- Actual Objects
When Claire Cochran, Rick Farin and Nick Vernet launched their creative studio Actual Objects in 2019, They derived the name of their studio from the phrase "the physicality of digital things and how they can be as real, meaningful and powerful as painting or sculpture."
Actual Objects members come from different fields (painting, music and architecture), so they can balance their work for giant brands like Nike and create edgy, provocative visuals for Hood By Air and Ottolinger. For example, in Marine Serre's 2019 Fall/winter collection launch show Radiation, masked models walk through phosphorescent Paris.
You've worked with Marine Serre on two films - how does her aesthetic resonate with your worldview?
"Our conceptual views are aligned. When she approached us, we were so excited - to be honest, there was no other designer we wanted to work with. It's all about building a world and creating characters in it, and using the clothes as a starting point to create a meaningful and powerful visual work."
What do you want the viewer to take away from your work?
"We want people to consider the implications of technology and what it might mean in a world where the physicality of the space around them is beginning to dissipate." For us, CGI and digital art, in general, are less powerful when it involves the escapist side, and more compelling when it seeks to provide a secondary perspective on our real lives, i.e. to create not a fictional fantasy of an extraterrestrial world, but a mirror image of our own. The aim is to create images that serve as reflections, allowing the viewer to look back on themselves and gain a new perspective."
- Andrei Warren When Casey Cadwallader wanted to turn his friend and Muse Bella Hadid into a digital avatar for his Mugler-inspired psychedelic Spring/Summer 2021 series, Director Florian Joahn turned to Misato Studio's Andrei Warren.
With Cadwallader overseeing the project from Paris, they scanned Hadid with body-mapping cameras at a studio in New York, creating a virtual avatar who opened the film in a white vest and jeans before transforming into a Pegasus half-human, half-horse hybrid and jumping from Palais Garnier.
Mugler Spring/Summer 2021 Collection What is the creative brief for this project?
"Casey had a very clear idea in his mind that every detail, every moment in this video had to be amazing, something that had never been seen before. Back and forth, we imagined a dystopian avant-garde aesthetic where the modern and the mood of the near future were mixed, and many barriers should have been broken down."
Tell us about creating a digital avatar of Bella Hadid for Mugler and turning her into a Pegasus centaur?
"When they told us they had scanned Bella and said they should be able to fly her, we couldn't believe it. We started merging Bella and texturing her so that everything would fall into place. The final challenge was to animate it and make it look real."
- International Magic
In January, in the midst of Britain's third particularly bleak national lockdown, Martine Rose gave us a sense of togetherness with the one-off digital launch of her Autumn/Winter 2021 collection.
With the title What We Do All Day, the audience is transported into a three-dimensional rendering of a residential area; One door after another opens, giving us a glimpse into the placeless, mundane daily lives of people in lockdown across the globe (including Rose's own home).
Helping her achieve this evocating vision was International Magic's Adam Rodgers and Stefan Endress, who first collaborated ona digital documentary for FKA twigs in 2017. He later collaborated with Maison Margiela, artist Judy Chicago, and 032c magazine.
How did Martine Rose develop the concept for this tender and intimate show?
"Martine's approach was to put people and community first, and she tried to bring out the unusual moments in the ordinary, so we started documenting this period of shared isolation and framing the show." There's something about peering into people's private lives that we can't help but feel, and right now people all over the world are in similar situations, so it felt natural for us to move in this creative direction and continue to refine the concept together. While one of the main drivers for our show was ultimately the global pandemic, we feel the wheels have already turned."
"Yes, that's part of the reason why we only did three showings of this launch show. Throughout the process, we have been thinking about how to enhance or enhance the viewer experience. However, we also wanted to separate some elements from the physical experience of watching the show and recreate the same feeling in a digital environment. By making it something you can't miss again, it forces you to live in the moment."
