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T IS HI SU S E:
4 EDITORIAL Mi Casa Es Tu Casa
14 PHOTOREPORT Resistance, Oporto, Portugal
40 TABOO? “A Alcova de Patrícia”
50 LA FOUINOGRAPHE Burlesque Snowqueen
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08 COVER ARTIST Tamara Alves Lisbon, Portugal
38 PUBLISHING José Bartolo Oporto, Portugal
44 INTERVENTION ± Urban Intervention
48 PHOTOREPORT Gare Day & Night Oporto, Portugal
Editors: Nuno Dias // Jo達o Cabral Notable contributors: Carmo Pereira Mariana Ribeiro Nuno Dias Patr鱈cia Tiago Moura Translator: Beatriz Valle Ana Catarina Ramalho Tiago Moura Design: Nuno Dias // Jo達o Cabral Cover: Tamara Alves Ilustration: Tamara Alves Photography: Aline Fournier Diogo Campo Grande Video: Mariana Oliveira Rita Laranjeira Contents: IDIOT 速 Idiot Mag www.facebook.com/idiotmag Idiot Design www.facebook.com/Idiocracydesign www.idiocracydesign.com Info@Idiocracydesign.com
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Mariana Ribeiro
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«WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO START A MAGAZINE? THERE ARE SO MANY ALREADY…» HUNDREDS, ACTUALLY. «EVEN WORSE, AN IDIOT MAGAZINE!» WITH A LOT OF IDIOT IDEAS. DONE BY IDIOTS FOR… PEOPLE (IT DOESN’T MATTER IF THEY ARE IDIOTS OR NOT). AND THAT IS WHY, WITH A LOT OF DEDICATION AND LOVE, WE BRING YOU IDIOT MAG. SO THAT EVERYONE, WHATEVER THEIR BACKGROUND, CAN FEEL AT HOME IN OUR HOUSE. SO THAT THEY CAN FEEL FREE TO COME IN AND LEAVE WHEN THEY WANT TO. WE HAVE TRIED TO BUILD AN EASY, SIMPLE PUBLICATION, WITH A LOT OF IDEAS THAT CAN BE APPLIED IN THE DAY-TO-DAY LIFE OF OUR MORTAL READERS. IDIOT MAG WILL TRY TO ENTER THE HECTIC WORLD OF TEXT AND IMAGE WITH THE WILL TO INFORM, ENTERTAIN AND MAKE YOU WANT TO COME BACK FOR MORE. THIS WILL BE JUST ANOTHER PUBLICATION IN A CITY THAT WE WISH WILL CHALLENGE US, WILL NURTURE US AND WILL COEXIST WITH US, IN THE BEST WAY IT IS ABLE TO DO SO. THE CITY WILL HELP US GIVE YOU WHAT WE WANT TO OFFER: A CULTURAL GUIDE, WITH SOME OF OUR OWN SUGGESTIONS, SOME STORIES ON ARTISTS AND BACKGROUND ON ISSUES THAT WE WISH TO TACKLE; WE WILL ALSO TRY TO HAVE A MONTHLY INTERVIEW ON THE SOCIAL INTERVENTION OF A SPECIFIC ARTIST AND WE WILL TRY AND SHOW, THROUGH A UNIQUE COLUMN, HOW THERE IS A LIMIT TO EVERY TABOO. WE HEREBY PLEDGE OUR TRANSPARENCY, OUR OWN COLOR-FILLED REALITY AND THE UTMOST INCREDIBLE FANTASIES. THE REST YOU CAN FIND OUT FOR YOURSELVES, BECAUSE I, MERE IDIOT, ALMOST FEEL LIKE A POLITICIAN SPEAKING. //
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photos Š Marco Rufino 8 // IDIOTMAG
“ Te l l ’ e m That Its Human Nature”
From the guts it goes to the heart, from the heart to the hands and from the hands to the world. This is how the skill of Tamara Alves is a non-edited movement of the raw emotions that consume us. After participating in the event Gare Day & Night, in the past 22nd of September, in Jardim das Virtudes, Oporto, Tamara Alves is the guest artist to feature in the October issue of Idiot Mag. Every month, the magazine invites a guest artist to illustrate its content, and this month we chose this Portuguese artist born in Algarve, who mixes elements from illustration and graffiti in her work, resulting in contrasting colors and feelings. CULTURE // URBAN TRENDS // 9
“A Tigers Sleeping Under My Skin”
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“Girl Gone Wild”
