And yet everyone is flocking there since the Museum of Civilisations
of Europe & of the Mediterranean, dubbed MuCEM, opened its doors just weeks ago, the first national museum to open in the Phocean city, a project 11 years in the making. 

Having shot & directed the introductory ad campaign for this new institution, The Stimuleye introduces you to the man who designed it, a man as famous for the fights he picks as the building he designs.
Exclusive photos by René Habermacher.

Portrait of architect Rudy Ricciotti by René Habermacher.

One side is the Fort Saint-Jean, linked to the city by a pedestrian steel bridge. A fort not unlike the Bastille – a bastion to defend Marseille against itself – the Fort Saint-Jean had been closed to the public for centuries.

On the other, also connected by a massive steel bridge, is Ricciotti’s creation, facing the Mediterranean Sea.
Refusing “architectural bling,” Ricciotti chose to have the new building dematerialize itself to complement the Fort Saint-Jean.

No reflections – leave it to the sea.

The concrete filigree lace of the MuCEM, a second skin like a screen that allows views, light and air
to pervade the space. Photography by René Habermacher.

TV spot for the MuCEM's launch, directed by Antoine Asseraf with SayWho and Agence White.

The MuCEM's a porous monolithic body planted on pier J4 in the Mediterranean sea, connected to the Fort Saint-Jean
with a 115m long slender pathway made of massive cast iron. Photography by René Habermacher.

Antoine Asseraf: Can you elaborate on your theory of world being split between two sides, matte and shiny ?

Rudy Ricciotti: Shiny is conceptual distance, reason, power and self-assurance.
Matte is frontal narration, intuition, defeat and regret.
Pick your side… I did.

AA: Mediterranean is a concept going beyond “local” but stopping short of  “global” — how do you situate yourself, and the building, within that notion ?

RR: The South is a travel certificate, not a birth certificate.
The inhabitants of Munich are more mediterranean than those of Grenoble.
The Valais region in the south of Switzerland more latin than the Vaucluse in the south of France, etc.
The MuCEM is mediterranean through anxiety and existential difficulty.

AA: What is your relationship to monumental architecture ?

RR: You are talking to me, you fucked my wife ?

Top left: "Notre-Dame de la Garde" looming over Marseille and the the seven-level, 40 000 square meter
structure of the MuCEM. Photography by René Habermacher.

As massive the volume of the MuCEM may seem at first, it is the use of negative space that gives the building
the air of the metaphysical. Photography by René Habermacher

AA: What is the last thing which stimulated you ?

RR: A fish soup made by my partner…
Read my last pamphlet to smile:
« L’Architecture est un sport de combat » [Architecture is a combat sport], edited by Textuel.

MuCEM

With SayWho & Agence White

The Stimuleye presents “Hanaa”, a film by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher, starring Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem, spokesperson for Lancôme.

Antoine Asseraf: Where are you from, and how were you discovered ?

Hanaa Ben Abdesslem: I was raised in a town on the sea coast of Tunisia named Nabeul. 
I dreamed of becoming a model since I was very young.

In 2009, I participated in a reality TV show for models in Lebanon.  There I met Sophie GalaI, who would become my manager, and in 2010 she presented me to IMG Paris, who in turn presented me to Carine Roitfeld, at the time Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Paris.

Through her introduction to Ricardo Tisci , I was chosen as a Givenchy fashion show exclusive that same season.
   
AA: You’re becoming an icon representing the “middle-eastern woman” in the fashion world and beyond,
but which people are icons to you ? Can you tell us a bit about your relationship with Farida Khelfa ?

My icons are the Tunisian women in the fashion industry, whom I admire and whose accomplishments I respect, such as Liela Menshari, Hermes window designer — she received the Golden Dido Award for her contribution to Tunisian culture and influences in world, and Afef Jenifen, who fought for Arab women’s freedom of choice and continues to defend their rights.

Farida is a great support and she always has good advice, such as “stay true to yourself.”

HANAA
a film by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher
starring Hanaa Ben Abdesslem
styling Yoko Miyake
hair Nicolas Eldin
make up Tracey Gray Mann
production by Clast
postproduction by The Stimuleye
text by Omar Khayyam
sound by Gnawa Diffusion
thanks Sophie Gallal

Look 1: Dolce & Gabbana
Look 2: Jil Sander by Raf Simons
Look 3: Chloé
Look 4: Stella McCartney

The Stimuleye is proud to announce its Film of the Season™ for Vogue Italia,
its first full collaboration with CLAST productions,
a special commission for curvy clothing line For.me Elena Miro,
Princess Cornflakes.

