ryat rebecca salvadori say lou lou ana sia

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Installation view of Uri
Aran here, here and here, at
Kunsthalle Zürich, 2013,
curated by Beatrix Ruf,
photo by Stefan Altenburger
Photography Zurich.
society?
A: I think art, if you
understand its very specific language, is inherently political in itself, and
not in the sense of agitation and polemics, but in
terms of a critical attitude
and space, which insists
on questions being asked.
I also see art institutions
in the same way. I think their duties are
to open a space for discussion within the
society, and to maintain it open, and to
enable artists to use this space as a place
for communication and dialogue regarding what the society is or is based on.
Q: Do you think that art can change
society?
A: Oh, that’s a a lot of work, not even
politics can change society, but I think
that the language of art is very powerful,
because it communicates
directly with subjects and
creates thought processes
in individuals. I consider
this political.
Q: Which artist do
you think I should have
included in this special
issue but did not?
A: Laura Owens, for
instance. I think she is one
of today’s few painters
who is totally unafraid of
experimenting in painting
and who is knowledgeable
about the medium. I find
this incredibly exciting;
it is rare that an artist is
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totally fearless of running a risk. I would
also include Elaine Sturtevant. What
Sturtevant said in the 60s now comes
around full circle in the production of
a younger generation of artists. What I
most admire about her is that she has
never been afraid of risking at any given
moment in her life and artistic career.
Installation view of Sturtevant «Image over Image»,
at Kunsthalle Zürich, 2012, curated by Beatrix Ruf,
photo by Stefan Altenburger Photography Zurich.
PIS—RUF
Ryat
Rebecca Salvadori
Say Lou Lou
Ana Sia
Florence Tetier
Tokimonsta
Faye Toogood
Ryat
shot by Daniel Trese
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Rebecca Salvadori
shot by Luca Campri
Say Lou Lou
shot by Erik Wåhlström
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Florance Tétier shot by Luca Massaro
Ana Sia shot
by Brian Kanagaki
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Tokimonsta
shot by Ye Rin Mok
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Faye Toogood shot by Retts Wood
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RYAT
by Barnaba Ponchielli
Christina McGeehan, born in New Jersey,
musically raised in Philadelphia and
currently living in Los Angeles, is ready
and determined to take over the world
under her musical alter ego RYAT. Her
official debut album Totem (following
two self-produced ones) was released by
Brainfeeder, the Flying Lotus music label
(which also boasts the likes of Daedelus,
Lorn, Martyn and many others) in US,
and licensed under Ninja Tune in Europe,
is one of the top rated of 2012. Her mix
of Electronic music, Jazz, Classical music
and Soul has been compared to the likes
of Björk and Joanna Newsom. In January,
she was chosen for the University of Yorke
project by Dazed & Confused magazine to
ask Thom Yorke questions about music
and life along with the likes of Actress,
Machinedrum, Flying Lotus, Arca, etc.
Screenshots from Owl video
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Not to mention her forthcoming collaboration with Cinematic Orchestra and a
project for a short movie written by her
and with guests appearances of stars like
Angel Deradoorain, the main character,
from The Dirty Projectors and Gonjasufi.
«I have been playing guitar and piano
for about eleven-fifteen years, producing
and composing for about seven years.
Instruments and writing choir parts were
my first means of getting sounds out of
my head. RYAT was originally a jazz
fusion group called The Fusion Riots and
started in Philadelphia, inspired by Bobby
Hughes’ record Fusa Riot: it was based on
looping synths and incorporated improvisation by an avant-garde Jazz group. I
decided I wanted to be able to tour, so I
started RYAT as my solo project. Totem
took about six months to write and
record: 95% of the instrumentation was
live. I definitely wish I could have had a
live drummer and some more time to mix
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Ryat and Taylor McFerrin performing in the video
of the song Place In My Heart A.
the record». All in all, a very versatile
musician, not just some simple run-of-themill dj or vocalist. Her studies included,
among other things, Classical music as
well as Jazz. And you can hear it all in her
music which, like that of her friend Flying
Lotus, seems electronically composed by
machines and, but departs from analog
roots, reaching the hearts and minds of
listeners worldwide.
«I don’t really like to describe my
music because I don’t like to have limitations on what I create next. I like all types
of music: I am influenced by everything
from Jazz to Classical to Electronic to
even Folk music. I write what I feel like.
It’s just whatever concept or space I’m in
at the moment. For example, I just wrote
a short film and I plan to incorporate into
it the music from my next EP which I’m
working on now. It is very much inspired
by surrealism and is a dark silent comedy
with elements of new animation. It is
about the manipulated media and how it
affects two characters. It’s pretty crazy
and fun. But right now we had to put the
filming on hold until more fonding comes
in». Thus, her influences are not just
musical; music is just a medium to express
feeling and transmit emotions, above all
live, where RYAT surprises with her intensity and knowledge of the subject. «I will
tour Europe again at the end of May». An
occasion not to be missed out on!
Screenshots from Owl video.
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Rebecca Salvadori
by Barnaba Ponchielli
“It is kind of like when
you are single and
you really want a
boyfriend and you
can’t understand
why no one wants to
date you. Then after
a while you forget
about it and all of a
sudden...”
PRINCE RAMA
Rebecca works with digital
images – filters, glitches
and acidic distortions –
creating strong colors.