Tamara Alves tried to develop a technique to bring the softness of the canvas closer to the roughness of city buildings – a private mural where she’s allowed to succumb to the obsession for the freehand and which, at the same time, conveys a will to register what is more personal to her on a bigger scale. The city is one of the major inspirations for her work, and with José Carvalho (with whom she has the ColorBlind project) the city also became a space of creation. They were both
invited to paint a mural in Moledo and the entrance of the Fábrica do Braço de Prata, in Lisbon. The maturation of some ideas, alone and together, in Portugal and abroad, and the desire to continue growing as a creator are what the future holds for this young artist. // Tiago Moura
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WE ARE ARE AN AN INDEPENDENT INDEPENDENT PUBPUBWE LICATION FROM FROM OPORTO, OPORTO, PORPORLICATION TUGAL. WITHOUT WITHOUT ANY ANY HELP HELP OR OR TUGAL. SUPPORT WE WE WANT WANT THE THE VOICE VOICE SUPPORT OF THOUSAND THOUSAND OF OF IDIOTS, IDIOTS, WHO WHO OF WANT TO TO CONTRIBUTE CONTRIBUTE TO TO THE THE WANT CULTURE OF OF OUR OUR COUNTRY, COUNTRY, TO TO CULTURE REACH EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE. WITH WITH THE THE REACH ENGLISH ISSUE ISSUE WE WE WILL WILL BE BE ABLE ABLE ENGLISH TO SHOW SHOW THE THE WORLD WORLD WHAT WHAT TO WE DO DO IN IN THIS THIS CORNER CORNER OF OF THE THE WE GLOBE. SHARE, SHARE, PARTICIPATE PARTICIPATE GLOBE. AND FOLLOW FOLLOW OUR OUR WORK WORK SO SO AND THAT WE WE CAN CAN CARRY CARRY ON ON EXISTEXISTTHAT ING: WWW.FB.COM/IDIOTMAG WWW.FB.COM/IDIOTMAG ING: 12 // IDIOTMAG
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PARTNERS
If art in Portugal was a person, Invicta would be its lungs. City of culture, that every time it breathes in, an artist is born, and every time it breathes out, creativity is spread. It is within this metaphor that RESISTANCE is born, and as its own name shows it is a resistance; people, associations and institutions that will always fight for music and urban culture, for our culture. We co-produced this event as if it was our own child, and with its final result, in the past 6th of July, we were moved. Hundreds of people walked by Alf창ndega (Oporto, Portugal) on the hottest day of the year and, who knows, the most full of art; 24 writers joined theatre, music, bands, tattoos, the flea market and together we made this event a success. Do you want more next year? // text: Nuno Dias, photos: Diogo Campo Grande
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The sights: Douro River
Cat Dias 16 // IDIOTMAG
Eime
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Mesk @ Host Me
DUB
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The idiot: Jo達o
Nuno and Rafi
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Flea Market
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Mr. Dheo
Laro Lagosta
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Fedor
Third
Sol em Sol: Solar food
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Mรกrio Okerland
Hazul
Zona Tattoo & Bodypiercing @ Oficina
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Bodypainting: KORES270
Mars
Youth One
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Mariposa: Massages
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Go Mes
Mesk
Neutro & Mots
Draw
Neutro & Mots
Virus & Deslembrados
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Eky
Alma
Fedor
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Fynd DUB
Seka
Os Suspeitos
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Kest
Mars
http: //www.youtube. com/watch?v=5yjpSgp-i8U video here!
