Aichinger posed for iconic photographers Serge Lutens, Paolo Roversi, Mario Testino, Jean Loup Sieff, Ali Madhavi, David Seidner, and strutted down the catwalks of Yves St Laurent, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Gianni Versace, Christian Dior (Galliano) , Hermes, Martin Margiela, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier.

In Greek mythology, the Sirens with the irresistible charm of their song, lured mariners to their destruction on the rocks surrounding their island..

In modern mythology, Sirens are dressed in Rick Owens, pose for photographer René Habermacher and share their secrets and thoughts on current and past affairs with Stimuleye Filep Motwary…

SUZANNE VON AICHINGER feature, is a collaboration between Un nouVeau iDEAL and THE STIMULEYE
Fashion Editor : Ines Fendri ⎜ Make Up : Akiko Sakamoto ⎜ Hair : Karin Bigler
Production : Lynsey Peisinger for THE STIMULEYE
Special Thanks to Mr Rick Owens and Anne van den Bosche @ Rick Owens Press Office

KALI, Suzanne von Aichinger wears a Rick Owens cape and gloves, all FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

I always liked her and when we finally became friends, I liked her even more. In the following conversation Suzanne shares her thoughts on fashion, music, talent, the water, mythology and other obscurities. You are about to discover the muse, the model, the artist, the stylist..

I caught her leg on her daybreak between styling for a Vogue photo shoot and organizing a major project.

FILEP MOTWARY: Hi beautiful? So it was very difficult to catch you in the past two months. What have you been up to?

SUZANNE von AICHINGER: I know Filep. I’ve been a little like Houdini…escaping. But for a good reason. I had plenty of work and styling projects

Tell me more about it please. It seems you work non-stop.

It’s been good for me lately. I’ve been styling some perfume campaigns, editorials for Russian Vogue, Italian Vanity Fair, doing photos with Dita, and now I’m preparing another perfume campaign, and a major photo shoot with one of the MOST gorgeous women on the planet.

Oh Gosh, indeed its a lot. You mean the actress, Elisa Sednaoui? Ali posted a shot of her on twitter…

Oh what a beauty Elisa is!!! But, I’m referring to another lady…very iconic. I don’t know if I should say who it is. I don’t like to talk about things before they come out…

I understand. How easy it is for you to collaborate with people. What a concept needs to have in order to get you involved in it?

Collaborating with people is my ultimate way of creating. I find the dynamic of working with another or others, stimulating, and proven a successful way of expression for me.

How do you make your choices? Is money an important motive or not always?

There has to be an element that compels me, something that excites my imagination. I also have to feel that I have something relevant to bring to the story. Money is very often not a motive. But, sometimes it is an essential part of creation. We must also live, make a living, etc. You have to know when to give and when to sell!! There is no shame in being paid for a job well done. Andy Warhol considered making money the highest art form. I’m not sure that I adhere to this philosophy, but I don’t love being broke either. I like the freedom that having some cash on hand can procure you.

On the other hand there might be talented people, who would love your contribution but, lets say, cannot afford you. How would you react in such conditions?

I usually say YES to a project, which stimulates me. It’s not about the $$$. It’s about the action. I believe in working with people that I consider talented or kindred spirits. As people of great talent have wanted to work with me, when I had no money to pay them. Just for the sheer joy of seeing an idea become a reality.

I wanted to ask you about the photo shoot you just did with René Habermacher. It’s so iconic, yet in a very special way. How was working with René?

I loved it. We had a beautiful day together, with a great creative team. We wanted to express in this series, something that is based more on personality, than fashion. I feel that there are many stories to be told in my future with René. There is a quality in his vision that is very strong and appealing.

CASSANDRA, Suzanne von Aichinger wears a Rick Owens dress, boots and gloves, all FW2011.
Photography by René Habermacher

Exactly my point. The photographs serve our conversation so right! I’m very happy that Rick Owens was so positive when I contacted him for the garments. He is always so nice to me. Also for the fact that we shot his winter collection which is by far my favorite!

So am I! I LOVE Rick! He is one of my favorites. And, his fashion is timeless. I know that this can sound cliché, but if you have some pieces by Rick from 12 years ago, they are as relevant as pieces that he has made 2 days ago. They don’t go in and out of fashion. They have their own essence and place.

Having in mind that Rick’s clothes are so special, yet the 2000’s are the epitome of diversity. Each designer points out a different outline every season, there is so much choice. How do you see fashion now yourself, as a stylist?

It’s hard for me to answer this. I see many great things happening, no doubt. But, I see a lot of nonsense going on as well. There is not enough power any more in the hands of the creators. Now, big design houses change designers like they change their underwear. Just ridiculous. There is no time for the designer in place to create a brand identity, that he is fired. And very often, they find out that they’ve been fired, by reading about it in the papers.

It’s as if the financial/commercial people at the heads of some houses, envied the position of creator, and wished to usurp it. They believe that they are capable of being the creator. WRONG!!!!

But most of the Houses belong in companies like LVMH or PRADA. I think it’s difficult to be the head designer, no matter where you work if the House belongs to someone else. No? For example Chloe changed designer four times since 2001…

There are, thank goodness, some examples where this situation is working favorably for the house and the designer, like Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs at Vuitton.

But in many cases, it has been very difficult for the designers. It can be financially rewarding, if you can stay in place for more than a few seasons, but you do sell a part of your soul to the devil. And then you sometimes lose your name, and have stylists imposed upon you to tell you what to do, and how to show your collection, and editors telling you they don’t want to see this or that. It used to be that if anyone tried to tell the big designers what to do, they would be told where to get off. No one dared anyway. They knew better I suppose. 
Now, there are sometimes treated like puppets, and not really given a chance to express themselves. It takes a few years to create a brand identity. I’ve seen some real talent thrown out of houses for no reason. It’s bewildering. There are so many revolving doors, my head spins just thinking of it.

You have my vote on that! How do you see the Gaga phenomenon?

To be honest with you, I don’t see it at all. I choose not to. It’s a lot of hype, that doesn’t really attract my gaze. And, don’t get me wrong; I think that she actually looks pretty cool as a woman. I think that I would like her very much as a person.

I like her too. Finally we have a great performer with a great voice, for a change.

What do you mean? That she has a good voice, or that she has an opinion?

I think she has a great voice, I saw her live with a piano and she rocks. But talking about Gaga, I don’t mean the person, I mean what has been caused to fashion by Gaga wannabes, the interpretation of her…
A great part of fashion as we see it today has become quite vulgar, don’t you think? There is a lack of allure and beauty for the sake of beauty. All is linked with business…

I can’t comment on Gaga. As I said, I know very little about her. If you ask me about The Melvins, I’ll give you a very enlightened answer.

Do you mind if we talk about your past?

(laughs) Let’s talk about my past Filep.

Tell me about you posing for Ali’s illustrations…You told me on the phone the other day that you were at a friend’s place posing for him…

Indeed for the last few days I’ve been posing for some illustrations, done by Ali Mahdavi and it’s been such a wonderful experience. It reminded me of when I worked with Antonio somehow. We had Lars Nilsson collaborate as art director, and Catherine Baba doing the styling.

I didn’t know that Ali is also an illustrator. He is such a sweetheart

Yes, Ali is a brilliant artist, who graduated from the Beaux Arts de Paris with the highest honors, and he was at one point selected to eventually teach anatomy classes…a great honor in view of the fact that it was the school of Delacroix, Géricault, etc.

Well, Ali is such an impressive and kaleidoscopic personality… How did you guys meet in the first place?

He was a friend of Lars Nilsson who at the time was the first assistant of Christian Lacroix. I thought that he was very moving and beautiful. We have become very close, like brother and sister, and are very inspired by each other. He also has a great sense of the absurd, which corresponds to me very much. it makes me feel at home.

It seems that you are one of those women that men become obsessed with. I know, cause this is what happened to me. At a younger age, when I used to see you on TV, especially doing Lacroix, there was something about you that in a way made me feel like we new each other from before….

Although I’m not very keen in believing past lives and so on… There was something about you.

Oh Filep, first of all, yes, I’ve experienced the feeling of meeting someone that you feel you’ve known forever, transcending time and lifetimes, meetings that happen on other planes, dimensions, dream worlds, which I believe to be as real, if not even more real than the world that we recognize as real.

Is this what happened with Antonio Lopez too?

Antonio was and continues to be a great part of my life and the same goes for almost everyone who had the great fortune of knowing him.

What’s the story behind your relationship?

We met through Bob Starr in NY, who spotted me shopping at Balducci’s, across the vegetable aisle!. I was sent to meet Antonio by Bob Starr. I had heard of him, of course. He was IT! A living legend! So I walked into his studio, and the first thing I saw on the wall was the Andy Warhol portrait of Antonio in the entrance. I was asked to wait in a little area behind a screen and when Antonio came around to introduce himself, he looked me up and down asked me if I wanted to pose for him right away! Of course I said YES! And he put me in a Charles James gown. The “Shrimp or Siren” gown. (…)

When Antonio started to draw me, he became possessed like a demon, making grunting and growling sounds, with his face distorting. He was finding the magic getting in touch with other worldly visions…the essence. It was very powerful! I thought that he was going to attack me, he was so intense in his drawing, so beautiful, and with the first line that came out of his pencil onto the paper, the essence of everything was there. He was a visionary and a genius; as well as his partner Juan Ramos, who held a primordial importance in this dynamic.

