Der Begriff “Augmented Reality” wird ja in letzter Zeit recht inflationär für dies und das verwendet, aber das, was die Musiker der Band Bluebrain geschaffen haben, ist wirklich fazinierend und trifft des Pudels Kern: Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie machen einen Spaziergang im Central Park und starten die iPhone App von Bluebrain. Abhängig von Ihrem jeweiligen aktuellen Aufenthaltsort, hören Sie nun das Rauschen der Blätter, orchestrale Kompositionen, die scheinbar von Statuen ausgehen, oder das Plätschern von Wasser am Kerbs Boathouse. Ein wundervoller und kreativer Echtzeit-Soundtrack der Welt, die uns umgibt. Wir sind begeistert und haben Bluebrain gebeten, an unserer Interviewserie teilzunehmen.

Und hier unsere 12 Fragen an Bluebrain:

1. how did you get started?
   We’ve been playing music together since we were 10 and 11 years old. We were instantly drawn to the recording side of it and would experiment with splicing audio and putting things in reverse. At a certain point we decided to explore how our music could incorporate video, technology and participation.
2. were do you find your inspiration?
   It really depends on the project. For our series of Location Aware Albums its been really inspiring spending time at The National Mall and Central Park. The diversity of people all enjoying a public space is just such a beautiful idea. Everyone has a different story.
3. what is a luxury for you?
   Down-time.
4. what is your favourite place in the world?
   9.381356° N, 84.145411° W
5. what do you collect?
   Sounds. We have an enormous library of sampled sounds that we’ve been building since we were was pre-teens. Personally, it really ties the music to a specific time and place when you use sounds from outside the studio.
6. has your approach changed over the years?
   I think the core of how we work has stayed the same. We always start by kicking around conceptual and melodic ideas or sketches and then we hatch a plan on how to execute them. Certainly the process has changed and will continue to change with each new technological development but I think we will always start by saying,” You know what would be great…”
7. what bores you?
   We don’t really have time to be bored.
8. did you always wanted to be a designer/photographer/artist/architect?
   At one point I wanted be a professional basketball player. That dream quickly faded when I got older. I think we’ve always been drawn to creative vehicles of all sorts. From claymation home movies to drawing cartoons to recording music. I think what excites us about what we’ve been able to do the last few years is the freedom to draw from a lot of different mediums and blur the line between music, design, architecture, dance, video, interactivity and much more.
9. who inspires you daily?
   Ryan and I often talk about people we respect that have just created a space for themselves that didn’t exist before. Christo and Jean-Claude have done it. Also Frank Warren, the founder of Post Secret. We’ve collaborated with him before and its clear that all his success has been fueled by an intense passion for what he does. And no one else could do it. He’s basically created a calling that fits him like a glove. I find that really inspiring and would love to be more like that.
10. what is your favourite colour?
    My favorite thing about color is that it can behave differently depending on what other colors you pair it with. Kind of like notes in the musical scale. I don’t think I could answer that question either because each note or each color kind of exists in a vacuum until it is paired with others. So to answer your question: Blue.
11. what makes your work finished for you?
    I don’t know if we’ve ever had that moment when you step back and don’t want to add or subtract anything. I think every project expands to the amount of time allotted towards it. For Listen To The Light, the Central Park app album, we had a really intense production schedule and as a result we we’re probably more productive than we’ve ever been. I think deadlinesdefine when a work is finished.
12. what are you going to do in 10 years?
    I don’t know but I hope its something we would never have expected.

Dear Ryan and Hays, thank you for your time and effort! We owe you a couple of beers, if you ever make it to munich. Keep up with the great work and let’s stay in touch!
Images and Videos © Bluebrain

Weitere Informationen und Bilderserien unter: http://www.rubenbrulat.com

Durch Zufall sind wir gerade auf das neue KINFOLK Magazin gestoßen. Schon die puristische Website und die tollen Moodfilme machen Lust auf mehr! Hier das Manifesto der 60 Künstler und Schriftsteller die sich für dieses Projekt zusammengeschlossen haben:

“Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings. We recognize that there is something about a table shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energizes us. We have come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating the natural approach to entertaining that we love.
Every element of Kinfolk—the features, photography, and general aesthetics—are consistent with the way we feel entertaining should be: simple, uncomplicated, and less contrived. Kinfolk is the marriage of our appreciation for art and design and our love for spending time with family and friends.”

