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Championing creativity

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Work / Events

Somerset House Studios launches its first public programme

Words by Bryony Stone, Thursday 01 December 2016

Somerset’s House Studios’ first public programme has been announced. The programme, including events, performances, guest curations, critical discussions and artist-led trips, will launch next week with performance interventions from experimental performance groups Forest Fringe and Fuel Theatre.

To celebrate its tenth birthday, artist-led Forest Fringe are leading a three-day gathering on “memory, survival and resistance”, while theatre producers Fuel will present The Situation Room, a space where “artists, musicians and academics can engage with current issues”.

Having remade what were Inland Revenue offices into eclectic studios for “artists, makers and thinkers” in October, the Somerset House Studios project has already proved itself. Among the impressively diverse roster of creatives holed-up in the Studios are experimental musician Graham Dunning, designer Charles Jeffrey and Minimaforms, an art, architecture and design practise. Want to be a part of it? Applications to join the community are open until 7 December.

www.somersethouse.org.uk

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Azeema – the magazine empowering women of colour – is bolder and more beautiful than ever 15 November 2018
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Last Thursday (1 November), magazine fanatics headed to Holborn for the annual ModMag event. Organised by beloved magazine shop MagCulture, the day has become a must for anyone whose calendar is filled with magazine release schedules, giving readers the opportunity to hear personal stories behind the pagination.

Lucy Bourton — 06 November 2018
Work / Illustration Ghost Comics Festival shines a light on Glasgow’s alternative comics scene

“I think the comics industry is full of people who’ve tried it, and then never done it again because what’s the point really if no one seems to care?” questions Ghost Comics Festival’s founder, João Sobral. But, thankfully, João isn’t one of those people. Instead he happens “to be obsessed with comics in such a way that seeing talented people give it up makes me sad.” In the spirit of not giving up, João is hosting a one-day festival takes place this Saturday at Glasgow’s The Space, bringing together an eclectic array of innovative local talent celebrating the art of comic books.

Jyni Ong — 26 October 2018
Work / Events "We’re reimagining the process of creativity”: our highlights from Adobe MAX 2018

With 14,000 attendees, hundreds of hours of creative talks and workshops, a conference centre the size of a city airport and Beck (yes, Beck) playing his hits live in a baseball stadium, it’s fair to say Adobe’s creative conference MAX, lives up to its name.

It's Nice That — 22 October 2018
Work / Events Books From the Future talk us through its workshop on disaster in contemporary culture

Based in London, Books From the Future is the collaborative practice of Joshua Trees and Yvan Martinez. The duo work at the intersection of research, education and publishing, using BFTF as a means to explore the models used to structure contemporary art and design education that are “no longer relevant yet have become so institutionalised and internalised that alternatives can seem wildly idealistic and unrealistic by comparison.”

Ruby Boddington — 17 August 2018
Media Partnership / Events The other side: AGI Open Mexico explores what it means “to live on opposite sides of an imaginary wall”

Each year, members of the Alliance Graphique Internationale – a professional association of the world’s leading graphic artists and designers – convene in a different city for the AGI Congress, a chance to debate the profession, share knowledge and offer inspiration and encouragement to future creatives. The student-focused conferences have previously taken place in Seoul, São Paolo, London, Barcelona and, most recently, Paris. This year will see members gather in Mexico over the 28–29 September at the country’s National Conservatory of Music.

Ellie Robertson — 08 August 2018
Media Partnership / Events 180 Creative Camp: a week of making, chatting and exploring in the Portuguese countryside

From 1–8 July 2018, It’s Nice That visited 180 Creative Camp in Abrantes, Portugal. Below we give a round-up of the week spent creatively exploring different disciplines with a distinct point of view.

Lucy Bourton — 23 July 2018

Work / Publication Slanted magazine turns its eye on Dubai and finds a growing design-led city

Dubai is often seen as a city with more shine than soul – an air-conditioned bubble with lots of commerce but little creativity. Design publisher Slanted believed the same until its founder and creative director, Lars Harmsen, got offered a position as associate professor at the American university of Sharjah and spent six months in The United Arab Emirates.

