The Most Interesting Person

This is Most Interesting Person

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:27:00 +0000

Short Film explaining The Symposium of Interesting and The Most Interesting Person project.

International Portraits - hosted by Talvin Singh

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:55:00 +0000

This trail that began with the musical prodigy Talvin Singh, Mercury Music Prize winner for his genre-defining album OK.

Traveller by Talvin Singh on Grooveshark

Singh led us to his tailor John Pearse, a mainstay in the world of British tailoring. Pearse led us to famed artist, the late Sebastian Horsely.

Talvin Singh

is the host of this trail

Talvin Singh - Musician

John Pearse

is the most interesting person of Talvin Singh

John Pearse - Tailor

Please donate to our campaign to build a website that will bring our entire library of images, text, films and music, online. Visit support.themostinterestingperson.com

Director / Interviewer - Stuart Acker Holt
Producer - Kate Michaelson
Camera (Talvin Singh) - Patxi Gil Crénier
Camera (John Pearse) - Irena Dragic

International Portraits - Hosted by Victoria Burrows

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:50:00 +0000

A series of portraits of all participants in the Most Interesting Person network. Over the coming weeks I will be posting a new trail from our library every few days, offering a visual tease to our campaign in bringing the library online. Taking off from Gualhuros International. Reaching altitude over a vast, concrete, automotive-mad city. My face fixed to my window, willing the plane to dip its wings in my favour. Below me a carpet of rusty Barrios, embroidered with white villas and shimmering pools, patch-worked into a quilt of tragic economics. That is what it is like to leave Sâo Paulo by plane. We land in a vast, concrete, automotive-mad city, patch-worked with lavishness and poverty. 14 hours later, we descend over the Hollywood hills and touch down in L.A.X. Playing such a grandiose game of snap unnerved me. While Sâo Paulo meshes a haphazard array of every type of everything all at once, in your face, all the time. L.A. does not confront your face, or challenge you to explore its heart. It is really a mirage in the desert, a non-place, an enormous movie location. Imported, constructed, stunning, impressive, new. Hard to find emotionally. The locals are there because of movies, even if they aren't in movies. Movies is their business, their industry. Like coal makes Yorkshiremen gritty, movies make the Los Angelians lose the plot. Arnold at work in LA Which is not to say that the people I interviewed were not absolutely lovely, and friendly. I have never been to a place where charity and doing good in some pro-active way featured so strongly in the cultural psyche. Doing good, being good and the astonishing bond between Hollywood celebrity and pet sanctuary. Welcome to L.A. Victoria Burrows is the host of this trail
Victoria Burrows - Discovered Keanu Reeves

Victoria Burrows is one of Hollywood's great casting agents. She discovered Keanu Reeves and other stars of famous films so numerous, I have to scroll down on IMDB. She took me to award winning actor Leo Grillo, and on this journey we were also taken to Hollywood legend, Tippi Hedren from Hitchcock's, 'The Birds' . But never once did I see the inside of a studio or a casting couch, or even a clapper board. But I saw fleets of dogs and cats, a couple of lions, a jaguar, and an assortment of other wild animals.

Leo Grillo

is the most interesting person of Victoria Burrows

Leo Grillo runs D.E.L.T.A

Award-winning actor, Leo Grillo runs the most advanced dog sanctuary in the world. A five star resort dedicated to dogs (and not a few of cats - pictured). The facility and its staff care for dogs who have suffered in some way, such as a one I was introduced to who was rescued from war in Baghdad. Once they arrive they suffer no longer, until the day they die. Their homes come complete with waste absorbent soil, their enclosures are large, cleaned daily and monitored 24 hours.

Dr. Gaylord Brown

is the most interesting person of Leo Grillo

Dr. Gaylord Brown is head physician at D.E.L.T.A

Gaylord Brown is head of the medical operation at D.E.L.T.A working with state of the art equipment that would make the Harley Street Clinic blush.

Tippi Hedren

is the most interesting person of Dr. Gaylord Brown

Tippi Hedren, defines silver screen glamour

One of the most memorable visions was Tippi Hedren, full of glamour and class, walking at Sunset in her stilettos along the dirt path alongside her Jaguar enclosure. Her mission is to protect the wild animals abandoned by uncouth Americans when they realise that wild cats will eat them.