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Blackjacjers
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Rafi
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SELF PUBLISHING
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José Bartolo is a coordinative-teacher and head of the scientific counsil of the Escola Superior de Artes e Design (ESAD), in Matosinhos, Portugal. He holds a PhD in Ciências da Comunicação (Communication Studies) from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, with a dissertation entitled O Corpo Tecnológico: Uma Abordagem Intersemiótica. He also holds a degree in Philosophy and another PhD in Aesthetics, also from UNL. An investigator and member of the CECL/UNL Scientific Council and a regular col¬laborator of CEUA/FAUP, he is also a teacher in the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universi¬dade do Porto, a thinker and a curator in the areas of art and design since 1998. He collaborates with IADE, FEUP, Experimentadesign, CEMES and the British Council, among others, and was Artistic Director for the Casa d’Os Dias da Água, in Lisbon, as well as a guest curator for the London Design Festival, in 2008. He is a regular contributor in different magazines, such as ArteCapital and Artes&Leilões, and also the author of a blog called Reactor, a member of the editorial board of Resdomus magazine and Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens, and the author of Corpo e Senti¬do (Livros Labcom, 2007) and Design (Relógio d’Água, 2010). Currently, he is co-editor of ESAD’s PLI / artes e design magazine. // Mariana Ribeiro
- As a curator and a thinker in the field of design, how do you think that it will de-How did your professional career led velop in Portugal? you to a more theoretical approach towards design? Any answer that relates to the future seems, at the present moment, heavWhen I started working in this area, ily influenced by the deep state of in the mid-90’s, the Portuguese de- economical crisis that we live and will sign scene was really narrow-minded. continue to live in. Some colleagues There was a lack of spaces and oppor- of mine from Faculdade de Belas Artunities where designer could present tes, in Lisbon, are organizing, at the their work. I had just come from Read- start of next month, a conference on ing and I had returned with a strong Design and Crisis. The current state of desire to help develop conditions in affairs puts at risk the opportunities of our country for exhibitions, conferenc- a lot of young designers, the developes and workshops in the field of de- ment of new projects and, most of all, sign. Writing about design was just a the growth of design as part of our culnatural consequence from that desire ture. But I do believe that design has and interest. From 1998 on, I started the means to answer to this crisis and teaching Teoria e Metodologia do De- offer new solutions. Personally, I am insign (Theory and Methods of Design) volved in different projects (a new incuin IADE and, late, in ESAD and I kept bator for design projects, a group that looking for a way to turn all this theo- is related to entrepreneurship, different ry into a personal way of thinking and printed projects, etc.) and I am looking questioning that I could translate into to renew, on a daily basis, my own moa more critical side of design. tivation to achieve different goals CULTURE // URBAN TRENDS // 37
- You are the chief editor of the new PLI magazine. What is the relevance of selfpublication and how do you think that it can rise against the current crisis? Self-Production is becoming a decisive process and tool in the way young designers develop and promote their work. Not only their work, but help promote other designers work and create a alternative context of production/circulation/sale to the traditional one, that is completely saturated. Young designers should emerge as self-producers. 38 // IDIOTMAG
- Your blog is a privileged space for information about Portuguese design. Do you look at that platform as a selfpublishing tool?
“Many Stuff Internacional Graphic Design Session“, Moscovo, Charlotte Cheetham
Yes. It’s run by me. Web 2.0 offered us a lot of democratic tools that have helped us develop different personal projects, on our grounds, and in particular, related to self-publication. Recently, I invited Charlotte Cheetham from Manystuff to attend a conference in ESAD. She is 28 years old and has a big list of self-publishing projects that have turned her into a renown author. - In your opinion, how do you feel the impact that your blog holds online? Reactor is a few years old. Nowadays, I have a deeper understanding of my readers and their interests and points of view. I am just lacking the time to feed them regularly. - How are you able to be a curator, a thinker, hold a blog, organize cultural events, publish books and magazines and still teach? Do you have time for all of this?
