Picture courtesy of  Street Art Festival

Little stop motion clip for the mural ROA made for the Street Art Festival in Hasselt, Belgium found its way to our mailbox today. Pity he couldn’t make last year’s fest, but glad he found the time to turn up a couple of months later and put that straight We had previously seen the images of the finished mural turn up, but always more impressive to see such a massive piece take shape bit by bit.

For those who missed last year’s festival, we have a small round-up of how we experienced the weekend first-hand overhere. Have a look/read in order to get ready for this year’s edition because as we speak, this year’s organisation & the city of Hasselt are puzzling together yet another great (inter)national line-up.

Interested in finding out the latest info first-hand, visit the festival’s facebook page http://www.facebook.com/streetartfestivalbelgium and get the latest as soon as everything’s confirmed.

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So, started work on our own little Gidsy project/listing. Polle had launched a call to unlock Gidsy for the city of Gent and after Istanbul it seems Hasselt & Gent will follow next week. Great to see Hasselt pop  up next to Gent, an underestimated town/travel destination if you ask me (but who am I). This reminds me we have to revisit Hasselt urgently, before this year’s STREET ART FESTIVAL (in other news, a 2nd edition has been confirmed!!).

Anyways, back to Gidsy & Gent… seems we are gonna try to offer (working on several others, maybe) a Street Art/Bike Tour of Gent. A quick round up:

Take a tour through Ghent and discover some great spots and work by a wide range of local & international artists. 

Over the past decades Ghent has drawn lots of attention for embracing youth culture. Besides an interesting (electronic) musical scene it also has its own urban art scene. Roa, Bue The Warrior, Resto & A Squid Called Sebastien are just a few of the local artists, besides that you will spot works by a wide range of other local/international artists.

Depending on your available time we will take the back street of Gent and visit several spots  through town by bike (or foot), also uncovering the little stores, coffee bars and/or galleries that might interest you. Our tour will bring you across several parts of town you might not usually visit, giving you another view on the city. 

Although we have never been real fans of “street art tours” (something you should discover on your own, at your own pace) we reckon it might be nice starting point to take people across town and that on bikes.

Never done this before, but reckon its a good way of going through town with visitors and curious to see how everything unfolds the next weeks/months, hope to meet some great people and reckon even we will (re)discover parts of Gent ourselves.

Hit us up if you’re interested in doing some test-runs for the tour as it is still a work in progress that is gonna need a lot of finetuning!!

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We must admit, Instagram is becoming  became an addiction overnight. We start our day with flicking through the images and usually also end it that way

Yesterday we read about a new iOS app called Decim8 and the description triggered our interest right away. Remember how a while back someone told us he was looking for an app to make really crappy pics, as he thought the iphone camera was too good and felt the need to give his cellphone pics the 90s 1MP feel. Decim8 does just this, under the motto “FILM IS DEAD”.

Contrary to many camera apps that insist to attempt simulations of that long-past era, decim8 says no to artificial nostalgia, pushing forward in the digital realm with different forms of creative destruction. It simply is a digital tool for photographic destruction, armed with a set of bit-mangling filters. There are no effects to simulate your grandpa’s snapshots. No virtual replicas of plastic instant-cams from your imaginary summer of ’73. Just mad combinations of digital data-mashing. 

You can arrange/activate effects in any order and to make it even better, effects never are exactly the same twice  You may call me a hipster now, but I actually like this app a lot and reckon its gonna be a great combination with instagram!

Download it overhere for a small fee and also check their Flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/decim8/ for more examples of the effects Decim8 got to offer. Looking forward to seeing what strange pics you’ve got, just add me on instagram. Or, just check out the group  is capable of.

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Curls in Paris.

As you might have read previously, we headed out to Paris over the weekend for the Duvel Collection finale, Showroom Belgium & the Paris Fashion Week experience. Had been 2 years already since my last visit, looked forward to it and was not disappointed at all

 PIGS ON WHEELS. No, helmets are only for smart people.

