Matthew Hawtin: Dimensions

[This piece was published in the July 2012 issue of Barcelona Connect magazine.]

In collaboration with Sónar Festival of Advanced Music and New Media art, last night MUTT inaugurated “Dimensions,” a solo exhibition showcasing the work of Canadian artist Matthew Hawtin.

MUTT gallery has already gained a solid reputation in Barcelona for hosting a diverse array of events in support of both local and International talent.

Hawtin’s art focuses on the concept of creating a 3D space using minimalistic shapes, bold colours and elements of repetition to bring a sense of symmetry and depth to the canvas, a 2D surface.

Matthew’s brother Richie Hawtin, the owner of record labels Plus 8 Records and Minus Records, produced music accompanying the exhibition.

Matthew has looked to interpret the simplicity of electronic music since he first designed the artwork for Richie’s “Dimension Intrusion” album in 1993. Their working collaboration since then has also served as a visual record of the development of electronic music.

“My work has slowly been minimalised and reduced,” he says. “I think that’s what any artist wants to do, whatever medium they work with. They want their work to be refined until it’s down to its pure essence; achieve an idea in its purest form, in a way.”

There is an undeniable sense of synesthesia in Matthew’s work; rhythms become symmetrical lines, pulsing beats are rendered as blurred edges. It is the exploration of these parallels between visual and audio art that have brought “Dimensions” to Sónar.

Matthew Hawtin: Dimensions
MUTT gallery, Carrer Comerç 15, Barcelona
13^th June – 31^st July 2012

The Impossible Project - Barcelona

A little something I've just written for Shopikon about the opening of a marvellous new photography shop in Born, Barcelona. (This version is unedited - some parts have been changed since publication).

Suitably nestled in the elegant yet hip Born district and barely a block from the city’s Photographic archive, The Impossible Project threw open its doors in December 2011, with other shops already enjoying cult status in Berlin, Vienna and New York. The managers of this branch, Isabel and Jorge, also own Chandal - the Raval-based home of kitsch photography paraphernalia - so are perfectly positioned to understand the venture that has led to a cult renaissance in Instant Photography.

The Impossible Project began in 2008 with Polaroid’s announcement that production would be ceased at its Netherlands-based factory, in the (mistaken) belief that there was simply no space for them as our world shifted towards a digital future. Panic swept through the Polaroid community in the realisation that over 300 million cameras were destined to become nothing more than unusable and obsolete relics from the dusty past of our analog ancestors.

Thank heavens that the factory manager André Bosman and Austrian entrepreneur Florian Kaps saw the potential for a solution to enable the survival of tangible instant film. Looking to mirror Polaroid’s passion for creativity yet going far beyond in terms of innovation, The Impossible Project was born with a mission to produce pioneering chemical formulas, pushing fresh instant film onto the market for its hungry underground following. The shop is a haven of retro photography with its feet firmly in the twenty-first century, housing a gallery for new talent, original Polaroid cameras and of course, fresh cassettes of Impossible Project-made film. The rest is instant history.

See published article here

Text © Natasha Drewnicki 2011.
Photography © Shopikon. All Rights Reserved.

Halloween: the Antic Horror Picture Show

This Halloween prepare yourselves for short, sharp bursts of gore, blood and guts in the shape of a locally-produced, low budget cortometraje (short film) festival at the Antic Teatre. Straddling the Gotic/Borne district, the Antic Teatre is a hidden gem of cultured performance-art shows, and is one of the few real “creation” hubs in the centre of the city with an in-house theatre.

Whilst a bohemian/student crowd tends to frequent the beautiful hidden courtyard (graced by an ancient fig tree in its centre), the theatre itself is a space appreciated by a much wider demographic.

Expect all the trappings of your average B-rated horror movie: ridiculous titles, the eternal battle of good and evil, an overzealous use of ketchup and blood curdling shrieks of terror.

The show begins on 30th and 31st at 17:00-19:00, with an in-house band playing at 21:00 on 30th. Tickets are available on the door (price information unavailable, but expect them to be around 5€). Arrive early to secure seats.

- Visit Antic Teatre here

BCN - people watching

A few snaps taken recently around and about Barcelona.