Laura Isabella — 15 November 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Mahaneela on the benefits of being a multidisciplinary creative

During the beginning of Mahaneela’s talk at October’s Nicer Tuesdays, the multidisciplinary creative showed a slide listing all of the job titles she’s adopted over the years. “Photographer, director, writer, digital strategist, consultant, communications manager, event curator, music manager, producer, project manager, make up artist, stylist, public speaker,” it read, and the rest of Mahaneela’s talk went on to prove how being a jack of all trades may be the best way to put a foot forward in the creative industry.

It's Nice That — 15 November 2018
Work / Digital Random Studio's latest project is a physical art history search engine for children

Dutch designers Random Studio know a thing or two about creating cutting-edge experiences which interrogate the relationship between art, design, and technology. With its latest project, Random Studio looking to change the way we think about search engines.

Josh Baines — 15 November 2018
Work / Photography Timothy Sean O'Connell photographs Ireland through the eyes of a first generation Irish American

Photography series’ documenting places and their communities are a regular feature on It’s Nice That. We’re always interested in the way a practising photographer can lend a specific outlook to a place, uncover a detail about it only known to the locals who live there. That’s eye-opening, no matter the artist or the location. Timothy Sean O’Connell is a photographer who knows this process well, spending the past four years documenting the ever changing and intrinsic relationships that scatter across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Lucy Bourton — 15 November 2018
Work / Publication Azeema – the magazine empowering women of colour – is bolder and more beautiful than ever

Sometimes publications just hit the nail on the head; their pages filled with stories that resonate and speak to audiences. They manage to highlight important issues but tackle them in beautiful and challenging ways. Azeema is one of those publications. Created by founding editor and art director Jameela Elfaki, deputy editor Noor Alabdulbaqi and senior editor Sunayah Arshad, with new additions culture editor Evar Hussayni and fashion editor at large Ella Lucia, Azeema is an independent title exploring strength and femininity within Middle Eastern, North African and South Asian women and women of colour.

Ruby Boddington — 15 November 2018
Work / Art “The beauty of abstraction”: Christoph Niemann on his new mural for a Berlin train station

Illustrator and artist Christoph Niemann was in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee yesterday afternoon unveiling a colourful tiled mural in a pedestrian tunnel. Two 40-metre works run along the walls of the tunnel, which leads into the local train station, and depict scenes from Wannsee’s past and present.

Matt Alagiah — 15 November 2018

Work / Exhibition Seulgi Lee’s textiles artwork acts as a means of anthropological theory

Seulgi Lee’s new solo exhibition opens today (15 November 2018) at Seoul’s Gallery Hyundai. With a practice that focuses on textiles and installation, the Paris-based artist creates a visual examination of anthropological theories through the intricately engineered pieces. She applies new meanings to banal objects such as blankets which utilise traditional Korean hand-quilting techniques, Nubi. The use of Nubi emphasises the importance of Korean oral culture in Seulgi’s work. Historic Korean proverbs, which are expressed verbally, are translated into geometric textile patterns that tie into the artist’s interest in the origins of colour; particularly within the artist’s native culture.

Jyni Ong — 15 November 2018
Work / Graphic Design Kristine Kawakubo’s handmade books focus on typographic experimentation

For many of us graphic design enthusiasts, there can be a disconnect between the design process and the bookbinding. For the graphic designer Kristine Kawakubo, the art of handmade bookbinding is at the centre of her design process from conception to completion. Experimentation is the key to Kristine’s beautifully hand-bound books as the type and imagery interact to create unique compositions. Speaking to It’s Nice That, she discusses how “when you actually experience the whole process of book making, you are inspired by the tactility of materials and the book’s structure”, which enhances an understanding of the entire design process.

Jyni Ong — 15 November 2018
Work / Publication Early Russian colour photography and Spaghetti Westerns collide in new book from S_U_N

Bill Sullivan’s Pure Country is an exploration of the history of colour image-making, told via Sergey Prokudin-Gorskii’s early colour photography, “remixed and recast” by Bill; representing “the Russian landscape in the manner of a Spaghetti Western… transposing the look and feel of the United States with that of 20th Century Russia”. It’s a complex set up, with two poles, dual histories of both places and colour image-making. “It all started when I first came across the images of The Russian photographer and colour scientist, Sergei Produkin Gorskii, about eight years ago – they just stopped me in my tracks”, Bill tells It’s Nice That.

Billie Muraben — 14 November 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Illustrator Grace Helmer on protecting her work life balance

Illustrator Grace Helmer joined us from her south London studio for Nicer Tuesdays October, discussing how keeping her practice personal has encouraged herself, and her client base, to grow.