I had heard of Antonio and I realized that I was stepping into a world of incredible beauty, creation in the purest sense of the word. These boys were the real deal. And they were so kind, sweet, and lovely. It was sooo glamorous!

Nobody posed better than Antonio. He taught all the major models everything. He was infused with spirit. He saw things that were invisible to mere mortals eyes!

PYTHIA, Suzanne von Aichinger framed in a fur hood by Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

Well, thought your career, you worked with the most peculiar creators from the fashion fields. I mean… Antonio Lopez, then it was Serge Lutens, then Lacroix, Galliano, Gaultier, Ali Mahdavi… All of these men had a thing with strange beauty… like yours allow me to say. You still work with some of them till this day.

But they’re all so strange, so individual and so strong. Their vision, their work. What do you thing they see in you?

Well, I don’t know if it’s strange beauty, although I take this as a compliment. Antonio once said that I was a classic beauty according to the standards of the great masters, and the sculptures of ancient Greece, and Rome

Yes, this is what my friend Rene told me about you too when I told him I wanted to interview you. We both agreed to what I baptized you: A Siren!

But it’s true that I was never considered to be the girl next door, I never saw myself that way

I preferred a woman with more mystery, and mythological dimension. I always, since CHILDHOOD, was fascinated with Greek mythology, ancient Egypt and magic

So Siren fits then?

Yes, Siren fits very well and swimming is one of my favourite things. I love the water: I miss it. When I haven’t had a chance to swim for a while, I long to meet a body of water again…

I saw some pictures of you in water. You looked ravishing with no make-up on. So lets go back to your story. After Antonio it was Serge?

I love to connect with artists who have very powerful vision like Serge Lutens, who is another incredible genius, and uncompromising in his vision or with Christian Lacroix, for whom I was one of his muses for the Haute Couture. It was a lovely time. Christian Lacroix, along with Claude Montana at Lanvin, brought the focus back to Haute Couture, which at that time had taken second place. Because of the great creators of the 80’s, such as Claude, Mugler, Alaia, Comme des Garcons, etc He had a very beautiful moment and important impact. Couture became alive again! It was so opulent

He was my second love after Montana. I was devastated when his House closed down. Lacroix always impressed me with his elegant frivolousness.

He had a very beautiful moment and important impact. Couture became alive again!

Yes, I agree on this one. So special and also very a sweet person. Very human. I interviewed him about a year ago. I still go back and read our conversation from time to time or exchanging emails.

His weakness was the ready to wear..

If only his Couture vision had been translated in a better way, to the RTW, it would have made more sense. I feel it is very sad and wrong for his house to close. Indeed a big mistake that there was no support there.

I so agree. It seems strange not to have been supported by the government or anyone who could buy the house. It’s a shame.

Shame!

SPHINX, Suzanne von Aichinger wears a jacket by Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

And how did you end up with Galliano and Gaultier?

Well, after Lacroix, I was taking acting classes with a geat teacher, who had worked with James Dean, Elia Kazan, was the husband of Carole Baker (Baby Doll) Tenesse Williams, etc..

John was starting his first HC collection at Givenchy, and was looking for a muse. He didn’t care for the women that he was being introduced to. She had to be an actress, know how to move, be this and that. Basically, someone who could feed his imaginary. Lars Nilsson told the person at Givenchy, “Oh, just call Suzanne!” very simple..

So he wanted something more than a simple model.. But you ended up having more responsibilities there in the end…?

Of course! John wanted magic, inspiration. My job was to help them see the thing that they were looking for! By movement, voices, speaking, provoking. I also brought my own style, style elements, my experience, which at some points in my life, I thought to be quite absurd. I love to daydream and play. I love to make up different personages and create situations that amuse my friends and me. We would be very obsessive about things. When I started to work with John, I realized that all of this play-acting and invention had a purpose. He was receiving all of this and feeding off of it. And the exchange was mutual. His enthusiasm fed me, so that I could give even more.

Did you find it hard serving the role of the muse? Difficult?

it was fun and flowed beautifully, very rewarding as well. John was incredibly generous. And, when he trusted you and your vision, he really gave his full trust. So I was a part of his creative team. He was intelligent and had confidence in his team to delegate. Very rare!! The hard part was manoeuvring through some in house politics, and dealing with jealousy of some co-workers.

SIREN, Suzanne von Aichinger in a dress and gloves by Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

How long was your collaboration? You walked his show for Summer 2011, you had the last exit. correct?

We worked together for 4 or 5 years..? And yes, I did his last show, and closed the show! What a great honour, because it was a show about his muses. It was a very emotional experience for me, because I hadn’t been back to the house of Galliano in 10 years, and to see all the people who work there, whom I hadn’t seen in such a long time. All those friendly faces… and Steven Robinson no longer there..

We were all genuinely moved, and happy to see one another again. It was really beautiful. I lived the best years of Galliano. Saw his great ascension. It was an incredible time with many stories to tell. Truly, I feel blessed to have worked so closely with such a brilliant magical man.

Gaultier was before Galliano or after?

Jean-Paul came after John. I was working with Maria Luisa for a brief moment- another very educational experience- when I got a phone call from Lionel Vermeil, who said that Jean Paul would like to work with me on his Couture collection, and if I was interested. Of course I was! So I started to do a few fittings for him, and manipulated the “toiles” and shifted them around to what felt right.

I had a point of view and strong opinion, and wasn’t afraid or intimidated to say what I felt. Jean Paul needed this. This was the reason why Lionel wanted me there in the first place. So Jean Paul asked me to do consulting mainly for Gaultier Paris, his haute couture collection. It was great!

I think all creators who are important need this

Yes, I think so too! You must have a woman involved in the creation. We are after all the ones who will be wearing the clothes.

Do you mind if I ask you about your music? Well I dont know much about it but I saw some videos on YouTube and its pretty intense. They way you perform with the rest of your team – Its three different music groups right?

Music has always, as far back as I can remember, been the NUMBER 1 important outlet and inspiration in my life.

I was obsessed with Snow White when I was a child. The music and story are very deep, profound, dark and romantic.

I always had quite an unusual, and relatively extreme, if not to say advanced taste in music. When I was 10 years old, I was listening to Pink Floyd, Santana, Dylan, Joan Baez, Thelonius Monk, Eartha Kitt, military marching music, and of course the music of Walt Disney.

Then one day, my sister told me about Alice Cooper. At this point my life changed. Everything made sense. Here was a man, so beautiful and his name was Alice. He wore corsets, makeup and high heels, had snakes, and was electrocuted, or hung at a gallows, or decapitated at the end of his shows.

This spoke to me in a way that I had never felt before, I related to this very deeply. I was Alice Cooper. My parents thought it to be a little unusual for a little girl. I wanted my room to be painted black, and thought it to be very Romanesque to sleep in a coffin, like Sarah Bernard.

I LOVE THIS!

I was then also listening to King Crimson, early Genesis (with Peter Gabriel only!), Johnny Winter, The Stooges, Brian Eno, early Roxy Music (the first 5 albums only!), which was quite sophisticated for a child really. I wanted to be a DJ, maybe even a rock star, but I liked the idea of being a male rock star.

But how did you get involved in it finally?

I was making music mixes and compilations. Some of them for Rick Owens actually! And then started to record some of my vocals, doing strange improves, etc…

I met Timo Ellis, who is a multi instrumentalist, prodigy, heard some of these recordings and he loved them, so we did some sessions together, with John Paul Keenon (Japa) an extraordinarily great drummer. I couldn’t believe that these guys would be interested in working on this project!

So we recorded Gluttonius “Roman Style” and I also recorded some things with their band The Netherlands.

When you perform you are in a complete disguise. Why do you hide your beautiful face? Also, like Lopez you become very intense, which is totally opposite from what I got when I first met you. Really impressive I must say..

Yes, I became The Face Of Wool”. I liked to perform this way because hiding my face brought out another dimension and power to the persona. It transcends sex, male or female, a being which is mythological, who can shift the elements, move mountains, etc…

Some people found it sometimes disturbing or scary, but in fact The Face of Wool is a positive, powerful, and very humorous person.

PANDORA, Suzanne von Aichinger all in Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

Where can someone officially listen to your music?

Anytime. It’s on MySpace. I haven’t performed with the Netherlands for a while because I’m in Paris, and they are in NY. But, truly, they are one of the most prodigious bands on the planet. That is why I wanted to do a piece with you on this band. Very important! One day, people will be talking about this, and they will be hailed as geniuses. I know it. And I am NEVER wrong when I have that feeling.

I also performed with Billy Hough last summer in Provincetown. I had fans even (laughs) so great! He had Michael Cunningham reading poetry, and John Cameron Mitchell (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) singing, ect

I performed “THE END” by The Doors, and it brought the house down, very haunting, like a witch almost, possessed. Wow it was amazing. Billy and Paul Hough and Sue Goldberg. They rule.