Princess Cornflakes / ENGLISH VERSION

PRINCESS CORNFLAKES (English) from AntoineAsseraf+RenéHabermacher on Vimeo.

Princess Cornflakes / VERSION FRANÇAISE

PRINCESS CORNFLAKES (Français) from AntoineAsseraf+RenéHabermacher on Vimeo.

CREDITS:

VOGUE ITALIA
THE STIMULEYE
& CLAST
present

a film by ANTOINE ASSERAF & RENE HABERMACHER

for
FOR.ME Elena Miro

produced by
CLAST

commissioned by
VOGUE ITALIA

the models
MILLIE H & TANYA @ MILK

the kids
BOBBI JADE
THEODORE WALKER
AYLA RAYNE MONIER

the hands & feet
TALINE MOURADIAN

the Mom
ANGELA PAREE

la maman
TALINE MOURADIAN

extras
MARC BEYNEY-SONIER
JUSTIN MORIN
GIORGIO MARTINOLI
BENJAMIN BERNARD

camera assistants
LAURENT DUBIN
HIROAKI “Jack” MURAYAMA

hair
MAXIME MACE @ Calliste Paris

assisted by
JÉRÔME CULTRERA

make-up
TRACEY GRAY MANN @ Calliste Paris

manucure
CRISTINA CONRAD @ Calliste Paris

styling
ROSSANA PASSALACQUA
@ ARTLIST PARIS

all clothes
FOR.ME ELENA MIRO

shoes
CARVEN

jewelry
AURELIE BIDERMAN

polish
DIORIFIC 751 MARILYN

cups
JARS x EROTOKRITOS

cereal box & graphic design
GIORGIO MARTINOLI

italian voices
CLARA SALLAZ
ELISA SCIALPI
FILIPPO LAVACCHINI

sound recorder
ARNAUD MORELDARLEUX

original music
Ça Va Chéri

sound mix & sound design
Sparkles Studio

editor
Romain Gopal
color grading
Romain Julien

special fx
LAURA WEAVER
MARTIN CLAUDE

producers
MAUD HEZARD
FÉLIX MONDINO

production coordinator
MARC BEYNEY-SONIER

stage manager
JEAN DATHANAT

shot at
UNICO RESTAURANT
FRANCE MINIATURE

thanks
DIMITRI “JIMI” PALLIS
LYNSEY PEISIGNER
EROTOKRITOS ANTONIADIS
LUCA MARCHETTI
GIORGIO MARTINOLI
TALINE MOURADIAN
PAOLA NETTI
CHANTAL HOOGVLIET
RESTAURANT UNICO
FRANCE MINIATURE
LUCAS BLANCHY
JÉRÔME DE GERLACHE
ELISA MAZZA

More to come…

Shot in temples in Kyoto, here is Shangri-La.

SHANGRI LA
a film by Antoine Asseraf
for Vivienne Tam Fall Winter 2012/13
starring Kiko Mizuhara

music Ça Va Chéri
postproduction Clast
assistant Jack
creative direction Hatsumi Yamada
production Hiromi Otsuka

My Garden, for Vivienne Tam, starring Kiko Mizuhara is one of the 60 films selected from over 6000 in consideration…

La Jolla Fashion Film Festival opens today at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art,
in La Jolla, California.

“HE KNOWS WOMEN, AND WOMEN KNOW HIM”

Erotokritos, it’s a strange name for a fashion brand.
It’s an even stranger name for a person.
And yet, he is truly called Erotokritos Antoniadis, named after the main protagonist of medieval epic poem, a hero “born from the labors of love”.
For 15 years, his label has been seducing women of all ages, drawn to collections that go back and forth between the sophistication of Paris and the dolce vita of Cyprus…

"come and get it."

“THEY CALL HIM MONSIEUR CHYPRE”

France and Cyprus, Paris and Nicosia, it’s a long-distance couple.
In Monsieur Chypre, by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher, they come to life:
Loan Chabanol, channeling the nostalgia of Marguerite Duras’ The Lover, plays the tormented Parisian woman, cracking at the surface,
while Constantino Kouyialis, in his first first on-screen role, is a revelation as the seductive eponym hero, a modern day Alexis Zorbas.

“AN EROTIC FASHION EPIC” we call it.