It's Nice That — 14 November 2018
Work / Publication Music, experimental typesetting and Buckfast: Left Alone Zine returns

Run by Alex Gross and Ashton Holland, east London club night Left Alone has garnered a healthy – and loyal – group of attendees who come to nod their heads to whichever under-the-radar DJ or artist the duo has decided to champion. In July of 2017, Alex and Ashton released the Left Alone Zine, an outlet to produce something physical from these basements nights, and the second issue has just followed.

Ruby Boddington — 14 November 2018
Work / Art Take a look inside John Booth’s exuberant and chaotic dream bedroom

In The Artist’s Bedroom, John Booth has fulfilled the pretty much universal dream of creating the bedroom of his teenage dreams. The immersive installation represents the variety of expressions and forms integral to John’s multidisciplinary practice – layers of colour, patterns and floral displays – and takes them a step further. There are portrait vases and prints, printed cushion covers and woollen floor rugs, mirrors, ceramic side tables, a desk and a hand-painted bed, as well as an embroidered sweatshirt draped over the artist’s chair, espresso cups, and a ceramic pencil holder. And all of it is for sale.

Billie Muraben — 14 November 2018

Work / Film Greg Barth directs Easy Life’s new music video about nightmares

The director Greg Barth is known for his live action videos full of animated colours and crisp visual content. From adverts for MailChimp about a black hole, to surreal self-initiated films, Greg’s director’s vision is candidly punchy and rich with expressive narratives. His latest endeavour releases today and involves the music video for the up-and-coming band Easy Life. The track, titled Nightmares, debuted on Jools Holland last month and shortly after, Greg agreed to direct the music video in his personal aesthetic approach.

Jyni Ong — 14 November 2018
Work / Miscellaneous PlayLab, Inc. says it doesn't “want to do the same thing twice” in its practice

PlayLab, Inc. is a creative studio working across the disciplines of art, architecture and graphic design to bring innovative ideas and experiences to life. With a portfolio of over 240 projects executed since the studio’s inception in 2009, the New-York based practice takes on a variety of projects. From architectural branding to a compilation of all the times Joaquin Phoenix has walked in his films titled Walking Phoenix, this multidisciplinary studio is centred around strong concepts and intriguing visuals.

Jyni Ong — 14 November 2018
Work / Photography Cornelius de Bill Baboul's latest project is "like Baudelaire in the age of McDonalds"

Cornelius de Bill Baboul’s latest project sees the Berlin-based artist ask and answer a simple question. What, he wondered, would happen if you let white flowers sit and stew in half-filled bottles of the sort of lurid energy drinks that men with seriously swollen arms clutch to their heavily-developed chests at the gym?

Josh Baines — 14 November 2018
Work / Film Palestine Underground shines a light on the West Bank’s underground music scene  

Palestine Underground is a 25 minute documentary released by Boiler Room today. The film documents the flourishing underground music scene in Occupied Palestinian Territory, the West Bank. Shot last June, the film follows alternative Palestinian music collectives, including techno DJs, hip-hop producers and rappers, over a week in the lead up to Boiler Room’s first party in Ramallah.
 
The Palestinian artists are blossoming in their creativity despite enforced constraints from the Israeli government; and although their movements are restricted and there is a midnight curfew, the Palestinian music scene refuses to dwindle, as seen in the film’s interviewees, who are brimming with musical passion and freedom of expression.
 
Produced by Boiler Room’s Anaïs Brémond and directed by BBC and Channel 4 documentary filmmaker Jess Kelly, Palestine Underground “connects the dots between club culture and cinema to stretch the boundaries of what a film experience can be”, recording a musical subculture that is little known in the West. The director Jess tells It’s Nice That that “this was exactly the kind of project I was looking for.” The filmmaker and journalist explains: “I’d been doing a lot of current affairs documentaries and I was keen to make a film where I could have more artistic freedom and the scenes breathe.”
 
Jess is a freelance documentary maker who made a career in filmmaking after studying Arabic at university. “Documentaries are a good way of mixing the language with my interest in what’s going on in the Middle East as well as visual creativity”, says Jess. Having made numerous films in the Arab-speaking world, Palestine Underground continues the director’s legacy of “challenging the stereotypes that we have in the West about this part of the world.”
 
