Vienna Design Week: 1-11.10.2009

One of my all-time favourite cities is hosting its third Design Week! The aim of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is to show and enable people to experience the many-faceted creative work in the fields of product, furniture and industrial design, but also aspects of experimental design. After two successful festivals in 2007 and 2008, this October an exquisite and colourful programme of events will be awaiting the visitors. Design is an important field in the production of culture: it shapes our material culture, our everyday life and our consumer world, it influences lifestyle and fashion and most fundamentally our aesthetic sense and judgement. This wide-ranging impact is a reason to celebrate design and also to examine it critically; VIENNA DESIGN WEEK has made both of these its mission.

In cooperation with many partners – from Vienna museums to production and retail companies to designers from all over the world – the whole of Vienna becomes a platform and show-case of design. VIENNA DESIGN WEEK doesn't have the character of a trade fair but instead offers a variety of venues and approaches specific to Vienna. The festival sets out to be "international but localised", with an abiding interest to cooperate with the flourishing design scenes of Central and Eastern Europe, and certainly beyond that. Bringing to Vienna an important international design show every October is another example of the long-due international exchange; VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is stimulating.

The festival aims to reveal creative and production processes and encourage experimental work on the spot. It also presents and promotes design that in the first instance withdraws from the scheme of utility value and functionality in order to create awareness and pose questions or also simply just to have fun. The exploration of materials, mood values and the interaction between people and objects lie at the centre of design practice and consequently are important points of reference within VIENNA DESIGN WEEK.

With exhibitions, venue-specific installations, theme specials, discussion events, a programme of films and, of course, enough opportunity to party and network, VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is not only an attraction for the international design scene but most explicitly also aims to interest and appeal to a wide public audience of Viennese and visitors to Vienna. This year VIENNA DESIGN WEEK energetically goes into the third round with the wish and the aim to take up a firm place on the international festival scene and at the same time become a fixed early-autumn cultural event in Vienna.

The programme is here.

The participating designers are here.

The week's calendar is here.


Photo/Concept: Wolfgang Zajc & Rudolf Zündel

Kylie in Athens!

She came. Finally. I had the ticket reserved from January (and it arrived in May but that is another story all-together), so I was really anxious to see the show: I have all of her live DVDs and the expectations were really high. Did she meet them?

The stage before the concert begun.

YES! But let's see the whole story: The concert was in Terra Vibe, a venue outside of Athens, which meant that one could go only by car, bus or train. Secondly, this meant that it would be an open air concert, forcing the staging to be the "lesser" version of the show that premièred in Paris. We saw what Sofia and Constantinople saw. A whole act of the show called "Naughty Manga Girl" was left off, there was no entrance at the opening sequence with the web/circle of cables and no huge skull hanging over the stage with Kylie on top during "Like A Drug". We also missed the sloping video floor, which would make the whole stage look like a giant screen.

Overture: the video wall starts...

But... we did see a brilliant Kylie, at the height of her career, no different than all the times I have seen her perform on her live DVDs. Of course she is no opera singer, she is no ballet dancer, her music is not the apex of pop music history. But she gave us two and a half hours of pure fan, she made us dance, laugh, sing and filled us with joy.

First Act: Speakerphone

We in return gave her some amazing ovations, clapped without stop, cheered her all the time, forcing her many times to stop speaking and just let herself enjoy the appreciation of her fans. I think we even made her emotional at one or two points. She even fell on her knees and bowed to us after a prolonged ovation!

Speakerphone

The set list was:

Act 1: Xlectro Static
Speakerphone
Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Greg Kurstin Remix) / Boombox
Ruffle My Feathers
In Your Eyes

Act 2: Cheer Squad
Heart Beat Rock
Wow
Shocked (DNA Mix)

Act 3: Xposed
Like A Drug
Slow / Free
2 Hearts

Act 4: Beach Party
Love Boat
Copacabana
Spinning Around

Act 5: Starry Nights
Flower
I Believe in You

Act 6: Black versus White
On A Night Like This
Kids
Step Back In Time
In My Arms

Encore
No More Rain
Love At First Sight.
I Should Be So Lucky

First Act - Can't get You Out Of My Head

Every act was accompanied by a different video projection and set of costumes. The 14 dancers were amazing (as they usually are - her shows have some of the best dancers in showbiz today for many years now) and Jean Paul Gaultier's (who was there) costumes were perfect for each incarnation Kylie showed us.