Chris Galluccio

is the most interesting person of Tippi Hedren

Chris was a Hells Angels biker turned animal lover. More specifically, Elephants. His story is one of a transformed man, who lived with an elephant till the day it died. His story touched Tipi Hedren so much, that he now runs her Wild Cat Sanctuary.

Director / Interviewer - Stuart Acker Holt
Camera - Arnold Beauttenmuller
Special Thank You - London Garcia

Please donate to our campaign to build a website that will bring our entire library of images, text, films and music, online. Visit support.themostinterestingperson.com

International Portraits - Hosted by The Stereo MCs

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:25:00 +0000

A series of portraits of all participants in the Most Interesting Person network. Over the coming weeks I will be posting a new trail from our library every few days, offering a visual tease to our campaign in bringing the library online. All photographs by me, Stuart Holt, unless otherwise stated.

This first trail was documented in 2010 over a period of just a day in May by me, Arnold and Kate Michaelson. I remember the day because it was the one where the Conservatives and the Lib Dems split the rent at number 10, I'd thought they'd make terrible flat-mates, which goes to show you never know what goes on behind closed doors.

I had been talking about interviewing the Stereo MCs for some time. I was in my late teens when their seminal dance hit, 'Connected' was released. I think a lot of people identified that moment with a new convergence in mainstream music with rave music. It was a very exciting time because their music was still underground and gritty, but was in the top 20 in the charts for ever. They also represented a London sound and attitude, more specifically a South London, Brixton attitude.

Connected by Stereo MCs on Grooveshark

I have always aimed to start trails with people who represent the heart of a place. London has many hearts, but there is something Greater London about the Stereo MCs - all encompassing. During the interview they were telling me how they used to try out new material 'back in the day' on Night Buses coming back from the West End to Brixton. Many Londoners will identify with Night Bus culture, which, at least back then, was the after party. I can well imagine some pretty happy bouncing buses with the Stereo MCs at the helm with a battery operated synth and drum machine.

THE STEREO MCs
Stereo MCs, Trail Host - London

JERRY DAMMERS

is the most interesting person of the Stereo MCs

Jerry Dammers - Founder of the Specials, and the man who revived ska music

We had no idea where the Stereo MCs would take us to, although I normally try to have this arranged in advance it hadn't worked out this time. So, just before we started the interview, Rob, the Stereo MCs vocalists, calls up Jerry to ask him if he'd be up for a chat with us. I think that it just suited Dammers, that on that day he was at home, round the corner, and not up to much more then tinkering around on his studio. And, although he'd probably be more suspicious of a last minute interview, he decided to have us over for a cuppa.

He never did in fact make us a cuppa, because he was fixing his mixing desk (pictured), which as far as I can fathom, never worked properly, ever. And was never likely to. He told us at length how all the left channels controlled all the right channels, and most nobs turned counter-intuitively. In fact that was all he talked about, after 'hello'. Nonetheless it was a most lovely and bewildering experience to go visit Jerry's house, cramped with memorabilia that is the stuff of Ska legend.

A Message To You Rudy (2002 Digital Remaster) by The Specials on Grooveshark
Jerry and Rico, performing together on this legendary track

But then after the interview Jerry insisted on accompanying us to his most interesting person, Jamaican ska and Reggae Trombonist Rico Rodriguez. A hop over to Kensington, Arnold, Kate and Jerry Dammers in my mums Honda was rather exciting. At this point Jerry opens up a little more. I think he came with us to protect Rico in case we turned out to work for OK magazine. But he liked us much more once we stopped trying to film him, and riding shotgun bemoaning Politics and industry and the state of the country strengthened our bond. He was extremely dismissive and suspicious while caring, humble and wise.

RICO RODRIGUEZ

is the most interesting person of Jerry Dammers

Rico Rodriguez (El Reco) - A ska legend

Rico Rodriguez MBE represents a side to London filled with romance and life and buzz. His music and sound peaked just before my time (although lives on in his role in Jools Holland's blues band), but nevertheless still represents a spirit of London that I remember from childhood summers in the city, lost today, a spirit of carnival.