“Erotic,” how could it not be with a name like Erotokritos ?
“Fashion,” of course: stylist Michaela Dosamantes, fresh from winning Best Fashion Award at La Jolla Fashion Film Festival for La Main Dans Le Sac, mixes the season’s classic looks to capture the heroine’s transformation from “bluesy” in Vuitton to “red-hot” in Valentino.
And “epic” ? What else do you call a fashion film 10 months in the making, taking place not only in Paris but in numerous locations in Nicosia, in the salt lake facing the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque in Larnaca, in the Almyra and Anassa deluxe hotels, in small taverns by the side of the road, or in the majestic monument carved directed in the stone, the tomb of the Kings in Paphos ?

“HIS VOICE IS A SONG”

All this, to the original soundtrack of Lori Schonberg and Shane Aspegren, members of Ça Va Chéri.
(Download it here).

So, now the tough questions.
Is Cyprus really like this ? A little bit. Not at all. It depends how you look at it.
It is an island of freedom in the east mediterranean, where couples from Israel and Lebanon come to escape religion. It is the birthplace of Aphrodite. You go, you decide.

So how can I meet this Mister Cyprus ? We hear that one a lot. From women (and men) of all ages. Maybe he’s real, maybe he’s a figment of our collective imagination, our repressed desires. One thing’s for sure — we can’t give you his number.

“ATTEMPTING TO CHARM HIM IS USELESS. HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL FIND.”

Monsieur Chypre
Film credits
Fashion credits
Goodies

Until the end of May you can see at the villa the PILORI installation featuring footage of the performance (with the cooperation of Yohji Yamamoto Inc.) and video contributions by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher, starring François Sagat, by Jason Last & Jaime Rubiano, Clément Roncier, Sebastien Meunier + Romain Dja Douadji + Tomek Jarolim, and the winner of our internet contest, Simone Fehlinger, who met up with Filep Motwary.

PILORI (“PILLORY”) is a unique collaboration between choreographer Lynsey Peisinger and The Stimuleye for the Hyères Festival. Drawing on a pool of both local and Paris-based performers, Lynsey Peisinger conceived 2-hour performances inside a specially built space in the Villa Noailles’ Sautoir space: a wall with 4 pairs of legs poking out, moving, at rest, ignoring or harassing each other…

For its exhibition phase, the performance footage is augmented and interrupted by the footage of BEYOND THE WALL, different video artists’ renderings of what lies beyond the wall which cuts the performers in half.

 CLONES starring François Sagat, by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher.

Sebastien Meunier, Romain Dja Douadji & Tomek Jarolim for BEYOND THE WALL.

Clément Roncier for BEYOND THE WALL/PILORI.

Jason Last & Jaime Rubiano for BEYOND THE WALL/PILORI.

Simone Fehlinger for BEYOND THE WALL / PILORI.

Filep Motwary: What is your video about?
Simone Fehlinger: my videos visualize the stories of walls. Parts of these walls are broken : colors, wallpapers peel off and uncover it’s past… The videos invite to a personal imagination of what this wall’s history is about… Now, these walls have moved to Hyères 2012 and will be part of a new story…

Filep Motwary: Why have you chosen white as your “backwards” canvas?
Surfaces are extremely exciting ! But the interesting part is not the perfectly clean, virgin, new, white layer.
It’s the layer underneath…

What is your opinion about Hyeres.
It’s legendary ! I’m really happy and honoured to be a part of…

What would be your next projects about?
My new big project is my own graphic and video design studio in Paris.

Simone Fehlinger, winner of BEYOND THE WALL contest.

PILORI at Villa Noailles
Until May 26, 2012
Hyères, FRANCE.

Special thanks to Coralie Gaultier & the Yohji Yamamoto Inc team,
Simone Fehlinger for her contribution,
and all the performers who gave their time to participate in this project.

Starring Constantino Kouyialis & Loan Chabanol, styled by Michaela Dosamantes, and directed by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher.

Vogue Italia

Erotokritos

Norwegian Wood actress, Towai Tei-singer, and model Kiko Mizuhara lets us into her garden,
for Vivienne Tam.

MY GARDEN
a film by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher
for VIVIENNE TAM
starring KIKO MIZUHARA

concept
The Stimuleye

creative director
Hatsumi Yamada

production
Hiromi Otsuka
Flying Colors

postproduction
The Stimuleye

styling
Naoko Kikuchi

hair & make-up
Katsuya Kamo

Submit your 30 seconds maximum video before April 1st for a chance to have it featured in the installation, which launches April 27th at the 2012 Hyères Fashion + Photo Festival,  next exhibits by  Yohji Yamamoto, Jasons Evans, and Inez van Laamswerde + Vinoodh Matadin.