Ruffle My Feathers - one of the side projection screens

The opening sequence started with Richard Strauss' "Also Sprah Zarthustra" introduction, known to most Greeks from either Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey 2001 or, more amusingly, from an ad about a recording tape production company (Raks Petrakis anyone?)

Act 2- Heart Beat Rock

Kylie appeared through dry ice smoke behind a couple of huge speakers - in the Paris version (closed venues) she was brought on stage, on a big podium shaped like a spider web, from behind the huge video wall, whose panels were movable, while in Athens they were static. Otherwise, this act was exactly the same.

Heart Beat Rock

The second act was the cheerleaders/jocks one: pure Americana. In Paris supposedly she had excerpts of "Lose Control" mixed in Shocked - elsewhere I read it was the DNA mix of the song. It was fabulous anyway. If you see photos of Paris, the floor projection was very evident here, continuing the backdrop theme of stars and stripes. Lots of acrobatics here from the amazing dancers.

Intro clip to the third Act

Third act started with "Like A Drug", albeit sans huge human scull to hover over the stage with Kylie writhing on it. Would have been quite the spectacle, but I did not mind missing this and any other extra effects, the overall feeling was great even here. In Paris she did an extra song in this act, "The One", which should be the next European single (yes! It is my favourite from this album). The Gaultier costumes in the video were even more outrageous than the ones she was wearing on stage.


Slow was a huge hit with the Greek audience. The only song out of her Body Language album (not surprisingly), it was performed with an interesting choreography, alas no beach towels... The red long dress with the huge matching over-the-knee boots and military hat reminded me of a favourite US Vogue photo shoot with Christy Turlington in Russia wearing only red. Spectacular.


After a great performance of "2 Hearts", the show started to warm up really well. The Beach Party act was on now, with her Love Boat interspersed with the original TV tune in the starting video, then seguing on to a great rendition of Barry Manilow's signature hit "Copacabana".

Loveboat

The 40's style clothing, hairdos and accessories, the fake palm trees and lounge bar props reminded me of period films and descriptions of famous New York and Los Angeles clubs of that era. This was one of the best parts of the show by far. In Paris, there was another new song here called "That's Why They Write Love Songs", and the whole act was near the end supposedly.

Copacabana

Change of pace for the ballads act, Starry Nights. wearing a lovely blue satin bias-cut gown, Kylie sang "Flowers" and "I Believe In You" in ballad form. In Paris she did not perform "Flowers", doing "Into the Light" and "Cosmic" instead.

I Believe In You

An impressive video of a huge black and white ballroom, complete with velvet curtains and chandeliers appeared and the dancers took their places reminding me of the ball in Cinderella or Viennese waltzes. Kylie appeared in riding habit with long riding coat, singing "On A Night Like This", causing a thunderstorm of applause.

Black Versus White - On A Night Like This

We had the privilege to hear "Your Disco Needs You (not performed in Paris) right after that, which had everyone and his other self dancing madly. It felt like being in a huge open-air Greek island disco - so much fun.

Black Versus White - On A Night Like This

Kids is always an odd choice for me, since she never has a male back up singer to duet with her - the only time I really think this worked good live was when she did it with her sister Danni in Melbourne on her Showgirl homecoming tour. here she performed it with her two lovely back up singers.

Kids

Back to dancing mood, she did an old favourite, "Step Back In time", bringing the house down, then followed with "In My Arms" - her current single, with its video clip being projected as a backdrop. By this time we were dancing like crazy.