<
http://reactor-reactor. blogspot.com/
The secret behind it: sleep little, work hard. And most of all, love and believe in what I do. The fact that the number of projects that I have successfully created is a minority compared to the number of ideas that I have is a testament to my desire to keep going and keep doing different things. On this journey, I have also met a lot of people that are as motivated as I am and that makes the work easier. CULTURE // URBAN TRENDS // 39
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Taboo [tuh-boo, ta-] Noun, plural ta-boos.1.A prohibition or interdiction of anything; exclusion from use or practice. (…) Synonyms: ban, proscription, embargo, interdiction, no-no. 2.The system, practice, or act whereby things are set up as sacred, forbidden for general use, or placed under a prohibition or interdiction. 3.The condition of being so set apart, forbidden or interdicted. 4.Exclusion from social relations; ostracism
In one simple definition, holy and sex are intertwined; just another one that melts the desired, the pleasure and the forbidden into one. A taboo is not the same thing as sex: it is every boundary that we choose to cross; and it’s that thin line that exists between the pornographic and the erotic, between an offensive gesture and ecstasy, between that pre-paid order that tells us to tilt our ass in their direction or the same words whispered in an ear by someone that we wish see twist with pleasure. Taboo is the life that exists in the middle of all of this - it is freedom. It’s a way to be profane with your mouth and religious with your limbs. And to be pound between our legs with that promise of pleasure. Is it that confusing to take our body seriously and use our heads to make money? And where does sex or taboo lay: in our mind or in our flesh? Patricia is a tramp; she speaks in the third person and answers her private sex hotline by name. Patricia is free and has a queen sized bed; she hates it when they call her princess and is a voyeur by nature. She looks and acts like any good girl would:
she doesn’t drink, she doesn’t party, she dances on her own around in her house and plays on top of her lovers. And she inspired devotion in others, some whisper Heavenly Fathers by her bedside, hoping that their bodies won’t succumb to pleasure, other look at her as a saint or as a mother. Patricia is a taboo. And she plays with the forbidden. She plays with her words and takes her body seriously. Every move calculated. Her voice is at a whisper when she speaks, but she likes to scream of pleasure. She risks it all, except her principles. She has discovered that those are also a taboo. She usually bursts out laughing when people choose actions over words. She is 24 years old and has a lot of experience in relationships: long, short, one night stands. She could hold a degree in masturbating; she is, after all, a licentious girl. Every month she will open one of these profane prayer books and confess, in detail, all of the calls and pleasures and, most of all, she will have fun with all of the conventions. Taboo is also a place. And what places are so dangerous and what practices are so corrupt that become taboo or custom? And where lays the line of our own forbidden place and with which threads are we building our lives? This month we lay the questions, but from here on out there will be stories and maybe even a solution!
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Mariana Ribeiro
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When a senior graduate in Communication Design from the Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto asks himself what his next career step should be and that student, by any chance, is Miguel Januário, the answer seems simple: it shouldn’t be towards becoming another agent in the consumerist landscape that we live in. And, just like that, his project MaisMenos flooded the streets of Oporto and Lisbon with the symbol ±: the mathematical symbol that the artist uses as a metaphor for his wish to turn the process of corporate communication into a neutral affair. In that way, MaisMenos is a manifest for our ability to criticize advertisement and our own society. It’s very difficult to walk around the city and not see Miguel’s imagery. «There is very little artistic intervention in Portugal» says Miguel. There are many sides to his expression: from symbols to stencils, from ideas to phrases to stickers that lay the foundation of his message of anti-branding. What connects all of these elements is the sheer controversial sarcasm of every piece. The artist is himself the first one to ad-
mit that all of the media coverage on his project creates his own brand, which is ironic. Though it might seem confusing at first, Miguel’s work is just an example of how urban art can have its own personality and make us think outside the box. «Designers are able to create change. I do believe that the world can benefit from its art.», he affirms. And it is with that same conviction that this individual case of corporate identity even created its own events, like when he tried to have Portugal’s flag incorporate his symbol. His actions seem to be in tune with the nation’s debt and the economical crisis that it finds itself in. Writer, as he is known in the urban art scene, underlines Banksy, Obey and the Portuguese project Underdogs as his main influences. What is undeniable is that this project possesses a very unique dynamic, with a very distinct imagery that is recognizable by the public and that provokes interest. We were able to meet with Miguel who was able to answer some of our questions, even though he was busy with a lot of other projects.
Urban intervention applied in Oporto and in Lisbon aimed at social criticism, among others, through graffiti, stencil and stickers. MaisMenos equals zero and represents neutrality and transparency in communication. The project is idealized by Miguel Januário in his final Graduation thesis. Great feedback from the public with a strong and direct associative irony, which materializes the individual thought, rather than the mass culture we see today. CULTURE // URBAN TRENDS // 45
Q: Tell us about how all of this started and your references for this project. A: MaisMenos started in an academic environment, when I was in my last year in FBAUP. I questioned myself about the role that design plays in our consumerist society and my place in that same backdrop. Since I already had a background in graffiti, my initial goal was to create a project that had both a theoretical and a practical expression. The theoretical aspect of my project would then give way to the more conceptual part of it all. So, after a long period of thought, the symbol appeared in my mind, and it immediately stood on its own as a symbol for the way brands are the energy behind our consumerist society and my wish to erase the socio-economical discrepancy that these brands manufacture. The idea of «no logo», introduced by Naomi Klein was the main inspiration behind this project, but other authors, like Noam Chomsky also contributed to it. 46 // IDIOTMAG
Q: Your messages are quite impactful. Capitalism, freedom, among other topics, are regularly conveyed in your work. From where do all these ideas come from? And could you explain your work process and how do you end up in this place where intertextuality is a basis for your irony? A: It’s a long process of research, information and observation. Perhaps it is connected to the way that I observe and process our reality. Afterwards, it’s all about the time that those ideas take to mould in my head. Usually, when I get an idea, I write it down and I work from that. When I finally have an opportunity to put that idea into action, I do it. Some of my ideas never see the light of day, because when I go back to them I don’t feel that initial connection.