Imagine what lies beyond the wall of the PILLORY installation.

All submitted videos must be
no more than 30 seconds long,
from one angle/point of view,
and submitted before April 1st, 2012.

Fore more info and video guidelines: contest@thestimuleye.com

MONSIEUR CHYPRE
A SHORT FILM WITH EROTOKRITOS
by Antoine Asseraf Asseraf & René Habermacher
with VOGUE ITALIA

Givenchy, Raf Simons, Ann Demeulemeester, Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh, Comme des Garçons…we had it all. We also had a great concept (think butoh meets inception), a fantastic cast (Ippei is an amazing butoh performer, while Matvey and Willy, both top men’s models, would film Woodkid’s IRON video a few days later), great hair and great make-up, everything great.

RAEVE stroke-inducing poster by Clément Roncier.

Only problem was, we never really found the time to edit it.

Until now.

So without further ado, ræve.

RAEVE
by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher

starring Ippei Hosuka + Willy Cartier @ Success Paris + Matvey Lykov@ Success Paris

styling Jean-Luc Française / photo assistant Laurent Dubain / styling assistant Tiphaine Menon / hair Tanya Koch @ B Agency /make-up Akiko Sakamoto / studio Le Petit Oiseau Va Sortir

editing Axelle Zecevic / Clément Roncier / postproduction Clément Roncier / music Oedo Sukeroku “Shunrai” + John Cage “Sonata V” / special thanks Jean-Marc Locatelli

It’s LA MAIN DANS LE SAC / CAUGHT RED HANDED !

TEASER - LA MAIN DANS LE SAC by Antoine Asseraf & Rene Habermacher, A Short Film With Jamin Puech for Vogue Italia.

Coming July 1st on the THE STIMULEYE, playing exclusively on Vogue Italia, our short film commissioned by Vogue Italia for bag designers Jamin Puech, “LA MAIN DANS LE SAC / CAUGHT RED HANDED”.

La Main Dans Le Sac – Website
La Main Dans Le Sac – YouTube Teaser

The Stimuleye presents

A Short Film With Jamin Puech

for Vogue Italia

LA MAIN DANS LE SAC

“Caught red-handed”

Directed by  Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher

Styling by Michaela Dosamantes

Assisted by Alexia Hollinger

Starring  Quinta Witzel @ IMG Paris

Make-Up by Tracy Alfajora

Hair by Romina Manenti @ Artlist

Assisted by Masako Hayashi

Filmed at Prunier, Paris

Music by Shane Aspegren & Lori Schonberg of  The Berg Sans Nipple

Thank You: Lisa Kajita, Nicolas Barruyer, Erotokritos Antoniadis, Yoann Lemoine.

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

 Hyères 2011 Fashion Shows.

Hyères 2011 Award Ceremony.

Directed by Antoine Asseraf
Filmed by Antoine Asseraf + Jason Last
Edited and post-produced by Clément Roncier
Voice and coordination by Lynsey Peisinger
Sound Design by Lori Schonberg

I Could Be Yours - Fall/Winter 2011/12 presentation, filmed by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher.

Antoine Asseraf: Did your presentation go well this week?

Jean-Paul Lespagnard: It went really well. The feedback is really good.  It was very difficult to organize, obviously, but as I always say “we learn from our mistakes”. ha ha. In the beginning I wanted to do something simple and small and in the end, I found myself doing 7 shows in one day! My assistants tell me all the time that when I tell them something, I think that it is really simple, when in fact it isn’t. So when I tell them that we are going to do something difficult, but that we will succeed, they know that it is going to be a mountain of work! But really really happy with how everything went. The people from the press are really enthusiastic. The people that came by the showroom are very enthusiastic too. I had some buyers–one from a boutique in NY, one from a boutique in Hong Kong, among others.

Was it complicated to plan?