The film seamlessly represents differing depictions of the complex environment of the West Bank. The unlawful Israeli raids are intertwined with segments of the booming music scene to accurately convey the disturbing sociopolitical tones that the West Bank’s artists endure. Of the filming process, Jess explains, “I’ve filmed in the West Bank and Gaza so it wasn’t a big shock, but the reality of that separation wall and the heavy Israeli military prescience is not something you could ever get used to.” For Jess and the rest of the production crew, one of the most significant scenes that was essential to execute accurately, is the road trip scene with Jazr crew from Haifa to the West Bank. “As Palestinians with Israeli passports, they have the privilege of being able to travel freely from Israel into the West Bank, but people in the West Bank can’t do the reverse. To even leave the West Bank they have to apply to the Israeli authorities for a permit, and it’s often denied”, the director explains. “It was really important to me to capture their mood during that trip, which was a mix of excitement and anger or unease at the fact that they have to cross that separation wall to get to their friends. It makes them feel like outsiders.”
 
From our privileged, European positions in front of the TV, we are presented with a media angle that focuses on Palestine’s destroyed areas of Gaza. However Jess describes the West Bank as “incredibly beautiful and peaceful.” The discovery of the music scene immediately evoked the “tight knit community of people” that are a part of Ramallah’s music scene, “and as a Londoner, I really envy that”.
 
Members of the production team spent a year getting to know some of the artists online before going out to the West Bank as a lot of the musicians are rightfully suspicious of the Western media misrepresenting the complicated political situation. The level of trust between the film crew and the artists is evident, particularly in the opening scene where the DJ Oddz jumps the separation wall into Israel. The intimate footage throughout the film similarly interweaves between the devotion to music and the brutal political tensions demonstrated by the handheld camera footage of Oddz crossing the wall. While going over it, he says: “you can’t build a wall and say you can’t go and do this, it’s music, it’s a right for everyone”. For Jess, this quote and the physical action of crossing the wall “sums it up”. The artists risk their lives for their right to musical expression.
 
Although Palestinian musicians face multiple restrictions on a daily basis which “rile up” Jess and the rest of the production team; it induces inspiration for what these artists have achieved and their musical talents. Finally, when asked about the future for the communities in the West Bank, Jess adds: “sadly, I don’t think the future looks bright in terms of the political situation for people in the West Bank, especially now under the Trump administration. But there’s still a lot we can do as individuals. One of the best things we can do is visit the West Bank. It’s not a ‘danger zone’ like the Israeli authorities refer to, it’s a beautiful place to visit. There’s an incredible underground music scene to discover, too.”

Jyni Ong — 13 November 2018
Work / Graphic Design “How does an identity express itself in 3D?”: Common Name on design for environments

For New York-based graphic design studio Common Name, working in exhibition design – or design for an environment – offers the opportunity to work with the otherwise elusive third dimension. “Most design applications in the print or digital space exist in two dimensions or, at least, are displayed on a 2D surface. Working in the environment allows us to think about how physical scale and perspective shift a viewer’s understanding or experience of content” co-founders Yoonjai Choi and Ken Meier tell It’s Nice That.

Billie Muraben — 13 November 2018
Work / Illustration Courtney Barnett discusses her love for illustrators, animators and her own creativity too

Courtney Barnett is a name audiences will recognise for her songwriting more than her practice as a creative. Beloved since the release of 2013’s The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas and her debut record Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit in 2015, the Australian musician’s own illustrations have sat on covers, lightly illustrated in black and white with use of an impactful spot colour or two. The use of her work on these covers always giving audiences a glimpse into another side of Courtney, masterful at using a pen to illustrate as well as write.

Lucy Bourton — 13 November 2018

Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Studio Dumbar on how it encourages its team to find their voices as designers

Joining us from her home in Rotterdam for October’s Nicer Tuesdays was Liza Enebeis, creative director of the renowned Studio Dumbar.

It's Nice That — 13 November 2018
Work / Photography Sophie Green's latest project ventures into England's unlikely cowboy country

“Human life is so eclectic,” says photographer Sophie Green. “There are so many different facets of life, and people to be celebrated. I make photography to connect and communicate. I think that photography can have a huge influence on people; it’s a universal language than can reach everybody.”