Q: Do you think that your work has a shock value? A: I think that maybe it might shock those who aren’t ready for the discussion. For the rest of us, I hope that people find it inspiring and that it stimulates them. That’s what really matters. That and that we mustn’t fear to speak our minds. We must keep reminding ourselves that we have those freedoms. Q: In this whole process, did you ever feel that you had more quarrels than people willing to support your work? A: I never had big arguments about this, as odd as it might seem. I’ve been painting graffiti for a long time, so I know my way around the scene. You never know what might happen tomorrow, but that doesn’t bug me. The thought of being taken in by the police or even of having troubles with the law actually seems exciting, because it would create a buzz around the project! Nowadays, I do this day and night, no fear. Sometimes I think that the more relaxed we are the better things run. On the matter or bursaries, I’m still the sole investor in this project.
Q: Is there any project that we need to keep an eye out for? A: I have just started to plan my 2012. I’ve had a lot of work lately so I haven’t been able to think things through, but I do have some ideas and things lodged in my head. I can feel that the moment of introspection and, later, of execution is near. We live in stimulating times and even more when you desire to intervene.
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Q: What do you think of contemporary urban art? Do you think that there should be a distinction between art and doodles? A: I see street art, in all of its forms, as a generalized movement and that wave is a way of protest, be it figurative or technical or more conceptual. I see it as a way that people have found to express their feelings, thoughts, etc. In a world where only those that rule are able to bombard the rest of us with imagery, the common citizen has adapted himself to this environment and started producing his own images. Some with better skills, others with no notion of what they are doing. But, if we are truly influenced by the mighty power of images, isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t this a legitimate answer? And doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that make this sort of expression a rebuttal of public spaces that no longer belong to us? Obviously, if you ask me if there are pieces of graffiti that have a wider complexity than others, I will say yes. More interesting, important and thoughtprovoking? Yes, but all parts of this movement can be artistic; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current and it has its own context, its own roots and its own reason; that is what makes it a valid branch of contemporary art. What we now know for sure, is that no social, political or economical stance is safe from being questioned, in our modern world. Especially through images. //
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Aline Fournier
Lou on the Rocks
Burlesque Snowqueen
Lou on the Rocks is an international burlesque performer. At an oriental twilight and asian dawn Crossroad, Lou on the Rocks rides on a highway to the stars. A passionate artist teasing you with elegance and fun…where Rock’n’roll meets classic burlesque. She performs all around Europe, Canada, 50 // IDIOTMAG
regulary in France, Great Britain, and Germany. She has her own show called “That’s Fabulous!” at the famous cabaret Palais Mascotte in Geneva, Switzerland. She invites there most talented artists from all over the world. www.louontherocks.com
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Aline
FROM SWITZERLAND WITH LOVE,
www.lafouinographe.com
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WE PRODUCE EVENTS WHERE WE PUT TOGETHER THE BEST OF MUSIC AND ART IN THE BEST PLACES IN OPORTO. WE HAVE A VOICE IN SOCIETY AND THAT VOICE COMES EXCLUSIVELY FROM US! WE GIVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MORE AND MORE ARTISTS TO SHOW THEIR ART, THEIR PROJECT, THE OUTCOME OF THEIR EFFORT, AND NOW WE MEAN TO TAKE IT BEYOND BORDERS. FOLLOW US AND SHARE SO THAT WE CAN CARRY ON EXISTING: WWW.FB.COM/IDIOTMAG 56 // IDIOTMAG
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Gare Day & Night, 29 de junho @ Jardim das Virtudes, Oporto Portugal Photoreport: Diogo Campo Grande / Spyrart / Youth One
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This issue cover by Tamara Alves
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