In 2010 the National Geographic Society commissioned the Blackheart Gang to replicate an event that they witnessed more than a hundred years ago which later proved to change the world as we know it.

The words “irrelevant nonsense” springs to mind when examining this infamous dinner party, which took place near the end of the War of Threes. In this depiction we find The two Netherwoods (Arrabella and her son Christiaan), the Enduring Red Fountain (the lord of running waters of the Swartberg), and of course a few key figures in the tribe of exiled Piranhas.

Have a look at it here…

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The Gang was invited by Jonathan Wells (founder of Resfest) to exhibit at the Scion Gallery in Culver City Los Angeles. The show will showcase 8 emerging artists/filmmakers/designers from around the world. Show opens on Saturday Aug. 16th. The exhibit will cover most of the Tale of How project including the film, making of films, the full print series, sculptures and our brand spanking new hot from the press Tale of How Book. Jannes will be there to represent the Gang and to enjoy the warm soothing californian sunshine.

http://www.scion.com/space/index.html

http://flux.net/flux-super-8-the-blackheart-gang

here is a little video preview of all the works showcased at the exhibition:

Scion Presents: FLUX SUPER 8 from Scion ART on Vimeo.

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In the Autumn of 1885 the Blackheart gang set forth on a daring quest into the Bogworld. Their mission was to find and interview the illusive Rooster Bear. Rooster’s mind, as many a scholar will tell you, was a well of secrets, as he had had privy to some of the most profound historical documentation during his service in the KGB (the Knightly Guards of Beardom.) Following his defection from the KGB in the winter of 1878,  Rooster had to escape Mosstoe disguised as a sea otter, and fled to Bogworld were he now lives in fierce seclusion, writing explosive exposes on the history of the world and semi-fact based political thrillers.

The members of the Blackheart gang, who are of course all cunning and brave, took with them their autobiographer, a slight Indonesian man named Nyoman Kenak Dana. Not only was this a great opportunity to document their journey in the manner of traditional Indonesian sketches, but amongst themselves they also considered Nyoman Kenak Dana to be a sort of walking lunch box for when times got hard.*

Here we can see Nyoman’s marvelous representation of Rooster, a few days before his murder.

(*see the Poem by Markus Smit “Well done friends” for the account of how Ree had fattened up the small Indonesian artist before the adventure commenced.)

The Fog of pages

The world at large is filled with misery and heartache, the Bogworld doubly so. One of the terrors that The Blackheart gang were faced with during the search for Rooster Bear was of course the notorious Fog of Pages that surrounds Roosters home. Note that even when faced with the most sinister of perils the Blackheart gang, who are of course cunning and brave, find the time to pose for the picture. I leave you now with an exert from their journal:

Day 129, The Fog of pages.
The bellowing clouds below have turned out not to be clouds at all, but rather a Fog of white pages. There are millions of them fluttering around us, steadily reducing our visibility. On occasion I read some of the pages to pass the laborious hours. They are all from manuscripts and books. I am unable to form any sort of narrative amongst them. I have encouraged the others to stop eating these pages, though I fear that all communication is lost between us. Ree seems to have taken to some whimsical flights of fancy induced by severe dementia, or ink poisoning. She seems to believe that we are surrounded by magical snowflakes or something. Earlier today a page got stuck to Jannes’ face and he ran away screaming that he was blind, we had to catch him and pin him down. We are in a bad way. Soon we will be dead.

 Ol’ Lonely

Here we see the home of Rooster Bear as seen from beyond Ol’ lonely, the forest which borders the hill. Ol’ lonely is a part of a family of very rare Acti Fauna called Dubblecromian Tight-ropes. These creatures are hermaphrodites, and have a male and female head on each end of their bodies. These massive creatures can be cleverly tricked into becoming mobile security fences if they are wrapped around hills or mountains. The reason for this is quite simple, in general the male head is completely enthralled by the female head, where as the female head rarely wants anything to do with the male head. And so the slowly revolve around the hill, the male always approaching and the female always stepping politely away from her pursuer.

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If a book was a hat:
If we were to imagine that a coffee table was a person, then the Tale of How coffee table book should be considered to be some sort of fabulous wig or magical hat that the above-mentioned person could wear out to parties and things. Theses Parties will probably share very little resemblance to your average “birthday-cake-and-balloon” jobs.

The Tale of How is a bitter dark fantasy. Following the success of the Tale of How animation, The Blackheart Gang finally got round to finish the final stage of the project by creating a coffee table book. The 40 page book includes a DVD with the animation, the print series and a biography of the author and the never before heard account of how the Blackheart gang murdered the above mentioned author and stole his story.

The Tale of How coffee table book makes for a great present for children and widows alike.

You can purchase the book as of 1 July from our online shop.

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So we (Shy the Sun and the Blackheart Gang) just got back from New York. It was alot of fun, if not a bit hazy. Not only did we get to speak at the international F5 festival (with other speakers such as Elan Lee, 1st avenue machine and Charlie White) but we also got kicked out of some of the most respected venues in the world.

http://f5fest.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/f5fest/sets/72157617189452136/

http://starworksny.com/blog/2009/04/22/f5/

We made some videos for our presentation at the F5 festival in New York and here they are:

The theme we were given was Art versus Commerce, heres our intro:

and here’s some background on us and where we come from:

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In April the Gang will be leaving sunny Africa to go and talk at F5 in New York city. F5 is a gathering of the world’s greatest creative minds, and so we are very excited to meet all these interesting individuals! We plan to introduce ourselves in an informative yet theatrical way. Talking about our commercial endeavors, artistic vision and different projects that we are involved in. Have a look:

http://f5fest.com/

http://f5fest.com/speakers/blackheart-gang/

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Markus and Jannes will be speaking at the Design Indaba conference on the 26/02/09. Their revealing retrospective talk will  examine the interpersonal dynamics which lead to the gangs work.

http://www.designindaba.com/

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boom, Boom, BOOM!. It’s coming! Can you feel it? There is something on its way that will change your life, or at least your coffee table, forever. The Blackheart gang is shrouded in shadow, we do not spill our secrets easily. We want you to wonder. Wonder at what it could be? And when May it appear?

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http://www.vimeo.com/1515767

The Blackheart Gang’s Jannes Hendrikz and Ree Treweek started a commercial production company, Shy the Sun, along with producer Nina Pfeiffer. Their first job, United Airlines, kick started the company in September 2007 and was completed February this year. United was a unique job because they were given an open brief to do what they wished with enough time to craft it to perfection in cinema resolution. The agency BDM gave them incredible guidance to complete an amazing international campaign.

Credits:

Client: United Airlines
Agency: Barrie D’Rozario Murphy

Exec. Creative Directors: Stuart D’Rozario, Bob Barrie
Copywriter: Phil Calvit
Art Director: James Zucco
Agency Producers: Holly Stone / Jack Steinmann

Directors/Animation: Jannes Hendrikz and Ree Treweek (Shy the Sun)
3D Modelling & Animation: Arri Reschke & Claudio Pavan (Lung Animation)
Production Company: DUCK Studios
Exec Producer: Mark Medernach
Producer: Nina Pfeiffer

Music Arrangement: Trivers & Myers
Sound Design/ Mix: Ken Chastain, Pixel Farm

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As surely as
Blood down the plughole
Turns the wheel
Which is the heart
Of the archaic house
So to the fact
that it was all built by a mouse
The father of the home
In his turning spiral throne
In the centre of the wheel
which is the heart.

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