Suzanne I want to see one of these performances.

Well there is no video online of this that I know of. But there is footage, because there is a documentary being made on Billy Hough, who is another very important figure of underground stream of consciousness poet, musician. VERY IMPORTANT!!

And lastly there is THE SUZANNES, which is about film, music and pagan, experimental noise performance…

Named after you I suppose?

Well the name happened by chance. I was with Johnny Blueyes and Seth Kirby and Ana Matronic. We wanted to make a short film and so we went to my friend’s house near Stonehenge, and the vague story -line that we had drawn out, took on a whole other form, and became “The Suzannes”.

What was the last thing that stimulated you?

The collaboration with Haider Ackermann, whom I greatly admire, for Vogue.

Photo by Cynthia Madansky.

Allow us to introduce the sensational Lale Müldür, who is seated on her couch in the Istanbul neighborhood of Cihangir smoking one of her beloved Marlboro menthols. The walls of the apartment are covered in paintings and photographs, except a bare spot of white directly facing her. There are many portraits of Lale, who is one of the greatest living Turkish poets, by artist friends of hers. Her shelves are stacked with works by Borges, Mallarmé and Catullus, books on religion, philosophy and the French theorists, titles like The Occult Philosophy of the Elizabethan Age and Le soleil d’Allah sur l’occident. There are several photographs of Nico below the bookshelf, and two Albrecht Dürer prints hanging above her head. In the corner of the room there is a small writing desk at the window overlooking the sparkling, streaming waters of the Bosporus, with the minarets of the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque across the Golden Horn. Today the view is somewhat interrupted by an enormous cruiseship that is parked in the port below. As she talks—her sentences constantly interrupted by gusts of laughter—seagulls come to land on her windowsill and peer into the room. Lale picks up a volume of her poetry called Water Music, and begins to read the first poem, “Barocco,” slowly but naturally in her warm, striated voice:

“She finally undresses for the species of ferocious seabirds. She drops her wedding ring into the water. — This is me, just before my divorce. — She leaves the singular pearl of winter in some other house… / Bending / refracted in the water / she sinks to the bottom. / Turning her seaweed eyes, she looks to Uranus.”

It’s about freeing herself, she says, opening herself to new, strange experiences. Uranus represents the unknown, unexpected, and “extraterrestrial.”

In the course of the long afternoon, as lipstick-stained cigarette butts pile up in the pewter ashtray in front of her and we drain cups of tea and Turkish wine, she tells her story:

My father was Hungarian and my mother was Jewish. I suppose from Thessaloniki. Very frequently, my mother used to offer thanks to water, and she would say bismillah arrahman irrahim, but that’s all she said. She wouldn’t reveal her true religion to us.

I grew up in Istanbul, in Teşvikiye. It was very different then. In those years you felt really part of a cosmopolitan world. There were so many different kinds of people in Istanbul then. We used to go down to the cafes around Arnavutköy. The owners were all Greeks or Armenians and we’d hang out together. They left later and it was very sad. Without knowing my own origins I liked the Jews very much and I really wanted to learn everything they do.

My next book of poetry will be about Jesus Christ. It’s called Mother Odes—I started it when she died. So it’s about the death of my mother but then it goes on to talk about Jesus, and my spectral family [laughter].

I don’t read poetry, actually. I only read my favorites—Rimbaud, Rilke, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. Of the Turks, I read Mevlana, Ece Ayhan, Sheikh Galip, and Ahmet Aşim and Yahya Kemal. I read everything else but poetry. Religion—that’s my business.

The religious men in Turkey talk all the time about Muhammad and the Koran. They can do perfect analytical work on those subjects, but no synthetic work  [laughter]. There’s nobody who reads stuff like I do, and then goes home and thinks about it a little bit. I’m fed up with talking to myself for so many long years.

My first book was…expressionist. That’s the most I can say. Then with my second book I became religious. Something happened to me. I was pregnant, and I had to kill the child. I was feeling very bad, for years. I was aware of the child’s existence for only one week. And during that week I took him to various parks. It was tragic to take him to such places when I knew he was going to die. I didn’t know anything about Turkey at that time. I was scared. But while I would take him around sometimes I would feel a terrible pain, right here [indicates her lower abdomen]. It hurt too much, but there was also a kind of orgasmic quality to it. And I said to the child ‘I’m gonna miss this feeling.’ And then three months after they took him, I felt it again, and I realized there was something strange about that child.

Photo by Cynthia Madansky

While I was pregnant—before I knew I was pregnant—I had a vivid vision. It’s the most vivid vision I ever had. The man I was going out with was reading a book near me, and I said “Something strange is happening to me”…I talked to him throughout the vision. At first I saw V shapes in front of me, green or orange…I was flying, by standing on the V. And I was enjoying myself flying. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed myself that much in any other part of my story. It was a lovely feeling. And I wasn’t making any great effort to fly but I was flying. According to my friend I was there in the room, but I was flying in my mind—if you will—and suddenly…I saw Jesus and his twin…very beautiful, a very beautiful guy. I didn’t understand the twin for many years, until a friend of mine told me that according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jesus does have a twin! But Jesus didn’t smile at me, he just looked at me very distantly…And then I saw Muhammad. He had black hair to his shoulders and white skin, a beautiful man still, but not as beautiful as Jesus Christ [another burst of laughter]. He talked to me, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He gave me an empty flowerpot, and he was smiling at me, so I felt better.…So it was Muhammad that made me happy, obviously. And then suddenly I came down….And I said ‘Why? Why am I here again?’ [laughter] ‘I was so happy up there,’ I said. And then I asked my friend how much time had passed and he said it was only ten minutes. ‘But it was hours,’ I said. ‘For hours I was there.’

The next day I started to study—and learned quickly—the Muslim prayers. And I really read the Koran over and over again. I didn’t go to the mosque but I said my prayers at home, in my bedroom. The direction of Mecca is there [points out the window].

There’s a saying in Islam: “He who dies without a sheikh, his sheikh is Satan.” So I went to various sheikhs to choose one. At first I couldn’t find one.  Then I said in an interview that there weren’t any mystical leaders left in Turkey. And a man heard and got angry with me. He found me because of that. He’s of the Naqshabandi, and they say the Naqshabandi are the only real order left. But I hadn’t met them until he contacted me. After I’d known him for a short time he came with all this set-up to initiate me, and I accepted. Then during the process of becoming a student, there’s a dreaming session. And I dreamt of a man—very good looking, too—and wearing something like a turban, big like this [holds her hands wide around her head]. Afterward I asked the man to show me the pictures of the Naqshabandi sheikhs. He showed me two pictures: the present sheikh and the one before him. And it was him, the one before. And I thought ‘It must be true, what I chose, because I saw him.’

They protect me from all types of troubles. I do many things that are not considered good in Turkey and nothing happens to me. I think it’s because of them. For some time I was very happy like that. Until it dawned on me—this was quite a bit later—that as an intellectual, I couldn’t be Muslim. Take a good example—They bring a woman who has cheated on her husband in front of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ doesn’t say anything to her but says to the people who have gathered round the woman—‘That person among you who has never sinned, throw the first stone.’ So nobody could do it. Muhammad on the other hand is…[extends her palms like a market scale]. Everything is 230 grams or 30 grams, 250 beets or something… I was fed up with that.

I don’t deny the Koran and I don’t deny Muhammad either…Still, I wonder if they’ll accept my next book, the order, because I’m going to talk about my relations with Jesus. They love Jesus, but they don’t want me to change religions! [laughs]

But I’m going to talk to about my relations with Jesus, and his appearances here. Not only have I seen him here but some 15 other people have seen him [laughs]. And I believe them, because I say ‘Look at Jesus’ left eye and tell me what he does when I talk to him.’ And they say he’s moving his eyes up and down. And that’s correct.

He comes from the highest part of the wall. He walks. He comes like this [makes a slow creeping motion]…like a ghost…That’s why I say I have a spectral family [laughter].

Photo by Cynthia Madansky.

I saw Jesus a few times—I don’t remember how many times. Several years ago I had a brain hemorrhage, and the most important visit was after I came out of the hospital. I came to the house and I said ‘So I can’t see you again, can I?’ But he came and I talked to him the whole night, and in the morning he left. But he left his image on the wall [indicates the place on the wall across from her, uncovered by paintings].

The funny thing about the image is that he was wearing a white linen garment of mine, which I hadn’t worn in a long time. I was shocked; I said ‘How did you remember I had such a thing?’ And then I remembered: All prophets wear linen.

I was very happy like that for a while, but I didn’t tell anyone about it. I’d had so much of being called crazy, that I didn’t want to be called even crazier [laughter]. Then he left! And I was very sad. But one day—it’s very strange luck, let’s say, because it was a prostitute who saw him again. That’s the really funny part [laughter]. She was terribly intelligent, that woman—I found out she was a prostitute later. But she was here and she said [whispering] ‘Look he’s coming!’ And she was right—I looked and I saw that he’d come again!