Step Back In Time

She seemingly finished the concert here - but there were encores to come of course. In Paris, she finished with "Love At First Sight", but here this was performed as a second encore - the first being "No More Rain".

The encores begin...

Having changed into an embroidered silver and nude bodysuit with black pants, she appeared more at ease in this part. She tried to thank us so many times but each time the applause had her lost for words.

No More Rain

The Paris second (and last) encore - after "No More Rain" - was an acoustic version of "All I See", a thing that was greeted with scepticism from the hardcore fans at the official forum at her website. Luckily for us, she chose another song to end this spectacular evening.

Love At First Sight

After telling us how much she loved being in Greece and her first time here, she mentioned an old song that, "as much as I hate to admit" she said, most of the people at the front row probably were not born when it was a hit - and she started singing "I Should Be So Lucky". Cringe-worthy yes, but it really is still a crowd pleaser, even after all these years. I do not thing there was anybody standing still at this one.

I Should Be So Lucky

Then an eruption of golden ribbons and confetti marked the end of the concert. It was over. We stood there for a while, with stupid, satiated smiles on our faces, absorbing the moment. And then it was time to leave, taking the road back to the parking lot first. Which, upon arrival, presented us with this spectacle, perhaps rivalling the stage lights:


So, overall, a stunning performance, a great concert, an amazing experience. Even though she did not sing my all time favourite songs of hers (Confide In Me, What Do I Have To Do, Red Blooded Woman, Butterfly, Fragile and the amazing The One), and we did not get to see the full closed venue version of the show, I did not really mind at the end. I had a great time and that is what matters. Till next time princess.

See better quality pictures of this concert at The Wrong Guy and Thannos1980.
Photos from Paris on her official tour page. Video clips are all over Youtube.

Made In Jail: art by juvenile jail inmates in Thessaloniki

A few weeks ago, an unusual project arrived at Tetragon: help arrange an exhibition of art made by juvenile jail inmates in the Vafopouleion Cultural Centre of Thessaloniki. The exhibition is based on works made at workshops sponsored by the Group of Friends and Volunteers of the Juvenile Protection Company of Thessaloniki. Artists come as volunteers at Diavata Prison and help the juvenile artists create what you will see in the following photos.


My colleague, the architect Zoe Evangelopoulou, supervised the layout of the show. It was her idea that the whole set up of the podiums to show the works of art would be in the form of a Morse code, spelling out the words "Made In Jail". Such a brilliant idea, it was incorporated not only into the banners of the exhibition (see photo above) but also in the music of the show, made with Morse code sounds. Here is a plan of the layout:


The show included artifacts, paintings and poetry.


How was poetry shown at an art exhibition? It was not only read, but words, fragments of poems, were written in pieces of paper, heaped on the floor of the show room, as seen in the photos:




At the opening, after the necessary speeches, the pieces of paper were scattered in the room symbolically by two children, who relished the idea of course...People present there were supposed to join in but few did...the symbolism of the move was apparent to all I guess...


In the photo above you can see the man behind the show, one of the well known graphic artists in Greece, Spyros Tsiligiridis, helping the kids spread the word.


Some of the works shown looked like they could easily be installed in major "adult" events. Having seen both Greek Biennials this year (Thessaloniki and Athens), I must say this show moved me more than any of the others, because of its symbolism and power. What do you think?


The opening of the show was on Wednesday 17th of October and it will last until the 24th of this month. So if you're in Thessaloniki these days, do not miss this.


All proceeds of selling the artworks will go to help the juvenile inmates' rehabilitation process.


Days- opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday: 10.00 - 14.00 and 18.00 - 21.00
Saturday: 18.00 - 21.00
Sunday: 10.00 - 14.00
Monday: closed


Above is Zoe's favourite piece of art, parts of it were incorporated into the show's poster.


The work above is my favourite one. I am happy to say that it will be hanging at the offices of Tetragon after the end of the show, as one of the partners bought it.

All photos of this post courtesy of Zoe Evangelopoulou