Friday started off with some cross-city walking/window-shopping. As the evening came we headed on out to the Duvel Collection finale. A quick presentation of the finalists was followed by an ‘and the winner is…’

Belgian designer Philippe Debongnie took home the grand prize and from June 2012 onwards, his glass will be available for all you Duvel lovers and collectors worldwide. Looking forward to seeing who will tag along aside him…

Saturday morning was an early wake-up call, breakfast and a quick walk around Oberkampf before heading to the Jean-Paul Lespagnard show. Tried to drop by Tigersushi amongst others, but seems stores in Paris open up later on Saturday mornings

No worries though, as we had little time to waste with the Lespagnard show starting at 12.

Was a great experience, a first for everything n’est-ce pas Got the whole 15-30min preshow-runway experience (ma’am even got to sit front-row for it) and bumped into some friends even! Rests to say that I even liked most of the stuff in the autumn/winter collection.

Paris Metro was plastered with John Carter posters btw. Happened to attend an early screening in Gent this morning and must say its a great movie! (check the trailer)

Also happend to see some great street art throughout the town. Its incredible how Paris has been covered with paint & pastes. More on that in a following post, promised!

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Finally went to the Stade de France where we saw France beat Italy in the opening game of this year’s 6 Nations. Great experience and definitely something we plan on doing more often!

February also was a cold month… glad to see that had changed.

Spotted this litte fella here & there in Gent.

February traditionally is a good month for roadkill.

Did coffee at Simon Says one Sunday.

Strange space-diver appeared one morning.

Did coffee at Bar Buro another day.

Found this old device again, was top notch in the early 9o’s to say the least. You can still wack someone with its #waterproof casing.

All great photo moments tout court.

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Yesterday RedBull Belgium premiered The Art of Flight in Brussels. The movie has been on a world tour throughout this fall (after having been released earlier in September) and yesterday Travis Rice & co found their way to Brussels. The ‘sold out’ (ticket were up for grabs through RedBull’s site) venue was Studio 4 in Flagey, a great location that was for this event.

The movie/documentary itself follows Travis Rice, John Jackson, Mark Landvik, Scotty Lago, Jake Blauvelt, Nicolas Müller, Gigi Rüf, DCP and Pat Moore as they dream up new global adventures and progress the sport to unimaginable levels. For this, production company Brain Farm gathered an arsenal of the most advanced and progressive filmmaking technology to bring the masses a snowboarding adventure of epic proportions. Filmed on location in Jackson Hole, Alaska, Chile, Aspen, Patagonia, British Columbia, … the movie brings viewers along for the perfect blend of adventure/travel drama and high-energy snowboarding action.

Overall the verdict was that its a great (and I really mean GREAT) snowboard movie if not the most epic of them all. Everything about the movie was super-sized, from the budget (read it was around $2 million) to the riding. A mix of sweeping landscape shots of enormous mountains and huge rides/jumps. Even the run time of an hour and a half is more than twice that of your average snowboard films. The sheer size of everything just blows you away and I reckon anyone will appreciate watching it.

The screening tour continues to Amsterdam, Paris, Stockholm & Moscow throughout the week. If you can attend one of the dates I suggest you do or get your hands on a copy  of the DVD. Besides impressive the footage the movie also has a great soundtrack worth checking out.

Thanks to the guys over at RedBull Belgium for the invites. Can’t wait to hit the slopes this winter myself although I will keep it more real(istic) & amateur

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Spent past weekend in the Ardennes, a bank holiday in a sunny autumn setting with great/longtime friends.

Chalet Suisse life mainly existed of good food, drinks & little sleep.

It usually also involves maps, guides, walking …

and sometimes people who rather wear their trousers in their sock.

It also means not being allowed in certain areas, I blame the 1% for this personally.

Did I mention ‘a weekend amongst good company’ already?

Fitting club to come along as Volvo was so kind to lend me my horse and carriage for the weekend: V60 R design DRIVe by Volvo A great driving experience overall, with brakes that work like a charm, I can testify after having tested them intensively during a wild bore vs car stand off.