For a time I lived happily with him, and one day Jesus asked me whether I wanted a child. I said I can’t have children anymore [laughter]. But he said don’t worry we’ll have one. And one day I had a real ache, in this bit [again indicates her lower abdomen]. It was aching too much. On the table in the other room is a fishbowl into which I’d put pine needles. And on top of those pine needles I saw the baby. Inside something like a womb. And I said: ‘That must be my child.’ I looked at her and saw her, and she suddenly grew up, and I saw her on the walls, on that piece of glass, inside—like what Muhammad gave me—inside the flowerpot. And in that way we had seven children and three grandchildren.

They can immediately become very small if they want. That’s the strange part. And their favorite pastime now is marrying between themselves. Then they have children together, and all really beautiful! [laughs] When I go out I say ‘Come on, let’s go out,’ and they come, without being seen by anyone. Once in a taxi—this I remember very well—I saw a bright blue light on the dashboard, and it was them. Or I see their figures, or I see them on top of trees.

But they want new clothes all the time! And they don’t want just anything. They want top brands, designers! They’re going to make me go broke! I bring them clothes and they won’t wear them. They say Jesus will come a year from now, and they’ll come too, and then they’ll wear them.

I’m holding in my hand a copy of Lale’s only novel, called Bizansiyya—a combination of two older names for Istanbul: Bizans and Konstantiniyye. Loose in structure, the book moves from scenes of the 1990s Istanbul counterculture to lists of recipes for traditional medicines in the Spice Bazaar, from stories of vampires haunting the gentrified cafes of Cihangir to discourses on Nietzsche and Hegel, all bathed in lyrical ruminations on the lost cities and vanished gods that still lurk within the current megalopolis. Opening the book at random, my eyes land on a line, which I read to her: “Will the messiah appear in Istanbul?”
She says: “I wrote that some 17 years ago. Before any of this. Maybe that what you’re holding is another Gnostic bible.”
And her raucous laughter erupts again, shaking the Orthodox icons and wilted flowers, silver pitchers and inlayed end tables, the potted plants outside the window, the concrete walls of the neighboring buildings, the distant minarets, until the enormous cruiseship suddenly upends like a plastic toy and sinks right down to the dark bottom of the Bosporus.

And here they were – George, Thierry, the Lindas and Naomis, Shana, Eva, Rossy de Palma, Ivana Trump, Diane Brill, Lypsinka, Jeff Stryker and so on.

George Michael and Linda Evangelista on set of TOO FUNKY posing for the official picture. Photo by Erotokritos

The song features a sample from The Graduate; Anne Bancroft’s line of “Would you like me to seduce you? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” – and YES we were, then and now, instantly!

When this video was released in 1992, it was both the epitome of a glamorous era stretching from 1988 to 1992,
and a marker for the end of said era.

An era that was no longer 80’s and yet not fully 90’s. What to call it ?

“80’s and a half” ?  that would suggest that this era was an extension of the 80’s, when in fact it was more of a break…

We settled for the “Mini Decade,” a 4-year period with visual, musical and cultural codes so unique that they deserved a decade of their own.

As a teaser for our Mini-Decade series, here is a teaser, pictures which have been sitting in a box, unseen, for over 2 decades…

Stay tuned for more.

Left: Ivana Trump, Thierry Mugler and Lypsinka stand in for another snap
Right: Linda Evangelista, always ready for her 'look'. Photos by Erotokritos

Left: Fierce Trio with Rossy de Palma, and Right: the very young Eva Herzigova. Photos by Erotokritos

Mareunrol: Mārīte Mastiņa and Rolands Pēterkops at the garden of the villa Noailles.

RENÉ HABERMACHER: what was the point of departure for this installation and the inspiration behind it?
ROLANDS PETERKOPS & MARITE MASTINA: When we start to work on a new collection, we always make the designs first to fit on miniature mannequins. And each time we both have discussed the idea of beautiful dolls as models so we could our ideas of garments to shoot as small style photos and to show them as the newest collection. That is why this idea came naturally.

The advantage of the small scale is that we have the freedom of implement anything, all our ideas without leaving out any of those costing an absolute fortune to make. Visual inspiration came in recent years moving from one apartment to another. That’s why our project is called TENANTS. As any of our works, this work also reflects our experience.

The inspiration for the installation came from artists’ constant moving from one apartment to another, from one neighbors to others, from one room to next and due to moving to new environment always makes you get used to new mystical noises, strange objects, loud or too quiet neighbors and other peculiarities connected with the apartment. But of course, with time you get used to all that. However, that all provoked thinking of how space influences those living in it and vice versa, and whether all these things in one way or another influence people and whether one imperceptibly starts to change, and whether this oddity is just in one’s mind, not reality. This is how emerged the idea for the installation with people/ tenants who dwell in their apartments and become as one with it. All their belongings are like a huge enormous shell/ attire which tell all their peculiarities, interests, specific hobbies and many other things.

These stories are made as small installations which show short sketches from character’s daily life. They communicate through costumes, scenography, sound and light. It is important that not only costumes and puppets are made for the installation, but also environment/ scenography, where they can express themselves and show the intended story, by forming a figurative composition which is combined with a surreal fantasy, mystique and a pinch of wit.

Mārīte Mastiņa and Rolands Pēterkops: Tableau from the exhibition TENANTS.
The dolls character is inspired and modeled after Keith Richards.

Can you explain me the process of planning and making the installations?
First we had a few visions of the project,  then we started working on sketches slowly crystallyzing the characters. At the same time we started looking for people who could make the puppets we had envisaged. It was really important for us to find a puppet master who could make the dolls with movable head and arms. It is really important for our Prague project.

I suppose we just got really excited about it. As we had decided to show our new collection in miniature, we wanted the puppets to have very realistic features (fashion model), with just a slight touch of surreality. The creation process was a collaboration with two puppet masters Kristians Aglonietis and Dita Benina.
At the same time we made all the outfits and made the interior of the boxes. We also invited lights and sound artists. Parallel on the basis of our sketches and instructions in e-mails there was the house construction in Villa Noailles garden. We really appreciate the work of Villa’s team which was excellent.

Mārīte Mastiņa and Rolands Pēterkops: Tableau from the exhibition.

Can you estimate how long have you been working on it?
We’ve been working on this idea for more than a year, as we first proposed it to be shown at the Prague Quadrennial in June 2011. This project had taken our minds over to such an extent that we saw we had no other choice but to present something similar in a different way at the Hyères festival.  We started working on the installation for Hyères in January 2011.

It’s evident that your approach is much broader than mere fashion: the film for your collection presented in Hyères, the birds details the following year, now this installation. how would you describe your universe and approach?
We engage in what we find inspiring, interesting and  eye catching at a given moment. At the same time it is important to us to find a way how to tell the story so our created things have the basis and meaning.

What are your references and sources? there is something seemingly dark in your work, if you agree, what fascinates you about that?
I wouldn’t describe our works as dark. They are rather bright coming through the darkness. They are likely to reflect the environment from which we come.

You have made another installation last summer in Riga. Can you tell me more about this story and the idea behind it?
We created the installation EDEN parallel to our last year’s collection of birds EPISODE 1. The idea began with the fact that we liked one old house, the most appropriate word would be ‘the slum’, in which had grown trees and grass. Then there was the offer from the Latvian Contemporary Art Museum to create something especially for the Museum Night. After the project EDEN we had had many other projects, so we are emotionally away from it already.

The installation is about the road leading to the forest/garden of Eden. The object is located in the centre of Riga in old collapsed building block, which is going to be reconstructed in a couple of years for Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art. During many years inside these remains of the building have grown trees, which actually looks like a forest in the house.

Mārīte Mastiņa and Rolands Pēterkops: Tableau from the exhibition.

So our idea was to build the object that imitates man’s way back to garden of Eden. The inspiration came from uncountable low-cost hotels of big cities, their features, uncomfortableness, tasteless or tasteful arrangement of rooms.

At the beginning a visitor gets the keys from the hotel owner and walks into the installation through five rooms, which are like small corridors. In perspective they are getting smaller. Each room has its own feature and there is a special light and sound installed in them, the noises, sounds and the voice of opera singer was specially recorded for this project.

While moving forward the rooms are getting smaller and smaller until there is the final room with a small door, which is locked with uncountable keys and it’s impossible to unlock it. Some people get confused when they can’t find their way out. All doors closed automatically and they can be opened only from the other side. The exit is hidden somewhere else – a small secret door in the wall. While looking for the exit a person notices a hole in the ceiling and when one sticks his head out of it, he can look into the forest of Eden, which is lighted up and fitted with the sound.

The object is built very carefully not to touch the nature and to protect visitors from the collapsing building, where the  forest has grown and it gives people the opportunity to get into the middle of the forest by walking through small rooms of the hotel.

What means collaboration to you?
Collaborations is a new experience for us. There are two types of collaboration we usually have. One, where we invite people to help us to set up what we have conceived such as TENANTS or any other of our   projects or collections. Then everything is created by our sketches, drawings and notes as it is important to us to have the work done professionally.

And  then there is another form of collaboration where several people try to negotiate their opinions and visions to create a final result, such as project EDEN, opera or collaboration with the photographers for the pictures of our collections.

Mārīte Mastiņa and Rolands Pēterkops: Tableau from the exhibition.