The career and accomplishments of all the participants in this trail could never be overstated. Their music is known and loved in all the little pockets of our world. Yet I struggle to conjure a set of characters more humble. There sensed a purity and wisdom in the ironic nature of the fence of fame. The side of celebrity and the side of being just another Londoner in the city.

Director / Interviewer - Stuart Acker Holt
Camera - Arnold Beautenmuller
Producer - Kate Michaelson

Please donate to our campaign to build a website that will bring our entire library of images, text, films and music, online. Visit support.themostinterestingperson.com

Anything Will Happen, Photoshoot

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:44:00 +0000

We had tons of fun doing this shoot. Our friends Nadine and Stephan playing around with 'Anything Will Happen' gear. These are the rewards you receive when you contribute to our campaign to build the world's most interesting website. You can read more about the campaign by clicking here, or visiting www.support.themostinterestingperson.com.

Follow the trail at www.themostinterestingperson.com

Blueprint sneek preview - Most Interesting Person V2 Embryo

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:53:00 +0000

Massively Exciting Stuff. Just received 1st drawing boards from our design gurus Largetosti. This is what it's all about - This is what we will build next year after our fundraising campaign!

Anything Will Happen At Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:55:00 +0000


Our Beautiful Motto

"Anything will happen" is our motto and we've designed a limited run of Anything Will Happen hoodys, bags and other goodies.

Why?

You want cool Christmas gear, we want cool cash

Make no mistake, we use no slave labour. All items are hand crafted by genuine Berlin People and other German types. That is why you must order your gift by THIS MONDAY 12TH DECEMBER to be sure you'll receive it before Christmas eve.

That's right, all items are made to order, with love, for you.

$25 "ANYTHING WILL HAPPEN" BAGS

$100 "ANYTHING WILL HAPPEN" SET

All money proceeds go towards our campaign to build the world's most interesting website

Help us build the most interesting website in the world

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:37:00 +0000

The potential impact of a successful campaign is widespread. The archive will potentially grow of its own volition. It will be reinterpreted by each new participant, offering an unending interesting story to follow and participate in, a cultural conversation point. It will grow in value over time as users will be able to trace the sources of trails back to their origins. Imagine tracing a trail of 20 people through 2011. Then imagine following the trail into 2012, 2015, or 2020, each link an important friendship, a source of inspiration.
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Follow the trail at www.themostinterestingperson.com

How we grow

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:31:00 +0000

Most Interesting Person is leaping into the air, arching its back, and diving to the deep. The goal is to be a resource that grows in value over time, to be self-sustaining and to avoid a singular definition of interesting.

What are we talking about?

Our network is growing, but how should it grow? Do we go wider, adding more participants to our existing infrastructure, or do we go deeper, taking on the mind-boggling, yet enlightening task of getting to the heart of the meaning of interesting.

Visualising the Most Interesting Person Network

Somewhere in our archive of metadata lie clues to these questions:

What does 'interesting' mean?
Does where we live, social group, income, music tastes, reading tastes and age, influence what we find interesting?
Can we find a way of connecting our content with relevant people who would benefit from it.

This week we launch a crowd funding campaign to raise money to go DEEP, so that we can explore our entire growing archive of 200 interviews and a build a serious cool platform. A SOCIAL NETWORK, BUT FOR INTERESTING PEOPLE.

If we build this, it will be because you find it worthwhile building. And our indiegogo crowd funding campaign makes it easy to support the cause.

Please visit http://www.indiegogo.com/mostinterestingperson get involved, get in touch, spend a little, spend a lot, let other people know about us.

Behind the scenes at the Largetosti design house

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:22:00 +0000

They appeared from nowhere, having worked with my friend Geer Yge Oskam in designing Amsterdam's Museum Night paraphernalia. Now they have grabbed the project by its 'trail', turning it into something beautiful.

Without further ado, let's go behind the scenes at the Largetosti offices!


