PLASTIK 32

EVERYBODY IS WATCHING

THE NEW HORROR

As technology is getting smarter by the second, issues about privacy and concerns about the infamous ‘Big Brother’ have been tickling the inner conspiracy theorist in all of us. Pretty much every social media platform has been under the radar for infringing on people’s privacy. What will they know? Will they use this against us? Sir Alfred Hitchcock once masterfully said: “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it”. But are we still anticipating when Google ads are putting fortune cookies out of business and Facebook is determined to become that creepy stalker that knows what you did last summer? Let’s face it, we live in the “black mirror” age where all eyes are on us. Facial recognition, fingerprint/retina scans and voice recognition technology were once used by intelligence agencies to track terrorists (as Hollywood would like us to believe), now we use them to unlock our phones. But can we really complain? In a world where most of our manicured life is out there and the lines are blurred between who we are and what we share, do we really care who’s watching? The way things are going, we’re more bound to volunteer that information than having it stolen. I’m sure Hitchcock would agree when I rhetorically ask: who doesn’t love a good bang? The show must go on, hope they enjoy it. 

— Eli Rezkallah

YOUSSEF nabil

Interview

Youssef Nabil left Egypt in 2003. yet somehow He never left. With his hand-painted photographs and videos he created his own personal iconography of the Egypt he loved, the Egypt that once was and he wishes to preserve. Inspired by cinema, it is an imaginary Egypt, yet perhaps real nonetheless.

Weronika Gesicka

Interview

We’ve all fantasized with the idea of photographing our memories and saving them on a hard disk. Weronika Gesicka’s work is a study of what those memories would look like were they to actually be captured, and it’s simply mind-blowing. Each photograph is a disturbingly thorough display of how our brain can deceive us by filling those missing gaps in our memory, and fictionalizing something that once felt so real. Blurring the lines between reality and fiction, Gesicka’s work is bound to spark some thoughts about the role of memory in our lives, and how memory can shape who we are as a person, and who we want to become. 

Alma Haser

Interview

Only graduating as a fine art photographer in 2010, Alma Haser has already won multiple awards for her work, which offers a whole new spin on the ancient art of portraiture. In addition to being a master with the camera, she is a master in origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.  

Arnout van Albada

Interview

Arnout van Albada’s studio is his kitchen. Quite literally at times, for the Dutch artist loves his food and loves to paint food, anything from raw vegetables and Spanish hams to sardines and cream cakes. In the history of art, food is a well known symbol of the “vanity of vanities” the simple truth that all creation must perish. However, more than rubbing our noses in deeper meanings, Van Albada aims to convey the monumental beauty of such a simple food item as fennel or a pudding. And he does so with such a photographic eye for detail, that it really makes you want to have a bite … 

Marius Sperlich

Interview

Marius Sperlich is mostly known for his macro photography on Instagram, however this 26 year-old German artist is also a designer, film director, musician and essentially a subversive rebel who knows how to work the system, but refuses to be run by it. Hungry to express himself and eager to unapologetically do his own thing, Sperlich has many surprises up his sleeves that are bound to provoke, strike a chord and inspire those who follow him on his reckless journey towards self-expression. 

Synchrodogs

Interview

Synchrodogs are Ukrainian photographer duo Roman Noven and Tania Oldyork who love nothing more than explore Planet Earth’s forgotten corners to produce their eerie dreamy portraits that seek to remind you that there is still a world out there and more than meets the eye. Certainly in 2018: The Year of the Dog! 

Gabriel Isak

Interview

Inspired by symbolism, the landscapes of his youth in Sweden and a particular dark period in his own life, photographer Gabriel Isak creates wonderfully still and surreal images that carry an almost painting-like quality.

The drones by ELI rEZKALLAH

Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s haunting film “The Birds” this series is set in the (very) near future.

With computers accessing our locations, conversations, sensations, thoughts and wants and needs, we are more vulnerable now than ever. We are being watched, spied on and stalked by an unknown “force”: a group of marketers, brands, governments, establishments and even individuals.

We exist on data clouds as much as we do in the Real World. But What Real World?

“The Drones” is a modern day story heroing a Hitchcockian blonde, attacked by the same birds that attack us - indirectly - everyday.

In a parallel universeby ELI rEZKALLAH

A series of fictional images, recreated from real ads in the Mad Men era, that question modern day sexism: showing it through a humorous light to spark a conversation through role play by visual artist Eli Rezkallah.

PINK NOISE BY ELI REZKALLAH AND SIGNE PIERCE

A Behind the Screens look at the collaboration between artists Eli Rezkallah and Signe Pierce for Marzook’s FW18 collection.The series of images was inspired by the futuristic shapes, colors, and textures expressed in Marzook’s new line of handbags. 

women on the verge BY ALEKSANDRA KINGO

Feature

A Plastik collaboration with photographer Aleksandra Kingo