How was it to win in Hyères and to be back for this project?
That was fantastic, especially for us because we are form relatively remote corner of Europe, where you can’t feel the real taste of the fashion world.

Our victory was a huge honor to receive an assessment form the jury. And it is always fantastic to return to the Villa Noailles. We were really happy about the offer to make a special project for the festival. The Villa Noailles team and the festival will always be remembered by us with good emotions.

You came by car all the way from Riga — tell me more about this adventure.
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France… going by car it is possible to see much more than flying by plane. We like driving cars, we can always speak out and ponder about many things. We left Latvia in our winter boots, coats and scarves, when the nature was still gray but at Hyères there were flowers in blossom. The same flowers blossom here in Latvia only in June.

What is up next?
We create the same story for Prague, about tenants. But this will include a performance with movements and certain plot/story with the beginning and the end.

Where can we buy your collection?
Currently it is possible only in Riga by ordering individually. Somehow so far we haven’t been sufficiently interested in business. But that does not mean we don’t want it. It is coming.

Poster of SAVE TOKYO CREATION by ENLIGHTMENT. Photography by Yasuyuki Takaki

The 18 designers produced special pieces for the project to be auctioned for donation. Among the designers showing, is much beloved Jun Takahashi for UNDERCOVER, YOSHIKO CREATION, famous for her unique pieces to Lady Gaga, TOGA, N.HOOLYWOOD and emerging designer JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN, among others as ANREALAGE, G.V.G.V., KEITA MARUYAMA TOKYO PARIS, MAME, MINTDESIGNS, SACAI, SOMARTA, KOLOR, PHENOMENON, TAKAHIROMIYASHITATHESOLOIST, ISVIM, WHITE MOUNTAINEERING and YOSHIO KUBO.

SAVE TOKYO CREATION Photography by Keiichi Nitta

The designers AW 2010 designs were picked up by Photographers and lensed especially for that show: Akira Kitajima, Chikashi Kasai, Tajima Kazunali, Keiichi Nitta, Leslie Kee & Ryan Chan, Masahiro Shoda, By P.M. Ken, Yasumasa Yonehara and Yasuyuki Takaki.

The Stimuleye spoke with Takafumi Kawasaki

SAVE TOKYO CREATION Photography by Leslie Kee & Ryan Chan

RENÉ HABERMACHER: What was your intention with this exhibit?
TAKAFUMI KAWASAKI: SAVE TOKYO CREATION supported by NARS is a big feature of Japanese fashion designers, most of whom lost a chance to exhibit their 2011AW collection because of the earthquake impact.
It’s a charity but not a money-donated oriented.
I wanted to provide Japanese fashion designers a chance to show their 2011AW collection that could not be shown on catwalk because of the earthquake.
As a fashion director & stylist, I believe it is a form of charity that only I can produce to provide those designers with the opportunity to present their creation in public.

SAVE TOKYO CREATION Left: Photography by Kazunali Tajima. Right: Akira Kitajimat

How did the earthquake and its aftermath affect you personally?
The earthquake made me find the huge scepticism about Japanese government and the power of citizens. I would say I feel my approach to fashion and my styling works became more clearer and straight forward.
It may sound a little funny but I became more optimistic about the life. What already happened, happened, even if it’s a massive tragedy, there is no way to change or dismiss it. I feel there is no point to keep crying over that. But what we should do now, is to step forward.

SAVE TOKYO CREATION Photography by Yasumasa Yonehara

Do you feel there is a different mood now among japanese society? I am asking as Japanese people expressing in the past to feeling alienated to their fellow countrymen…
Yes, “alienation” is a serious issue after the quake. Japanese people appear to be longing for the tightly-bound feeling.
Not only real communication and society, but also they are keen to make bonds with others in virtual community, such as Facebook, Twitter and other numerous social media networks. Some people are obsessed about that too much.

Generally speaking, however, I think the Japanese people have found what is important and what is less in life. I believe this is a great chance to reform the typical Japanese convenience-oriented life.They appear to have started making their lives a little slower and calmer, too.
It’s really a big shift of the country.

SAVE TOKYO CREATION Photography by Chikashi Kasai

What is the last thing that stimulated you?
I would say THE EARTHQUAKE in Japan.

The exhibition is held from May 27th to 29th at EYE OF GYRE, Omotesando, Tokyo.

SAVE TOKYO CREATION Photography by Masahiro Shoda

Entrance of the Condesa DF in the area of the same name. Photography by René Habermacher

Above your head, black security helicopters slash the year-round lasting mild evening breeze. One had recently crashed on a busy junction my friends say, perhaps a doing of the cartels. It’s never been cleared, but an official riding the vehicle was smashed among other casualties, soon forgotten, as is everything dramatic here. The view on the city-lights south of Zócalo remain full of promise like distant sirens whispering of unknown options, laid out for a pick.

The lounging area with vintage furniture next to the courtyard. Photography by René Habermacher

A private dining room with library and the mezcal bottles: They can seem blurry at times!

Travelling, the outlook to discover new and exotic places are something that stimulates us and we look forwards to.
How we could have left that out at The Stimuleye? I don’t know, it’s almost a crime!

So we decided to start another series of special places that inspire and enlighten in one or another way. Off track, from a beach bar on a secluded island in Kenya to a spooky ryokan in Japan. And we’ll include food in addition that seems an important part of this experience. Specially considering that Stimuleye Antoine Asseraf had ran a blog around food: FOODGEEK, one of the godparents to The Stimuleye. That might all sound very TAMPOPO – and yes that’s exactly where we’re going with this.

So learn about the addresses for the best Japanese rahmen noodles or Mexican bull-meat tacos, Greek homemade pies, hefty Cuban mojitos or the perfect ring formed bread that’s handed out hung on thread to hold it best, since it’s hot and oven-fresh!

You might stay home during the summer, but nevertheless and hopefully, one of the places we’ll cover in this series starting from tomorrow, will be near you to discover. If you have a tip you believe should be shared and not left out, let us know!

Scene from alltime ultimate Japanese foodgeek movie TAMPOPO. Directed by Jûzô Itami, 1985

“25 Hyères” premiered on POP, where you can also read an exclusive interview.

THE STIMULEYE presents
25 Hyères
2010 Hyères International Fashion + Photography Festival

Video and interview on THE POP.COM

A film by Antoine Asseraf

Music by
Lori Schonberg

Voice-over by
Géraldine Frainais
James Deeny

Filmed by
Antoine Asseraf
Jason Last
Yoann Lemoine

Edited by
Antoine Asseraf
NEUE / Axelle Zecevic
Yoann Lemoine

Interviews by
Antoine Asseraf
Jason Last
Diane Pernet

Abdel Bounane at AMUSEMENT gallery, by René Habermacher.

Antoine Asseraf : So where are we, there’s a store downstairs, but this is something else…

Abdel Bounane: This is the space where soon we will offer services and events linked to the store, and to the magazine.
The service part is probably the most interesting, because this is going to be the most original part.
For the store we try to have some original products, but for services, starting in May, you’ll be able to order a tailor-made video game.

You make an appointment, meet with one of our consultants, and give your craziest ideas regarding what you want from a video game, and we’ll be able to materialize it. It can take a few days, a few weeks, or sometimes a few months, it can cost a few hundred or a few thousand euros.

It’s a world first.
It answers the question “if you want to make a space linked to the digital world, how do you offer something original and human ?”

Something that doesn’t lag behind the virtual world.

Exactly. What is the use of being in the real world when you’re talking about the virtual ?
So for me, it is the meeting with people, the ability to explain face to face your ideas, a human and interactive touch, it’s fundamentally linked to a physical place. It wouldn’t be the same thing by Skype.

That’s one part of the services we will offer.
We will also offer a gallery side.
People have been trying to sell digital art for decades now, and they haven’t really been able to, except for installations which hard to sustain. But now tablets are here, and I feel that tablets are a good media for that art, like a canvas.

The ressource center of the Gaïté Lyrique. By René Habermacher.

That makes me think of that bloom application for iPhone, by Brian Eno…

Well, Brian Eno’s been here !
What we’re developing is the sell of pieces on tablets, offline, and also an online store of limited edition digital content, with a certificate of authenticity on our servers.

How do you co-exist with the Gaïté Lyrique proper?

Well with the digital art we’re going to be working a lot with artists from the Gaïté, such as Matt Pyke/Universal Everything,
They do a lot of cool particle effects, very pop, very colorful, and they’re don’t want something that is all over the internet, just something that is visible physically at the Gaïté, because it’s a site-specific installation, and potentially sold digitally.

That’s where the logic of the Gaïté comes in, it’s not a museum, it’s a creation center.
So it’s perfect for us, we become the distributors of content that cannot be found elsewhere, and digital limited edition fits the Gaïté perfectly.

We’re not only the commercial arm of the Gaïté, we’re here to play with new ways of crossing art and digital, video games and one-to-one distribution, or take a mass media like video games and make it personalized, how do me make something pop more haute ?
How to legitimize a physical location, with launches, workshops, etc.

Gaïté Lyrique communication.