	Mink in design mode


Sketching the trail


Sjef

Breaking the rules

Inspiration

Creative Play

Prints by Mink

Print by Mink

Prints by Mink

Mads Brügger's Four Golden Rules Of Being An Undercover Journalist

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:55:00 +0000

I listened transfixed to the presentation by Mads Brügger who's new film, 'The Ambassador' is the lead film at the IDFA documentary film festival in Amsterdam. In this week leading up to our presentation at the Van Gogh and the launch of our Indie Go Go campaign, this was the man able to get through even scarier challenges.

Mads Brügger, The Ambassador

He is a curious mix between a Danish Ali G and Louis Theroux. Here is his list of Golden Rules to be an undercover journalist.

The Rules...

Never underestimate the value of Props
Write and think as if it's fiction
The devil's in the detail
Respect complications and problems

Once you see the film you'll learn that he's a man who should know.

An API for Interesting People

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:33:00 +0000

There have been changes afoot at Most Interesting Person. Namely the job of directing each new episode is done by the protagonist of the previous, using a range of recording devices we give them. These devices, such as a Canon Powershot G12, are easy to use for amateurs but advanced enough for experts to offer creative opportunities not disimilar to the function of APIs (Application Programming Interface) in that we are opening up our format for other people to interface with.


Geert van Itallie getting creative with glue and flyers, what would you do?

These technologies are:

- Canon Powershot G12
- Roland R09 Audio recorder
- two pages of a plain book, one lined, one plain
- a ball point pen
- coloured pencils

Only three people in and the new format tweak is making us happy, like a breath of fresh air, the missing jigsaw piece to the puzzle. Simple, but why the excitement, and what are the drawbacks?

First, we see how each participant takes on the challenge of directing and documenting their subject using the technology of their choice. In an age of cheap, smart and easy-to-use digital camera and audio recorders, it is fitting to give everyone the chance to exhibit and share their creative prowess.

Second, we get an insight into the relationship between the director and their most interesting person, by having them meet, talk, discuss, converse. This interaction is revealing in ways no written biography could ever quite translate.

Third, the trail will always offer surprises with an extra twist at every turn as the approach of how to document each new person is rethought by each new person.

Fourth, each participant builds a meaningful connection with the project as a whole as they literally direct a section of it, which others will inevitably refer to. Logistically of course, there are challenges and complexities. Every interview requires each participant to be available twice (the interviewer and interviewee), and they need to available at the same time.

In the interview between Neske Beks and Harald Vlugt, this wasn't possible. And this offered the challenge, and, the creative solution, of recording a telephone conversation between them and filming Vlugt's side.

But this is just the beginning, and we hope we will see new and innovative ways participants will choose to document the most interesting person they know.

Snapshot Presentation at the Van Gogh Museum

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:49:00 +0000

The introduction to the snapshot Q&A at the Van Gogh Museum with Jon Rafman & Hans Rooseboom. Keep your eyes peeled for the full session coming soon.

A sound day

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:30:00 +0000

With the Amsterdam trail each participant interviews the next and the intimacy of the relationship between them is heard through the audio recording of the interview.

In considering the power of audio we fell upon this excellent BBC Radio 4 broadcast on The Sound of Fear. We don't want to scare you, but the essential power of audio comes across vividly in this little programme. Enjoy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015zpf5

A new look for The Most Interesting Person project

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Head over now to www.themostinterestingperson.com for a glimpse of the new look. In collaboration with design visionaries LARGETOSTI, we will be adding new features alongside new content each week.

The goal, over the coming months, is to visualise the trails, network and the relationships between the participants in one great meta fabric.

Stuart Holt

Amsterdam's Milky Way - 8 little factoids

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:25:00 +0000

As we embark on the Amsterdam trail of Most Interesting person on Friday 14th October. Here are 10 little factoids about the man who will host it all, Geer van Itallie.