It was a personal choice to put myself in the “off” on presentations by appointment. And i think that I will continue to do that. Because, this idea of doing 6 shows in one day was difficult and I launched myself into a crazy adventure, but I really want to do it again. I think its great because people can come whenever they want to. There is something that I like about not having chairs, it was standing only. I think that the next time, what I could do is have little portable stools for people that want to sit down. I just really like the idea of something spontaneous like what we did. So something that I am going to work on and try to perfect for next time. This defilé was meant as a way for me to come back after the festival and to present my work to buyers. When the buyers came to my showroom, they said “its great, its fresh, we have never seen this before, but we are not sure where to place your work for the moment” This is good actually because now, they have 6 months to digest what they say and to think about ideas for where to place my collection and about where my stuff fits in with other designers. I really very very happy with my fashion week in Paris!

You think that they will put your collection with the collection of….?

I don’t know. I honestly don’t know because there are pieces that are very constructed, such as the things with the pieces with the pillow cases. There are people that made a comparison between my work and Lanvin. Also with Moschino, which I can understand. Some even found similarities between some of my pieces and Margiela. So, it is a wide range.

Tell me a bit about the collection.

The theme of the collection was based on a story that I wrote about a woman who was walking on a road, crossing through the forest at dawn–all of these details are very important–and who meets a very fancy japanese truck. The truck is a normal truck that they transformed with structural elements and lights etc.  The interior of the truck is baroque, with baroque tapestries and fabrics and crystal chandeliers. I think it is interesting to imagine the technological exterior of the truck and the classical interior. So the idea of the collection was to fuse together this woman, who is a bourgeoise of the countryside, and this truck. Not the truck driver! The truck. haha.

So we saw this fusion in the structured shoulders on some of the pieces for example. Some of the pieces were transformable, such as a sweatshirt which could be transformed into a dress depending on it is zipped up.

There were a lot of things influencing the collection. What was great was the baroque theme, which in itself is an accumulation of many things. So, in the work, I researched this idea of accumulating a lot of things which didn’t necessarily relate to one another….however, they did relate. For example, in the collection there is a “brocard de soiree…” with gold lurex in it–very soft and chic. I also had a vinyl, sequined skirt–it is a fabric that is used to cover the seats in discotheques, which for me, referenced the …..of the truck. But when you put those two pieces together, it is two different worlds, but two worlds that can communicate. It is pretty bizarre and interesting.

Jean-Paul Lespagnard's 2008 Hyères collection starring Jacqueline. Video by Antoine Asseraf.

You seem to always have a story like this one…

That’s right, I try to as much as possible. I had Jacqueline, my French fry girl. This time, the woman in my story didn’t have a name. There was not a name that seemed to fit, so I didn’t want to choose a name just for the sake of choosing one.

You didn’t have a name for her but you gave all the girls the same look.

That is something that I always like. I like to have a sort of army of beautiful girls… I think that my next collection is going to speak about a group of people, who are sharing an experience. It’s not yet september and I am already starting to do research.

"25 Hyères" by Antoine Asseraf - excerpt. "Digging for Victory" installation by Ethan Hayes-Chute and Jean-Paul Lespagnard.

Caroline Daily : Would you maybe like to make films?

I think that I could make films with my collections. If you want, when I conceive of a collection, it is often a starting point for other things. I use the collection to inspire other artistic projects. For example, in Hyères last year, I started the nature-themed collection–I didn’t really have enough money at that time to develop an entire collection–so I developed a variety of silhouettes and as I was creating the collection, I was developing a story. The story is that during the night, in Brussels, I was coming out of a discotheque and I met a sorcerer who gave me magic seeds and who asked me what I dreamt of doing. I told her that my dream was to become a fashion designer. So she gave me the seeds and told me to spread them in the dirt so that they grow. So, I planted the seeds and then, they became trees. And when I cut the trees down, they became live beings. And these live beings became my assistants who would help me make the collection. So, in the collection, there were at least two silhouettes that looked like war camouflage, which reflected this idea of fighting a battle to get the collection finished and combined the idea of combat and the idea of nature.

I continued the nature theme through out the collection and also in the cabana that I created at the festival. The cabana was an installation at the festival and was in fact my studio, which I had moved from Brussels to Hyeres. And in the cabana, my “tree assistant” was helping me sew garments for the collection. I could have put anyone in the tree outfit, but it was very important that it be one of my assistants or one of my interns. We always put the designer on display and we forget to show the team behind the designer. So, it was important to put my assistant, who helped me with the collection, in the tree/camouflage battle outfit.

So, for this current collection with the truck, I am not sure what other projects it will generate, but I know that I would like to make some installations and to do a project with a photographer.

"Ce Jeu" by Yelle. Video by Yoann Lemoine. Styling by Jean-Paul Lespagnard.