I think it’s perfect that this place was launched now, in 2011, because today there is a mix of the digital and the physical worlds.
We’ve experienced a very de-materialized digital world for the last 15-20 years, through computers only, but as the intelligence of the network become more miniature, we’re going to unperceivably go back into the physical, with walls that give information. Tablets, smartphones, nano-technologies, that’s what they’re all about.

From the 60’s mainframe, to the 80’s Personal Computer, to the connected personal computer with a more diffuse intelligence, to the smart phone and the tablet which are more disseminated… I think think there’s already twice as many smartphones as desktop and laptops combined.
This year is the first where more smartphones are being sold than computers.

All this means that intelligence is more diffused into the real physical world, so if you look forward, it means this place will become even more pertinent.
More experiental, more subjective, about participating in a world that was created for you.
So if you combine that with the more diffuse intelligence, you get a place where you can live unique experiences.

Matt Pyke / Universal Everything for MTV.

Was AMUSEMENT magazine influenced by the 1990’s French mag univers >interactif ?

It’s funny because a blogger asked me that, “do you know >interactif, what do think about it” ?
but in fact I only knew it by name, it knew Ariel Wizmann had made it, and I had seen maybe 2 covers.
But people have told me that Amusement seemed like the >interactif of the 2010’s.

So since then I went back into >interactif, and I can see the connection, editorially, visually…

I remember especially the cover with a chick wearing a Nintendo Power Glove.
Almost all the covers had chicks on them as much as I remember.

Left: W< by Jean-Baptiste Mondino for >interactif magazine, 1995?. Right: Excerpts from >interactif magazine.

Actually there was one memorable cover by Mondino with a guy in a W&LT latex suit with some phallic balloons…
The connection between the fashion editorials and the content was sometime a bit forced (laughs).
The funny thing with >interactif is that when it came out, in 1995, no one had internet. Something like 3 people in France.
But did you know WIRED then ?

Yes, Wired I read since the beginning, since 1993/94.

How old were you ?

12 or 13 years old. I used to go to Brentano’s [American bookstore] to get it.
I was also reading EDGE, a UK video game magazine, which back then was a world reference.

Once as a high schooler I bought EDGE and sold the translation to French magazines (laughs).

You’re not the only one, some real journalists got into trouble for ripping off articles from THE FACE.

So WIRED, EDGE… It was complicated, I didn’t really get all of it, but it was like a film addict, you go see it even if it’s in Chinese.
I was fascinated by these magazines even though I didn’t speak English.
The UK press is sophisticated.

The content and the visual as well…

Those magazines had a completely different artistic direction.

How does the AMUSEMENT store affect AMUSEMENT as a magazine ?
By the way I went to your website and I loved that there was no blog, just the best of past issues.

It’s a real question (laughs).
I always wanted to ensure the legitimacy of the paper magazine as a format.
But now, in this post-tablet world, AMUSEMENT will become a bi-annual, because the tablet has further de-legitimized paper.
So we want to make it more high-end, more of an object, a book, 400 pages.
Less of a magazine.

We’re going to create connections between the AMUSEMENT store and the web, in July.
And everything I was telling you about online digital art stores is something we’re also working on, maybe not for 2011, but it’s in the works.

Amusement magazine.

I think it’s also interesting to go for a book/object format, because it voids the question of the iPad format … you really can’t compare an iPad magazine to a book/object.

I’m very open to the idea of iPad/tablet publication – once it becomes a real business, once there’s a 100 million of them out there.
Right now it’s only something that CondéNast can do, for image.
But how many GQ do they sell on iPad ?? 5000.

So right now, either you’re a huge publisher and you want to show that’s you got it, so you do an iPad version at a loss,
either you’re independent and it doesn’t work.

What about something like Flipboard ?

You become a moderator, aggregator, art-director – you’re creating a moderation platform.
I would love for Amusement to go in that direction as well.
We try to be high-end in the design, but I’m interested in the idea of the opposite, of letting people appropriate the content.
That’s a challenge that I would like to tackle with AMUSEMENT.

Because the richness of internet is not the platform as much as the humans.

In AMUSEMENT, there is one side which is very “we’re speaking to you, you have to listen, it’s our art-direction, our pictures,” there is no feedback, a bit like a dictatorship — that’s actually attractive because it’s megalomaniac.

Then there’s the opposite, which is create a platform and let people move it forward…

Yet I feel that today a lot of the internet, with the advent of blogs/Facebook/Twitter, has become only about discussion, and that very few people have the time to do a megalomaniac project of creation.
With a magazine you make it, you step back, improve it, you don’t have to constantly ask everyone if they “like” it or not.
T his applies especially in fashion.
Every month you were waiting for some new images coming from new issues of magazines.
Now the blogs bring a constant flow of magazine articles from all over the world, self-styling pics, etc – it’s like a deluge of images from which nothing can stand out.
How many articles per day can you stomach on “what to wear” ?

Do you think that nothing stands out, or that different things stand out ? That’s what’s interesting.
What is true is that there is less in-depth reporting, because there are less producers who invest.

But I think there are still people out there who create and innovate, without necessarily a lot of means.

Yes, there is an ocean of repetition – but only because someone created something in the first place.

Left: detail of the Gaïté Lyrique entrance. Right: Amusement shop entrance.

AMUSEMENT creative shop
3 bis rue Papin
75003 Paris
Metro: Réaumur-Sebastopol

Matt Pyke & Friends @ Gaïté Lyrique
April 21 – May 27, 2011

AMUSEMENT magazine

Leigh Bowery performing at the RoXY Amsterdam on May 17 1994. Polaroid by René Habermacher.

It was a party at the legendary RoXY club Amsterdam, with Boy George and Robert Owens on the turntables and leading clubbers Sheila Tequila and Stella Stein appearing, to the bemusement of the crowd, nude with pubic wigs only.

Leigh Bowery and his wife Nicola Bateman-Bowery, then freshly wed. Polaroids by René Habermacher.

WORD POWER [JAPAN] by Build and POSTER FOR JAPAN by Astrid Stavro & Richard Sarson

Perhaps even more impressive than Japan’s technological power is its social strength:

Supermarkets cut prices, vending machine owners giving out free drinks and restaurant owners handing out free food as people work together to survive.

Nippon, that seemed in “hyber-nation” for the last decades of economic decline, with its population alienated and facing a lethargic new generation is putting an incredible collective solidarity on display. We can only guess what impact this catastrophe will leave on the collective consciousness of the japanese in the long run. As Japanese writer Ryu Murakami puts it in The New York Times:

“Ten years ago I wrote a novel in which a middle-school student, delivering a speech before Parliament, says: “This country has everything. You can find whatever you want here. The only thing you can’t find is hope.”

One might say the opposite today: evacuation centers are facing serious shortages of food, water and medicine; there are shortages of goods and power in the Tokyo area as well. Our way of life is threatened, and the government and utility companies have not responded adequately.

But for all we’ve lost, hope is in fact one thing we Japanese have regained. The great earthquake and tsunami have robbed us of many lives and resources. But we who were so intoxicated with our own prosperity have once again planted the seed of hope. So I choose to believe.”

(NYT of March 16, translated from Japanese by by Ralph F. McCarthy)

The altruistic spirit people encounter these days in Japan on their road to recovery manifest itself in a myriad of small stories. Inspired by this, Jun Shiomitsu, student at University of Cambridge created a blog “Voices from Japan” together with ten of his classmates and friends, sharing tweets from japanese twitter accounts. Some of these short messages, proof on personal experiences, we would like to share with you following. For more please see “Voices from Japan”.

Direct donations for Japan can also be made at: Red Cross Japan

DONATE... by Practice and TOKYO CROSSINGS by Fabian Monheim

The Goodness of Japan

This earthquake has reminded me of that Japanese goodness that had recently become harder and harder to see. Today I see no crime or looting: I am reminded once again of the good Japanese spirit of helping one another, of propriety, and of gentleness. I had recently begun to regard my modern countrymen as cold people … but this earthquake has revived and given back to all of us the spirit of “kizuna” (bond, trust, sharing, the human connection). I am very touched.  I am brought to tears.

(Original Japanese text) * 日本人の良さを再認識

この地震が、きっかけになって、失いかけていた日本人本来の良さが戒間見れた気がする。犯罪はする様子はなく、助け合い、律儀、紳士的。普段日本人は冷たい人が多い…。って個人的に感じてるんだけど、多くの人が今回で「絆」を取り戻しつつあるように見えて、それがなんか感動して、泣けてくる。

— アジアの架け橋 Suzuki Viet (@VietL) March 12, 2011

この地震が、きっかけになって、失いかけていた日本人本来の良さが戒間見れた気がする。犯罪はする様子はなく、助け合い、律儀、紳士的。普段日本人は冷たい人が多い…。って個人的に感じてるんだけど、多くの人が今回で「絆」を取り戻しつつあるように見えて、それがなんか感動して、泣けてくる。

My Boyfriend, Off with His Rescue Unit

Yesterday, I said goodbye to my loved one as he left for one of the hardest-hit areas, Minami Sanriku in Miyagi. He is a member of the Fire Department’s special rescue unit. As I bade him goodbye, I asked “Are you scared?” He simply answered “I just feel sorry for those people whose bodies are still buried and cold and lonely. I just want to help find their bodies as soon as possible so that they can be returned to their families.” This from my boyfriend who is normally so shy he can’t go shopping for clothes by himself. Seeing his quiet resolve, I stifled my tears and sent him off with a smile.