Für das Volume II des Kinfolk Magazins, haben die Fotografin Andrea Gentl und die Stylistin Angharad Bailey eine wunderschöne Food & Lifestyle Fotostrecke geschaffen. Malerische Farben, traumhaft gesetztes Licht und perfekt abgestimmte Bildcomposings…eine wahre Inspiration für uns.

Wir freuen uns auf unsere KINFOLK Ausgabe und sind gespannt wie der Rest des Magazins daher kommt, alles weitere unter: http://www.kinfolkmag.com

Hier unser Interview mit Alan:

1. how did you get started?
   One of my earliest memories is a box of coloured wooden blocks…I built structures, knocked them down and then built new ones! Much later I designed and constructed wooden furniture which led me into sculpture and then art school.
2. were do you find your inspiration?
   It finds me…I have a wide range of interests, Art, photography, cinema, architecture, music, technology, science, etc.
3. what is a luxury for you?
   Time to think about nothing…preferably beside a wild and stormy sea.
4. what is your favourite place in the world?
   A dark room, headphones and a piece of music I’m just getting to know…I’d also like to visit Japan and New York.
5. what do you collect?
   I used to frequent scrapyards and abandoned industrial buildings looking for rusty old metal forms and shapes, I also disassembled video recorders and record players etc, again looking for interesting objects. I suppose now I collect artists and photographers that resonate with my current interests on some level…and music, always music.
6. has your approach changed over the years?
   I think my process is the same (Deconstruction – Reconstruction), however technology and easy access to vast amounts of information (text and visual) has greatly enhanced the speed and material I have to work with.
7. what bores you?
   Celebrity culture, closed minded people with inflexible viewpoints and small talk…
8. did you always wanted to be a designer/photographer/artist/architect?
   Not really…I didn’t see myself fitting neatly into any boxes, when I accepted my need to be creative, ‘Art’ seemed to offer the most freedom.
9. who inspires you daily?
   I never know who it’s going to be, it might be a scientist, someone historical, a simple human solution or response to a difficult situation…I don’t have any ‘heroes’ as such, only my own curiosity.
10. what is your favourite colour?
    a deep dark blue
11. what makes your work finished for you?
    Usually when it stops annoying me…but I don’t actually believe a work is ever really finished, it’s just a step on the way.
12. what are you going to do in 10 years?
    I want to get back into a studio to make some large scale sculpture and I’m also intrigued to see what kind of furniture designs I would create after so many years…basically, I will continue to learn and play.

Dear Alan, thank you for your time and effort! All the best to you!
Images © Azurebumble

Hier unser Interview mit Daisuke Hiraiwa:

1. how did you get started?
   I organised my company in 2007 when I moved from Tokyo to London.
2. were do you find your inspiration?
   from daily life and nature world
3. what is a luxury for you?
   relaxing time
4. what is your favourite place in the world?
   food and fashion markets in the world
5. what do you collect?
   especially not
6. has your approach changed over the years?
   I changed the material like ceramics into everyday objects after
   moving to London.
7. what bores you?
   conservative mind
8. did you always wanted to be a designer/photographer/artist/architect?
   I don’t mind my title, but I’d like to create something different.
9. who inspires you daily?
   everybody
10. what is your favourite colour?
    depends on my feeling
11. what makes your work finished for you?
    completion of the phase and desire for the next step
12. what are you going to do in 10 years?
    I’m not sure, but I’d like to be involved in social activities more.

Dear Daisuke, thank you for your time and effort! All the best to you!
Images © Daisuke Hiraiwa