Geert van Itallie at Forever Young exhibition at Melkweg

1. Before becoming the Director of Melkweg, van Itallie was the deputy director of Paradiso. These remain the two most culturally significant spaces in Amsterdam.
2. van Itallie's predecessor at Melkweg, Cor Schlösser, was the director there for 40 years.
3. Melkweg is Dutch for the Milky Way, Paradiso does not mean Paradise.
4. Paradiso was originally a squat.
5. Melkweg is run by the same non-profit collective that founded it in 1970.
6. Melkweg had a coffee shop upstairs by the theater. This is now closed.
7. Melkweg hosts a theater, two music halls, a cinema, restaurant, bar, exhibition space and theater.

A rainbow shines over Melkweg during our interview

8. Kieth Richards said that Paradiso gigs of 1995 were the best live gigs the Rolling Stones ever played.

Geert van Itallie will be appearing at the Van Gogh Museum

on Friday14th October to launch Most Interesting Person, Amsterdam

More details here

A map for the trail

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:55:00 +0000

This project began in a van on a road trip, with a friend who was being so interesting, I frankly felt boring in comparison. I seemed to have nothing to say that came close to the pearls he was casting. He had profound access to trivia, dates, ideas. Knowledge of trees, music, art, history, everything and anything took on meanings and associations I had never considered before.

It occurred to me that this guy must find many people boring, not just me! That he would see through the average person and their factual errors and fumblings, misunderstandings and naive notions. However, it was also fair to assume that the person he found most interesting must be someone truly fascinating, someone I would enjoy meeting. And, as a photographer, someone that would be intrigued to photograph. And so I asked him, 'who is the most interesting person you know?'

This was seven years ago, since which time I have asked this same question to each new person I am introduced to by the previous. I have made over 130 films, and conducted closer to 200 interviews in 5 countries and 3 continents through this question. And, although the format is easy to explain to each participant, I have had to develop a language to describe its unusual boundaries and with that comes an inherent culture to the project. A lineage of people is called a trail, the first one in a trail is a host and so on.

But the greatest challenge has been to visualise the project and communicate the journey that takes me from one person to the next as quickly as it takes to explain. At times the project has been criticised because the films are too short, that you don't get to see what makes a person really interesting. It has certainly been a challenge to condense so much information about incredible people into 3 minute short films. However the films were never intended to be stand alone documentaries, but rather snapshots of people who are part of a unique network, bound by hidden relationships and chance encounters.

For this reason we have decided to shift the emphasis of the network away from films and place it on mapping the entire network online. Inspired by online projects such as 6milliardsdautres and freundevonfreunden we will be shifting our focus from film to meta data, introducing access points and ways to connect to the network as it grows.

Music the world should hear, Thorsten Schmitz

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:13:00 +0000

A short film of one of Germany's most popular journalists, and MIP participant, Thorsten Schmitz. Here describing the music the world should hear.

This is the first in a series of short's in the lead-up to MIP global launch October 7th 2010

Thorsten Schmitz, music the world should hear

Saving the world with Ute Scheub

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:34:00 +0000

Ute Scheub is not an onion, but if she were, she would be a precious, legendary prize-winning onion. An onion that glows, shining its light all over this kitchen we call earth.

Ute Scheub plays the piano - she doesn't just play the piano

Allow the indulgent analogy - human as onion.

One forms an initial impression by looking at onion, once interaction commences the first impression is prone to change should onion feel different to its appearance, for example if it is soft. But should expectation and interaction match and human/onion relationship blossom, peeling begins. Bit by bit the layers reveal themselves and so too the onion's true personality which they cradle. The flavour, the detail the colours become apparent, urging you on, which is of course, charming. It may sting the eyes, but the more one peels, picking apart the increasingly juicy translucent segments, the greater the onion rewards you. Indeed, the humble Allium Cepa (as it known in the circle's of others) is at this stage ready to transform the most banal meal into a culinary sensation that will stay with you, perhaps forever.

All of this to say, Ute Scheub is a dish unto her own. In an hour interview she covered a 30 years history of taking on the world's ills, demonstrating the potential which we must all have (somewhere) to save it, armed only with curiousity, belief in good, and a pen. And yet far from donning cape and superhero mask, Scheub is reassuringly normal, greeting you with sunshine smile, warm and friendly. I wanted to hug her immediately and I think I may just have done.