(Original Japanese Text)

http://twitter.com/_amurita_/status/51489294690426880

昨日、私の大切な人が南三陸沖へ出動しました。彼はハイパーレスキュー。「怖い？」と聞いたら「埋まって亡くなられた方が寒いのが、可哀想なだけ。早く出して家族の元へ還したいだけ」と。休日1人で服も買いに行けないシャイな彼が。私も泣かずに送り出しました。

Through the Eyes of a Child

A small child was waiting in line to buy some candy. As his turn approached, I saw him look intently at the cash register for a moment, deep in thought. He then trotted to the disaster relief donations box on the counter, dropped his few coins into it, and trotted back to the shelves to return the candies that were in his hand. As the employee called after the boy thanking him saying “arigato gozaimasu!”, I heard her voice tremble with emotion.

(Original Japanese Text)

Twitter / 松元恵: 子供がお菓子を持ってレジに並んでいたけれど、順番が近 …

http://twitter.com/#!/matsugen/status/47231589758935040

子供がお菓子を持ってレジに並んでいたけれど、順番が近くなり、レジを見て考え込み、レジ横にあった募金箱にお金を入れて、お菓 子を棚に戻して出て行きました。店員さんがその子供の背中に向け てかけた、ありがとうございます、という声が震えてました。

The Bakery Lady

There was a small bread shop on the street I take to go to school.  It has long been out of business. But last night, I saw the old lady of the shop giving people her handmade bread for free.  It was a heart-warming sight. She, like everyone else, was doing what she could to help people in a time of need. Tokyo isn’t that bad afterall!

* パン屋

http://twitter.com/ayakishimoto/statuses/46403599743451136

昨日の夜中、大学から徒歩で帰宅する道すがら、とっくに閉店したパン屋のおばちゃんが無料でパン配給していた。こんな喧噪のなかでも自分にできること見つけて実践している人に感動。心温まった。東京も捨てたもんじゃないな。

Card board boxes, Thank you!

It was cold and I was getting very weary waiting forever for the train to come. Some homeless people saw me, gave me some of their own cardboard boxes and saying “you’ll be warmer if you sit on these!” I have always walked by homeless people pretending I didn’t see them, and yet here they were offering me warmth. Such warm people.

(Original Japanese text) * 段ボールに感動

http://twitter.com/aquarius_rabbit/status/46213254376210432

ホームで待ちくたびれていたら、ホームレスの人達が寒いから敷けって段ボールをくれた。いつも私達は横目で流してるのに。あたたかいです。

A Big Kind Voice

I’ve been walking for many hours now. I’m touched at how everywhere I turn, there are shops open with people shouting “Please use our bathroom!” or “Please rest here!” There were also office buildings where people with access to information were voluntarily shouting out helpful tips, like “**** line is now operational!”  Seeing things like this after walking for hours and hours made me feel like weeping with gratitude. Seriously, there is still hope for this country!

* 呼びかけ

何時間も歩き続けてたんだけど、至る所でトイレかしますとか、休憩できますとか言うビルや飲食店が沢山あって感動しました。とある企業ビルの人がボランティアで、○○線運転再開ですー！とか、休憩できますー！！って呼びかけてるの見て感動して泣きそうになったマジでw日本も捨てたもんじゃないな

— 川内亜架音@ねさま (@akanensm) March 11, 2011

何時間も歩き続けてたんだけど、至る所でトイレかしますとか、休憩できますとか言うビルや飲食店が沢山あって感動しました。とある企業ビルの人がボランティアで、○○線運転再開ですー！とか、休憩できますー！！って呼びかけてるの見て感動して泣きそうになったマジでw日本も捨てたもんじゃないな

Goth Youth

A goth youth with white hair and body piercings walked into my store and shoved several hundred dollars (several tens of thousands of yen) into the disaster relief fund donation box. As he walked out, I and people around me heard him saying to his buddies, “I mean, we can buy those games anytime!” At that, we all opened our wallets and put our money into the donation box. Really, you cannot judge people by their appearances.

* いつでも買える

http://twitter.com/7474529/status/46565903520907264

今日、募金箱に金髪にピアスの若い兄ちゃんが万札数枚入れていた。そしてその友人に｢ゲームなんていつでも買えるからな｣と言っていたのが聞こえて私含め周りの人達も募金していた。人は見た目じゃないことを実感した。そんなお昼でした。 この話感動しました。

More Food than We Ordered

My family in Sendai (close to epicenter) had ordered some food from Nagoya (in the south, not directly affected). Today, because the postal system was down, my sister went to the postal service center to collect the package. When she returned, my family was surprised to see how big and heavy the package was.  Upon opening it, we found much more food than we had ordered, together with a hand-written note saying “Don’t give up!” Amazing!

http://twitter.com/#!/j_kata/status/49327776716693505

妹が名古屋のお店から営業所止で買った荷物を受け取りに行ったら、やたらとデカくて重い。不思議に思いながら開けたら「ガンバ！」というメッセージと共にカップ麺とかがパンパンに詰まってた。家族全員感動。

At Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland was handing out its shops’ food and drinks for free to the stranded people nearby. I saw a bunch of snobby looking highschool girls walking away with large portions of it and initially though “What the …”  But I later I found out they were taking them to the families with little children at emergency evacuation areas. Very perceptive of them, and a very kind thing to do indeed.

* ディズニーランドでの出来事

ディズニーランドでは、ショップのお菓子なども配給された。ちょっと派手目な女子高生たちが必要以上にたくさんもらってて「何だ？」って一瞬思ったけど、その後その子たちが、避難所の子供たちにお菓子を配っていたところ見て感動。子供連れは動けない状況だったから、本当にありがたい心配りだった

— 原雄司@ケイズデザインラボ (@unosuke) March 12, 2011

ディズニーランドでは、ショップのお菓子なども配給された。ちょっと派手目な女子高生たちが必要以上にたくさんもらってて「何だ？」って一瞬思ったけど、その後その子たちが、避難所の子供たちにお菓子を配っていたところ見て感動。子供連れは動けない状況だったから、本当にありがたい心配りだった

 A LIGHT IN THE DARK by Peter Crnokrak / The luxury of protest and FOR JAPAN by Martin Venezky

Total Strangers

My oldest daughter was making her way to Yokohama’s emergency evacuation area. Total strangers were helping each other out and showing each other the way to the emergency evacuation area. She told me she was moved at how strangers, who can seem so cold at times, showed her kindness and care. I was reminded at the Japanese peoples’ inherent ability to immediately unite in the face of adversity. Today, I have discovered a newfound faith in my nation and my people.

* 避難所

http://twitter.com/msakatan/statuses/46302864980705280

長女いわく、横浜の避難所に向かう時に、知らない人達と声を掛け合い、場所を教え合っていたそうです。普段は冷たいと思っていた他人の優しさに触れ、感動したそうです。日本人のいざという時の団結力を再認識しました。まだまだ日本も捨てたものではないです。

The Backrub Society

The little children in my evacuation facility, where we all still live, came up with the idea of a “Backrub Society” for the elderly. I could see that the elderly were strengthened just by even spending time with the little ones, talking and laughing with them. To all the little children in the “Backrub Society”, well done!!

(Original Japanese Text)

避難所にいる子供たちが考えた「肩もみ隊」　お年寄りはこういうふれあいだけで元気が出るのだと感動しました。　その子供さんたちにエールを送りたいです♪

— 津久井《工房や》教生 (@koubouya) March 21, 2011

避難所にいる子供たちが考えた「肩もみ隊」　お年寄りはこういうふれあいだけで元気が出るのだと感動しました。　その子供さんたちにエールを送りたいです♪

Strawberries for a Little Girl

A few days after the earthquake, in Sendai City (directly impacted area) when food was scarce, I remember seeing a little girl, about 2 years old, staring longingly at some strawberries that an old lady sitting next to her was holding. The old lady suddenly noticed the little girl and without hesitation said “Here darling, you have them. We all have to help each other in times like these, okay?” I know the old lady had been in line for several hours to buy those strawberries, but she did it just to see the overjoyed look on the little girl’s face. It was a heartwarming sight.

(Original Japanese text)

震災直後の仙台市。食糧が全くない頃。2歳くらいの女の子が、横にいた見知らぬおばあさんの持つイチゴをずーっと見てる。するとおばあさんが、「お嬢ちゃん食べなさい。困った時はお互いさまよ」　おばあさんだって、数時間並んで手に入れたイチゴ。女の子はすごく嬉しいそうにしていた。　感動した。

— kissy (@hellosmileagain) March 20, 2011

震災直後の仙台市。食糧が全くない頃。2歳くらいの女の子が、横にいた見知らぬおばあさんの持つイチゴをずーっと見てる。するとおばあさんが、「お嬢ちゃん食べなさい。困った時はお互いさまよ」　おばあさんだって、数時間並んで手に入れたイチゴ。女の子はすごく嬉しいそうにしていた。　感動した。

Looked Absolutely Delicious!