So, Yelle came to you with some ideas…

I met Julie just after the festival, right when she was about to make a new video for their song “Ce Jeu”. A friend of mine, Yoann Lemoine,  was directing the video and he introduced Julie to my work and she really like it. So she contacted me to do the styling on the video. After that, she had a tour the US and she asked me to collaborate on the costumes for it. After that, we stayed in contact and most recently, they asked me to create the costumes for their album “Safari Disco Club”. They told me what they wanted. It was a really interesting collaboration because there was a real exchange and sharing of ideas. They showed me images and explained why they liked certain things and I told them that I liked certain things too and showed them plenty of references, some Belgian. We constructed something together for the album art. And I think that we will continue to collaborate. We have already started to talk about other projects… merchandising….

When I spoke to them the other day, I asked what the visual concept was for the album Safari Disco Club. They said that it was a mix of fun and elegance….

That also describes my universe: making a link between fun and elegance. With Julie, we talked a lot about how I wanted her to show her elegant side now. For example, the other day she went to the Castelbajac show and beforehand, she came by the showroom to try on different outfits. We had a lot of outfits that were funny, like the pieces that we used for the video “Ce Jeu”. But we decided on something different, something more elegant. Something that is “the new Julie”. There is always humor in the outfits, like the clogs and the pendant with my portrait on it, but there is something more refined about the look.

They have grown so much (Yelle) and I am so proud of them. I admire the fact that after putting out their first album with a huge record label, they have decided to leave that label to do something on their own, with their own vision.  Its really great. Visually it’s better and we can see how much they are growing as artists. I identify with this–I am still a young designer, but I feel that we have a similar path.

"Don't Worry Bee Happy" Making-Of.

Are you engaged in other collaborations at the moment?

Yes, there are other artistic collaborations that I am working on. I am leaving on the 16th of March to go to San Francisco to make the costumes for a dance performance, choreographed by of an American choreographer with whom I work often. Her name is Meg Stuart. When she shows her work in Paris, it is usually at the Theatre de la Ville. She is based in Berlin. I also have project with another American choreographer named Jeremy Wade. He is also based in Berlin.

We would like to hitchhike for two weeks in the United States dressed up like bees!  I recently did a photo exposition where I photographed dressed like a bee, Maya the Bee, on top of the Mayan Temples. I wanted to comment on tourism in Mexico. Also I thought, “when you go to Disneyland, you dress in Mickey Mouse ears. Well, when you go to the Mayan Temples, you dress like Maya the Bee”.  I was also exploring how people present themselves as tourists in another country. Whenever I am working on an artistic project, I think often about the questions around identity and how I present myself as an artist.

For the moment, I have all of those projects and I have the new collection which I have already started working on. And while I am in San Francisco, I am going to take a tour of the Hearst Castle, which was the inspiration for the Xanadu Mansion in Citizen Kane. Apparently it is the “Vatican” of the United States and I really want to see it.

Meg Stuart project, costumes by Jean-Paul Lespagnard.

You have a lot of costume projects? Do you want to stay in pret-a-porter fashion or could you see yourself solely doing costume work?

I don’t think that I could see myself only doing costume work. I like to be involved in a lot of projects at once–it is the constant creativity and the creative mix that interests me. If I am not being creative, my life has no meaning.

Caroline Daily: What was the first article or review you had in the press?

The first article on me was in the newspaper of my hometown. I had done an expo in the stairwell of the town hall and it received a lot of different reactions. My piece was part of an expo for the artists of the village. They invited me to put a piece in the show and my piece was an installation that was three meters high of a woman who transformed into a tree.

Can you talk about the clogs on which you collaborated with Nathalie Elharrar of LaRare ?

We wanted to have a “countryside” element to the styling of my collection and that is why I wanted to have a futurist-looking clog. So I collaborated with Nathalie Elharrar, who has a brand of shoes called Larare. I really wanted to have something traditional that had a futuristic side and something that had a hand-made spirit. In the collection, I wanted to find a balance between something robotic and something artisanal. I wanted to highlight the artisanal side with a pair of wooden clogs.

What is the last thing that stimulated you?

Honestly, I see things that stimulate me every day. Often it is something that I have never seen and I think “wow”. Something that is stimulating me at the moment is something that I saw about a year ago in Brussels–it was show of Romeo Castellucci “Inferno, Paradiso and Purgatorio” I would like to use that for my next collection.

Thanks to Lynsey Peisinger for her precious help transcribing and translating this interview.

“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