Scheub lives in Zehlendorf, south west Berlin, a playground of Bauhaus homes designed by architect Bruno Taut. Streets and banisters, gardens, contours, colours and shapes that hark back to the best moments of childhood, where having fun and learning were one and the same

Ute should, and may well also be, an inoffensive, domesticated, sprightly mother who keeps a nice family home. This was first impression at the door, but as you start to peel away the layers....

By her neighbours she's best known for playing the piano and heading the local community choir. At the time of writing they were rehearsing a performance of an original composition in celebration of Bruno Taut.

Ute Scheub - at home in the most unpredictable environments

By gardeners and environmentally concerned commercial farmers from Berlin to the Sahara, she is a spokesperson for Terra Preta farming, the Amazonian process of re-invigorating dry soil using waste resulting in extra fertile earth.

Across Germany she is known as co-founder in 1978 (along with Gitti Hentschel another MIP participant) of Taz, Die Tageszeitung, a daily national newspaper describing itself as "irreverent, commercially independent, intelligent and entertaining." Like the Guardian in the UK, Taz was the first national newspaper in Germany to make all its content available online for free. It has over 60,000 daily readers and is known for its irreverent front page headlines and co-operative business model.
See more on Taz on their site or the wikipedia article in English.

In Afghanistan she is known for founding, alongside MIP participant Mariam Notten, Verein zur internationalen Völkerverständigung Scheherazade e.V., (The Association for international understanding). This is intended to help victims of war in Afghanistan through a variety of initiatives such as setting up a mixed school for 1,600 students an orphanage for boys kidnapped by the Taliban and a job program for war widows.

She will be known by peace activists and their respective communities around the world as the co-founder of the German Women Security Council, an organisation lobbying for the implementation of UN resolution 1325, which decrees women must be involved at all levels of peace processes internationally.

She will be known by 1,000 Nobel Peace nominated women as advocate for 1,000 peace women - the international awareness program for female activists internationally. For more information see 1,000 Peace Women

Extracts from the 1,000 Peace Women series

To readers of her books is known as an author of 7 books, her latest being Heldendämmerung: Die Krise der Männer und warum sie auch für Frauen gefährlich ist [Heroes Dawn: The Crisis of men and why it is dangerous for women]. A study in the issues innate within patriarchal societies as opposed to matriarchal societies. This follows Das falsche Leben - Eine Vatersuche [The False Life - A parent's search], the story of her own childhood growing up with a Nazi father. These works live alongside a host of other fiction and faction pieces on a variety of subjects. For more on Scheub's books in German click here or in English, here.

Ute Scheub's two latest literary works

Above is an insite into Ute Scheub from a single hour's interview.

For more detail, in her own words visit her website... utescheub.de

In a magic machine with Reinhard Scheibner

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:28:00 +0000

Fresh from our interview with Berlin artist Reinhard Scheibner, a man, who once met is hard to forget. Reinhard, stiff, starched, stylish, with a presence at once awkward yet terribly imposing. A presence underlined with a severe German accent that comes at you with unforced depth. In all, here stood the grand-master of the dramatic pause - donned, oddly I thought, with super-sharp Calvin Klein tortoise-rimmed glasses.

Reinhard Scheibner & Etching

Photo: Bia Fiuza

That was my first impression, the blink. Then came the two hours I then spent with him in his apartment, sifting through his stunningly crafted and terrifying paintings and etchings, photographs and sculptures which has left me with a taste I do not know the flavour of. Arseholes, cocks, pussies, shit and dicks in place of the heads or bodies of the participants in everyday world scenes. People shopping, eating, walking in the park as grotesque tabooed caricatures of filth that I can only think to describe (and I doubt Scheibner would mind) as, twisted. And I didn't yet mention the stroll after to the local cemetery where Scheibner often sketches because of its 'intense silence'.

Like I say, hard to forget.

Reinhard and I with his etchings and paintings

Photos: Arnold Suares

But you'd be wrong to dismiss Scheibner as a lewd shocktician, glossing over a lack of talent in some other department. Indeed I can't remember feeling I was in the presence of a more skilled artist in my life. Painting by feet, painting by left foot, painting blind, painting with left hand... Scheibner would place restrictions on his means of production, 'to', he says 'take away the desire to get it right, because', he continues, 'you will never get it right.'