You can see me and the V60 here btw, sporting a green winter jacket and a bordeaux sweater by an unknown brand. Shoes: from the walking type with fancy red laces and stuff. Oh, I’m such a personal blogger … watchout LookBook here I come!

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Local favorites Death Shred‘s new fall-winter collection up for grabs in their store. Great new stuff amongst their line of tee’s, sweaters, … Digging the direction their heading into with the latest collection’s designs by the way.

Also, check them out on facebook in order to keep posted on future stuff from them. Keep it up! Buy while their stock lasts

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Still owed you this post:

Couple of weeks ago I spent a weekend in Hasselt for the Street Art Festival surrounded by a great line-up. Coincidence has it that I happened to help out Mymo with here massive piece. Operating the bucket, painting where possible. Besides that some other great pieces got shape. Full set overhere but thought I should share a couple of them here …

A first for me and a great festival overall.

Mymo

Resto

Oli-B x Billy x Resto x Bue the Warrior

Polak x Locatelli

DinDin

Aryz

Also, as I have been getting questions/requests over the past 2 weeks I thought I should enlighten everyone that I did leave the StreetArtBelgium.com thing. Our paths were clearly going other ways. Several people had warned me for certain elements while starting our efforts, and in the end it seems they were right on this from the start.

Stuff has been done, stuff has been said, a story which has several sides to it, so I wish not to get strangled in between. Besides that I could not find myself within the way things turned out, kicking someone off a mutual project without discussing this amongst everyone does not float here.For that reason I decided to quit all efforts within the project and for what its worth, I regret it had to turn out this way as we had something nice going as a team. Personal side of the story available offline for the those interested.

For those of you who wish to support the festival and see it return once again, please join the facebook page which will keep you up to date on what happens in the future.

Also, on a final note, Oemebamo shot a great overview/recap of the festival. Hope this will return next year or the near future.

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Met A Squid Called Sebastien for the first time while organising Youthwatching several years back. He would join in with several others at the end of the day, expo some of his work, … 

Couple of weeks back we met again over some coffee at Ghent’s Vooruit. He had just returned from the 9000miles tour he did with several other artists. Told me I should check the following book I just remembered (*note to self*) and also come check out his expo at ArtSpace Leguit (which previously also hosted one of our #youngscum get togethers).

If you’re in Antwerp this Friday, definitely go check his guest expo + live painting by 9000miles featuring:

Steve Locatelli
Stanislas Lahaut
Jan Opdekamp
Nadia ‘Cymo’ Oussehmine
Digsville Music
Third Digit

The expo itself, which brings a collection of new works on wooden sufaces made in the course of 2011, will run untill the end of the month. Check the preview below & the facebook event for further details and go see them fatties!

Artspace Leguit

Leguit 23

http://www.artspaceleguit.com/

Images courtesy of 9000Miles

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What happens when you set up a four day paint jam somewhere in the English countryside? Supremebeing set it up and captured it all in the clip below which features live painting by artists David Walker, She One, Mr Jago, Will Barras and Bue The Warrior.

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Over the weekend I payed Utrecht a quick visit. A wedding with friends, a 30-45min walk through the city before. Snapped some stuff on the way to the ceremony though …

Roadkill.

Urban knitting.

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Cowboy or indian? What were you? I was a cotton candy cowboy.

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Work in progress, launch is imminent.

In the meantime check our facebook or twitter.

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“There is no algorithm to define cool, you just know it when you see it“. – Anonymous hipster.

I have been meaning to digitalize a selection of analog photos for a while now. This is one of the first scans I got sent to see if I was happy with the result. Cracks me up every time I see it and looking forward to see the full collection. I’m betting its gonna be priceless.

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Went to Rotterdam with the missus. A quick break, nothing fancy. Must admit the rain and foul weather changed/ruined our plans a bit, but enjoyed visiting a new city none the less.