Josh Baines — 13 November 2018
Work / Photography Chow and Lin documents the world’s inequality of wealth using Google Earth

Chow and Lin – AKA Stefen Chow and Lin Huiyi – is a married couple whose collaborative practice lies in the “methodology of statistical, mathematical and computational techniques to address global issues”. The duo’s work involves probing into “big data” such as satellite imagery that reduces individuals and societies into data points. Stefen and Huiyi’s aim is to draw attention to social issues through problematising multiple issues in society. Speaking to It’s Nice That about their latest project Homeless, the artists explore the inequality of the most privileged sociopolitical environments, and the least, through a large-scale photographic installation.

Jyni Ong — 13 November 2018
Work / Photography Etinosa Yvonne's poignant photographic montages reflect on trauma and memory

Is it possible to “move on” from a traumatic event? What does it take to make peace with the thoughts and memories of a difficult past? How does society help or hinder individuals affected by PTSD?

Daphne Milner — 12 November 2018
Work / Publication Design studio work-form talk awkward typography, black holes and metallic gold

Everything is Sculpture: Immaterial Constructions, Material Realities developed out of a series of talks held by the Royal College of Art’s sculpture department on issues and ideas relating to the production of, and potential contexts for, sculpture today. Designed by London-based studio, work-form, the publication is a magpie’s dream – oversized, metallic gold and glossier than a 90s hair advert.

Billie Muraben — 12 November 2018
Work / Digital Boook.Land is a new and massively collaborative approach to novel writing

Tied in to the ever-popular National Novel Writing Month scheme — which sees aspiring and established novelists producing a 50,000 word manuscript in November’s 30 dark and dismal days — Boook.Land is one of the most intriguing and exciting digital propositions come across in quite a while.

Josh Baines — 12 November 2018

Sponsored / Digital Creatives ask ANNA — the accounting app set to manage your freelance invoices — their burning questions

You might remember ANNA from an article we wrote profiling its creative campaign and concept, when it first launched.

Sponsored Content — 12 November 2018
Work / Graphic Design SomethingMoon is one of the few designers working in independent publishing in Macau

SomethingMoon is a design studio in Macau and sometimes Taipei. The studio’s output includes beautifully bound books, typographic identities, web design and more. Despite the variety of output, each project is highly refined and crafted with a sense of distinct character. With such a mammoth output, it is surprising to know that SomethingMoon is in fact, only one designer, Ck Chiwai Cheang. Garnering international acclaim for the last ten years from Warsaw’s International Poster Biennale to the Tokyo TDC Annual Awards, Ck’s powerful design output champions independent arts and cultural groups in Macau.

Jyni Ong — 12 November 2018
Work / Photography “Photography can illuminate multiple identities”: Makena Mambo on her series, A Part of Me

Makena Mambo is a Kenyan-American photographer, filmmaker and writer based in New York City. Her latest photographic project, A Part of Me, draws on her cultural heritage through a series of soft, elegantly shot images of two close family friends.

Daphne Milner — 12 November 2018
Features / Graphic Design Combining thoughtful design and big business: an interview with Made Thought

For Ben Parker and Paul Austin, the founders of London-based design agency Made Thought, a brand should consider its identity as the “current coat you’re putting on”. In turn, Made Thought’s process of creating an identity is akin to designing a tailored winter coat.

Lucy Bourton — 12 November 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: photographer Molly Matalon's mix for wandering around New York in fall

When LA-based photographer Molly Matalon is commissioned to take a photograph of a band, the final images are guaranteed to catch your eye. Firstly, you’ll recognise the shots as distinctively Molly’s thanks to her particular eye for light-filled compositions. Then you’ll slowly start to decipher who the musician is, even if you’ve listened to them hundreds of times. Molly’s got a way with photographing people, you see. She picks up on personalities and extenuates them, whether it’s in the way Lana Del Ray is posed sitting on a staircase or the way Starcrawler’s Arrow de Wilde is holding a chicken, we even saw it in Molly’s ability to work with Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh.

Lucy Bourton — 09 November 2018
Work / Animation Rudo Company skilfully transmits the emotion of fear in a colourful video for Siamés

You might recognise Rudo Company’s animation style from a video clip they created for Fer Suniga and Siamés last year. Currently at 57 million views on YouTube, it will come as little surprise that Siamés came back to Rudo Company’s directors Pablo Rafael Rodán and Ezequiel Torres for more. Mr Fear was Pablo’s favourite song on Siamés’ new album, and so the story boarding and animation process began.

Laura Isabella — 09 November 2018

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