Why would an artist choose to paint blind? Why spend 3 months etching the image of an SS officer beating a prisoner surrounded by tourists? Why bronze a clay sculpture of a piece of shit? To get to the heart of the art? To improve as an artist? A symbol of autophobia? To be free?

Whatever motivates Scheibner to paint, etch, sculpt and photograph what he does the way he does, it is clear he has the shrewdest artistic eye, enveloping the horrors and humours of society as he sees it. He painstakingly leads you to, with a left hand in the dark, our nightmares and pleasures together sublime.

Scheibner was unable to answer my final question of the interview, which was;

'If you were the owner of a magic machine, which could take you any place, any time, could turn you into any person in the future or past, how would you use the machine.'

Upon checking my email however, in my inbox waiting, was this;

SUBJECT: MAGIC MACHINE

'I knew the minute I enter my door, I will remember something I forgot to say while you were there. It is the last question I didn't really know how to answer, because I have a long time ago given up on all 'What if' dreams. But there is one, I always liked since I heard the story of Everett Ruess, a young man from Washington State, who made large trips to the wilderness of the West, since he was 13 or 14. Still wild some hundred years ago. He always went alone with one or two donkeys, his only companions. On his last trip at 19 he just disappeared, only his donkeys were found, grazing on a peaceful little valley. Was he murdered, eaten by animals, or did he kill himself, they never found out.

So, if you would offer me this magic-machine again (I know I missed my chance!) then I would jump on it, and nobody will ever see a glimpse of me again.

For more info visit http://www.reinhardscheibner.com/

Around the world in Jette Miller's kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:33:00 +0000

Jette Muller, originally uploaded by mostinterestingperson.

There has been a recent recurring experience in my life where I am sitting at a table, failing to avoid bread, butter and invariably wine, transfixed in conversations with people who make, films. The film-maker offering easy spatterings of quite phenomenal human behavioral insights. The kind that grab, and leave you with nothing to counter with, other then, perhaps, 'thank you', which sounds odd mid-dialogue without being passed a jacket first or being complimented on teeth whitening. Yet, I've said it, 'thank you', thank you for the insight. Give me humour or politics to ponder and you'll find a different man from last year's.

This is how it should be of course. Film, with the power to make an impression and help us grow taller personalities. It follows that their makers be well versed in touching you where you feel it, when sitting outside the 2nd dimension opposite you. But it wasn't until meeting Jette Miller, in her kitchen, that I understood that talking film in Berlin is not the same as in London, or elsewhere.

Eating cake with Zandra Rhodes

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:38:00 +0000

Zandra Rhodes, originally uploaded by mostinterestingperson.

Fashion designer and industry spokesperson Zandra Rhodes is definitely and definitively a creator of beautiful things. She makes things to wear, or camp in, or put up on the wall, or read, or watch on stage. You see, the garment is only one of numerous objects which Zandra has turned her hands to, and I suspect by the time I finish this post she'll have taken up some other challenge, re-skinning a plane, a train, an automobile no doubt...

Zandra Rhodes, a style of her own

Not that she is easy to miss in all her pink-haired glory or in her work, Rhody patterns spottable from across streets and on opposite escalators. The zig-zag confident colour swatches fused to complement shape and form of the dress, tent, wellington boot or floor tile, is effortlessly original but typically of her.

In the clouds with Marcelona Antiga

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:18:00 +0000

The anticipation of meeting Marcelona was akin to the expectations of meeting a film star. The 'must-have' guest at the party. The guy who can make or break a new venue, night or club. Flamboyant, gay, intelligent, charismatic and unafraid to break new ground. A writer an actor and a personality in all circles of any social importance in Sâo Paulo... I felt intimidated by this CV. Mercelona Antiga was clearly a man who knew how to sing the talk while dancing the walk.