What did I take note of:

• Dutch NS railway services really suck
• Rotterdam is a way smaller city then expected, making public transport pretty useless when just visiting and you’ve got several days. Everything is walkable, reckon renting a bike is way more interesting.
• The Eden Savoy Hotel was hell on earth when it came to their beds. I will not recommend staying there.
• Woei is a nifty little store, worth paying a visit.
• I still can go through life as a student, as along the way I got discounts without having to show a student card here and there #win
• Rotterdam has a lot to offer. Besides its shopping potential and good food, its Museumkwartier is worth a visit. The NAI, Witte de With and off course the Boijmans.
• Spent several hours walking around the Boijmans. Dali, Magritte, …  they all got their spot. Pure art pr0n throughout the times
• Dudok can serve me food anytime, ended up eating there twice (not counting coffee and cake for tea that is )
• So much more …

[more imagery overhere]

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Crack the surface is the first in a series of short documentaries focusing on the culture of Urban Exploring.

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Tilting, just when planking & owling became to ridiculous for words …

[extra, extra, read all about it]

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A sausage fest, gone horribly wrong.

[Work by Kati Heck]

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Each and every day I walk by this mural. Its en route to our offices. Peeps better have a good look as it might just be your last chance to see it as demolition work has started …

Update: seems this wall will remain intact till at least September.

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Made this Knack Weekend’s black edition nº 4 on Outdoor & Ecoliving which features a part on different ‘communities’. Heard we were asked to enlighten a little something about young scum and love, lots of love it even seems.

At your local paper monger right now. Thanks for the mention Knack as it turned out to be a nice edition.

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Seems a few spare hours in Ghent and hooking up with Bue results in the following. Read all about it at Insaland.

Unfamiliar with Insa’s work? Have a look overhere.

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Gotta catch 'em all.

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Seems ROA has been in San Fran the past weeks in preparation of an exhibit at the White Walls gallery during the month of April. Spencer Keeton Cunningham documented this in a lovely fashion. More images can be found overhere.

[More Roa overhere btw]

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WOODKID’s new video for “Iron”, directed by Yoann Lemoine, is one of the visual most interesting clips I saw this week.

“Iron,” a majestic, horn-backed track deserving of this fantastic visual treatment. It’s no surprise this Viking-inspired epic looks so good though. Lemoine’s more known for his work behind the camera, directing music videos like Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” Yeah, that Katy Perry

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I have said it before and I will say it again, a lot is happening in Ghent lately and with the opening of the A&Gallery another spot gets added to the list. Not just any opening as Moby will be opening this new gallery with his DESTROYED exhibit.

The Belgian exhibition, which starts on on Wednesday May 18, serves as the official opening of A&Gallery – run by Ben Van Alboom and Wouter Van Vaerenbergh, the creative duo behind the renowned photography project Angels & Ghosts. Moby will not only attend the opening but also play a DJ set at a still secret and very exclusive location.

Most of us mainly know Moby as a music artist, yet photopgraphy and other visual artwork has always been an interest of his. Once a film and photography graduate student, Moby’s been a keen SLR lens man ever since his uncle, a photographer working for The New York Times, presented him with a camera at age ten. To this day, Moby carries a camera wherever he goes.

A photography book (55 photographs taken by Moby while touring the planet) will accompany Moby’s new album Destroyed by the way.

A&Gallery, Schepenhuisstraat 17, 9000 Gent

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Crossing Lines is a short film that documents Irish artist Conor Harrington trip to Tel Aviv, Israel and Bethleham, Palestine in May 2010.

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I first really read about JR with his 28mm project a couple of years back. Saw stuff popping up on the interwebs and loved the way it made people think about situations time and time again. Its that subtle form of social criticism that makes JR one of those artists that keeps drawing peoples attention and I reckon you ought to watch the clip below. Its an introduction on the TED prize winner.

and if you want to find out more I suggest you also read this piece in the NY Times on the man’s life & work. Or how one man has one wish to change the world.

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