I too saw the guy handing out free rice balls and miso soup on the way back from Akihabara. I was on my bicycle so I told him, “I’m okay, please give it to other people!”  On hindsight, I should have taken one … they looked absolutely delicious!!

* 絶対うまいはず

僕も秋葉からの帰りにおにぎりとみそ汁配ってる方に会いました、感動しました、チャリだったからダイジョブです他の人にって言ったけどもらっておけばよかったなぁ絶対うまかったと思う

— 旧長島 (@kyugatimuti) March 12, 2011

僕も秋葉からの帰りにおにぎりとみそ汁配ってる方に会いました、感動しました、チャリだったからダイジョブです他の人にって言ったけどもらっておけばよかったなぁ絶対うまかったと思う

The Beauty of Helping

I went out last night to help some friends who were volunteering as security personnel between Machida City and Sagami Ohno City. I saw total strangers, both young and old, helping each other along everywhere I turned and was heartened with an overwhelming feeling of encouragement. I was so touched I hid behind the toilets and cried.

* 助け合い

http://twitter.com/sorry_no_user/statuses/46332985133375488

警備員の友人何人かが町田～相模大野で夜間警備のボランティアをしていたので手伝ってきた。年齢問わずいろんな知らない人同士が助け合っていて心強かった。ちょっと感動してトイレの隅で泣いた。

A Strong Voice

Yesterday, I was impressed and touched by the actions of my neighbor’s 13-year-old-boy. He was home alone when the earthquake hit. But instead of hiding, as soon as the earthquake quieted down, he jumped on his bicycle and road around the block repeatedly shouting at the top of his voice, “Is everyone alright?  Is everyone okay?”  At the time, there were only women and children and the elderly in the homes. I cannot describe how comforting it was just to hear a strong voice asking if I was okay. Thank you!

* 声をかけること

http://twitter.com/RUMI88LoL/statuses/46342599149240320

昨日、裏の家の高１になるお兄ちゃんに感動した。 家に１人で居たらしく、地震後すぐ自転車で飛び出し近所をひと回り。 【大丈夫ですか―――！？】と道路に逃げてきた人達にひたすら声掛けてた。あの時間には老人や母子しか居なかったから、声掛けてくれただけでもホッとしたよ。 ありがとう。

The Power of Accumulated Gratitude

Many countries have come forth to help Japan in its hour of need.  We the people of Japan must never forget what has been done for us. The touching moments shared and the gratitude accumulated between our countries are the most powerful force behind mutual understanding at a “populational” level. They build a bond far deeper than and on an entirely different dimension from the strategic alliances our governments may form.

(Original Japanese Text)

震災に対しては、海外から多くの支援が寄せられているが、日本人は、その「恩」を忘れてはいけない。助け合うことの感謝と感動の記憶の蓄積は、国民間の相互理解をきっと推し進めてくれる。それは、政府レベルの「戦略的互恵関係」などというものよりも、もっと深い次元での結びつきとなる。

— 平野啓一郎 (@hiranok) March 21, 2011

震災に対しては、海外から多くの支援が寄せられているが、日本人は、その「恩」を忘れてはいけない。助け合うことの感謝と感動の記憶の蓄積は、国民間の相互理解をきっと推し進めてくれる。それは、政府レベルの「戦略的互恵関係」などというものよりも、もっと深い次元での結びつきとなる。

The Stars

The rolling power outages brought wonderful things too; the stars are just breathtaking!

(Original Japanese Text)

http://twitter.com/gm0yuka/statuses/50675520458850304

節電で嬉しい事もありました。星が綺麗です。

I came to the top of the entrance to the passageway under the waterfront highway. A stream of humanity emerging. Two covered women carrying a baby stroller, ballooned in their robes. A man selling flashlight cigarette lighters and plastic skeletons. An electric toy for children—an endless stream of tiny penguins climbed up a ladder and slid down a convoluted chute only to start again. Among the crowd of olive and pink faces was a single African. Streams of migrations, transforming faces, all the nations selling plastic toys, knock-off shoes, Chinese T-shirts, used cell phones, coming and going from work, school, mosque, church, home, shop, market, public office, train station, factory, cafe, restaurant, and we all fused, living within sight of peak humanity, peak oil, the trams rattling overhead, buses and cars, machines traveling underground, expansion, development. The bombs that had gone off weeks before, the uprisings, the fire and water spreading, the wicked meanderings of the stock market, the winds heading across the ocean—all of it was an expression of what we wanted. We could all trade faces and see each other everywhere. We here were among plastic rifles and teddy bears hung by their throats in the underpass—the covered women, the pink tourists, the invisible Alawi and their secret rites, the African who’d seen his village burned, his family scattered, who’d crossed continents at great risk only to find himself selling watches near water infested with jellyfish, where men from the east struggled to while away the hours and perhaps feed their families pulling tainted fish out of the exhaust of the ferries.
The last Greeks still heading to church after centuries of conquest, persecution, war, pogroms, the dervishes still laying hands on each other chanting the name of the divine in Pentecostal ecstasy, the transgendered women, heads held high, heading out for another night of rough trade. We were all magnetized by a common point. We were all there together surrounded by pregnant streetcats and the debris of the crowd. Because it drew us, somehow: our petty struggles were diluted and finally united into a growl from our collective throat—the time we were living through. And with that we all made our way to wherever we were going, me up the hill to my house, my arms loaded with cups and bottles and bags and coffee grounds, until I could finally drop it all on the formica counter and sit still watching an enormous hull heading north through the straits.

“Kate” by René Habermacher for Numéro Paris, Make-up by Linda Cantello.

Before he became a photographer, René Habermacher was as an illustrator — who was already a bit of a photographer. Numéro Paris, under the helm of Babeth Djian and Thomas Lenthal, frequently commissioned him fashion and beauty series made up entirely of photorealistic illustrations, “unreal” photos.

“Unreal” because there was no shooting, no camera. Only René, an idea, dozens of image references, hundreds of hours of drawing and airbrushing, and in this case, the advice of master make-up artist Linda Cantello, of Roxy Music fame.

So for this 2003 beauty series, René imagined Kate Moss as heir to Charlotte Rampling’s SS-cap-wearing and cigarette-smoking character from the 1974 film The Night Porter.

Where it gets interesting is that these images then found their way into the work of Terry Richardson (NSFW below), who thought that Kate was missing something else in her mouth…

Photography by Terry Richardson, using “Kate” by René Habermacher. Published in “Terryworld” by TASCHEN.

So did Marc see these images at some point and wished to see them come to life?
Who cares.  The question is rather, where will this image pop-up next? Who knows, at Kate’s wedding perhaps…

With the recent obsession with Tron, and the upcoming opening of the Gaîté Lyrique digital center in Paris (more on that later), this visual memory of mine has resurfaced…

The source: Pixifoly, a segment on TF1 channel’s “Vitamine” children’s show, which ran between 1983 and 1984.

For better context, imagine that Starcade, the first video-game related TV show premiered in the USA in 1981,
TRON was released in 1982, and the NES didn’t go west until 1986…
I was 4 years old when I saw PIXIFOLY, and yet it got stuck in my head.

The basic premise of PIXIFOLY was “TRON, for kids, in front of a live audience, every week.”
Every wednesday afternoon, an audience composed entirely of children would gather on the set with the show’s hosts, facing a giant screen set into the ground.
One of the hosts would step onto the screen and be immersed into a videogame world full of adventure.

Each episode used a different videogame, a real game made for the consoles of the times – Commodore 64, Spectrum ZX, Atari, etc. – and showed the hosts “playing” with it using a giant pogo joystick.  But because at the times videogames were a bit of a marginal subject, especially for the number one public channel in France, videogaming was not the core of the show, just a cutting-edge way of mise-en-scène for a kids adventure show:

Not only were the credits one of the first 3D (“images de synthèse”) sequences at the time, but most of the show relied on the revolutionary Paintbox graphics postproduction system to mix live footage of the hosts with game footage.  Space invaders, scuba diving, kung fu fighting, Aztec adventures — the video game was but a starting point on which the producers built their storylines, adding extra characters, costumes and props into the mix. The favorite trick would be to have the characters “fly” on top of flight simulator backdrop.

In a way, the video game was a cheap, ready-made set for the PIXIFOLY adventures.

Watching some of the excerpts, I couldn’t help but think that some of the more “creative” episodes were almost hallucinogenic, but also wondering what it must have been like to be one of the kids in the audience. Video games felt intimidating (I remember urging my cousins to play the NES for my entertainment, terrified at the idea of playing myself) so I imagine it wasn’t a  problem for the kids to watch the hosts “play” for them.
The show’s most exciting parts, however, were the moments when characters would enter or emerge from the screen — moments which were never experienced live but fabricated afterwards with keying and blue screen techniques.

How disappointing it must have been.
Today, we are accustomed to special effects, to the televised experienced being superior to the live experience.
We expect things we experience to be re-cut, re-mastered, enhanced.
We don’t even need to pull back the curtain to know there is a Wizard of Oz manipulating the scene.

But in1983, as jaw-dropping as it was to see PIXIFOLY on TV, as a live event it was probably a first step on the road to disenchantment.