Marcelona Antiga, bathing in Sâo Paulo's confusion

We met outside the Parque Ten. Siqueira Campos and it was clear immediately that Marcelona was even more diverse then I expected. Not because he charmed us in seconds as I suspected he might, but because he was in fact quiet, deliberate, well spoken (although not afraid to be risque!), and frankly, shy. We quickly got kicked out of the park for filming without a permit and so the interview took on a subversive edge, an ideal for our Marcelona interview, particularly poignant because of the demonstration regarding teachers pay outside the Museu de Arte de Sâo Paulo.

However, while he wasn't afraid to take his trousers down in public, and intentionally try to get stopped by the police (what were we thinking!), and engage in all sorts of attention grabbing activities, I didn't come away thinking Marcelona was an attention seeker. So in trying to describe the man I went to his blog Coisas de Marcelle (Marcelle's things), and found the answer in his tag cloud.

Coisas de Marcelle Tag-Cloud

I really do think this cloud is one of the best I've seen, I felt compelled to post it. At the top there's the fashion, Marcelona (a performance name), the parties, sneakers and dj's. And underneath a wonderful complexiy of travel, design of various disciplines, food, drink and 80's art. A mish-mash of ideas so fitting for Sâo Paulo's biggest personality.

Read Coisas de Marcelle (Marcelona's blog)

In neon with Renata Abbade

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:15:00 +0000

It starts with colour. Renata Abbade knows what to do with it, physically, conceptually and practically. She wears it, cuts it and paints it, photographs it, dye's it, mixes it. She tries it in different materials, cuts her own materials, molds her own ceramics, solders her own jewellery. She lights her fashion shoots with it, dresses her models in clothes dyed in it. She plays her own music at the after parties, dances in her own music videos.

Renata Abbade playing with Neon

Abbade is a fashion artist straddling two lives in New York and Sao Pâulo and I must admit I hadn't met many like her in Sao Pâulo before. She defined the word 'fashion' as, 'not something you have to have to wear but something you feel that changes over time.' And Renata Abbade has certainly applied this to her own artistic discipline as she dips in and out of various skill sets in front and behind the camera, eventually moving to New York 9 years ago to explore all the forms of media she could apply to her fashion ethos.

Renata Abbade, Louis Vuitton styling 2007

Most striking perhaps is her work in Neon Light which is shaped as a purple self portrait outline of herself as artist and subject, a piece which says much of her Sampa / New Yorken influence.

See more of Abbade's work on re-nata.com

Sitting in Zé Celso's office

noreply@blogger.com (digitalondon) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:14:00 +0000

I start with frustration. Frustration at Condor, who are whisking me away a day before José Celso Martinez Corrêa's new play which will open this Wednesday 7th April. If you can go, you MUST go to see O Banquete, which coincides with the public apology being made this week, Sâo Paulo at 14.00.

Zé Celso, the theater poet in Teat(r)o Oficina

I spent the afternoon in Teatro Oficina, Zé Celso's open / or closed air theater. A play pen, an extension of Celso's mind in edifice form, a maze, a place to have fun, a symbol of Celso's history of wrangles with the Brazilian government, and a concrete / wood / glass pain in the arse for the property developers who want to pull it down to make way for a shopping center. I heard many many people speak of Celso before meeting him, Tom Zé described him for example, as 'the corner stone of Brazilian culture', which is clearly a rather large complement. And it took so bloody long to get an interview. And then when it arrived he was late - so we hung out with all these actor types who continued relaying the greatness of the man Celso. How he was legend living, that he made everyone so happy and that if I didn't understand yet, 'I would'.

So when the door finally opened and his silhouette appeared in the frame I felt like a skittle about to get bowled over. And he walked towards us in this amazing place, pulled up a chair, and started speaking, singing, dancing, smoking, taking us on this adventure in a language I can't speak well with a smile that drew me in as if it were my mother tongue. Hours passed, as we toured his thoughts and the theater, in the rafters on the stage in the changing room, under the floor, by the piano. We covered his opinions on politics, Brazil, history, drugs, technology and I think everything else.

The Lovable Zé Celso

We were fortunate to sit on one of Celso's rehearsal's and the people being rehearsed were happy, beautiful, strong and calm and if you are able, do do go and experience this for yourselves!

Visit Teat(r)o Oficina's blog here and read Celso's wikipedia entry here