But she also uses video
clips, distorting them with
low resolutions like that
of digital cameras from
the start of the digital
era or VHS grain. A very
visionary and not very
cinematographic way of
working, despite the fact
that in her latest collaboration with Bo Ningen,
the Japanese Noise Rock
band from London, she demonstrated her
excellent command of the camera with a
very clean-cut black and white video, in
harmony with the stylish Japanese-English band and their guest star Jehnny Beth
of the all-female band Savages. Rebecca
is Italian, originally from Milan, but a
nomad at heart. From Berlin she moved to
London, working on experimental video
Trailer Trash Tracys Live Visuals UK/France Tour photo by Rebecca Salvadori. in different environments – from art to
theater to research-based music (her sister
Olivia is a classically-trained singer who
is experimenting with different genres and
Rebecca made a video for her) as well as
pieces for Rock bands on the other end
of the spectrum – like Bo
Ningen or Trailer Trash
Tracys.
«After studying at
IUAV in Venice, I moved
to Berlin where I lived
for three years. It was
there that I began filming
artists in action, and
making visual material
for theaters and galleries.
Emptiness Eurotour Video
Loop; BYOB Vevey – Malibu
Mermaid; IMAGES, Festival
des Arts Visuels de Vevey
Vevey, Switzerland.
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After much experimentation within the
fields of art and music, I felt the need
to stop for a moment in order to see my
stylistic direction a little more clearly. In
2010, I moved to London for a Masters
degree in Film and Screen Studies at
Goldsmiths College». And, what do you
know, once she was there people started
paying attention to her online. Trailer
Trash Tracys and Bo Ningen contacted
her for live visuals and a video and, thus,
she ended up in important
British magazines and
others became interested
in her work. «I got started
working with Trailer Trash
Tracys because we were
friends. I made a video
as well as visuals for their
live show which we took
on tour in France and
England in 2012. With Bo
Ningen everything was
Music video frame from Trailer
Trash Tracys Engelhardt
Arizona.
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SAY LOU LOU
by Marco Lombardo
Half Swedish and half Australian, twins
Elektra and Miranda Kilbey are daughters of the art world. Their father, Steve
Kilbey, is the leader of The Church, a
historic Aussie Rock band, one of the
most famous ones around. Their mother
is Karin Jansson, who also has a musical
past, although less of note. «Both our
families are made up mostly of musicians
and actors, which has made us, at times
unwillingly, very dramatic and creative
people». So, considering their DNA, it’s
easy to imagine a future in the music
business for the twins, who founded Saint
Lou Lou (now Say Lou Lou for copyright purposes) «out of post high school
boredom».
The name is a tribute to an eccentric
aunt, while their future is yet to be seen.
But it is off to a head start with the single
Maybe You, an ethereal electronic ballad
that conquered the heart of French
record label Kitsuné, as
well as the hearts of many
fans around the world.
The Kilbey sisters spent
their childhood traveling
constantly between Australia and Sweden. A necessary shake-up when you
have parents who are separated and live at opposite
sides of the world. «It
was both great and terrible. You had so much life
experience at an early age
from the different culture
exchanges and had such
wide perceptions of the
world as a child. Being
bilingual was fantastic,
and traveling was so much
fun. But emotionally it
was draining, because we
always missed someone
– if we were in Sweden
we missed our father and
our family there and if
we were in Australia we
missed our mother and her
“Our twin relationship is present
in all areas of our lives”
Bo Ningen featuring Jehnny Beth (Savages)
nichijyou backstage, photo by Fletcher Lawrence.
a little more traditional.
The label contacted me to
make visuals for the launch
of their second album
Line the Wall as well as to
make their music video».
Few know of her in Italy,
however, «My primary
link with the Italian music
scene is my sister Olivia
and composer Sandro
Mussida». Rebecca didn’t
choose the easy road;
she rather loves a good
challenge. «I love digital
images: the different possible resolutions and how they influence the
content of what we see. I try, first of all, to
understand what type of grain to use and
I concentrate a lot on the balance of the
possible textures. I work with the image
as if it were solid material, preferring a
vertical, layered montage rather than a
horizontal, narrative one: a method that is
more painter-like than cinematic». A style
in continuous evolution, but at this point
very recognizable. «I’m constructing my
visual language, a style that expresses and
clarifies itself with each new video, independent of its destination».
The first images that paint a perfect portrait of the
Kilbey twins as a duo when they were still Saint Lou
Lou.
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A shot from the official video for Maybe You,
directed by Philippe Tempelman.
side of the family. We were a bit torn and
a bit confused regarding our identity –
affected by the concept of not belonging
entirely anywhere». A perennial nostalgia
incarnated perfectly in their first official
single, which will continue to reverberate
in the new tracks for their debut album,
currently in the works in
studios between London
and Stockholm. «You can
expect a pure pop album
wrapped up in ethereal
vocals, melancholy hopefulness, synths and story
telling. AddeboyvsCliff,
who have produced Maybe
You, will produce our
record that we’re planning
to release next winter». An
album that will be largely
influenced by the profound
relationship between
Elektra and Miranda.
«Our twin relationship is
present in all areas of our
lives: professional life,
friendships, love, etc. We
can’t really switch it off,
which is both positive and
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negative. For Say Lou
Lou, our twin dynamic is
what our music and our
persona is about – it’s
created through the attributes of our personalities
together, even if it means a
lot of fighting. We’re in it
together, and there is little
to no private life away
from each other or Say
Lou Lou, it’s all just one
big mess». Total dedication which we truly hope
will turn into new pop gems. «We started
this project and sort of realized that there
was almost nothing else we could see ourselves doing in the long term. Life would
feel empty and unfulfilled if we couldn’t
sing and write».
The cover of the Kilbey twins’ debut single released
by Kitsuné when they were still called Saint Lou Lou.
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ANA SIA
by Gaetano Scippa
In the past few years, the night scene of
San Francisco has been illuminated by a
team of DJs and producers led by Salva,
under the name of Frite Nite. Ana Sia
is part of this crew/label for which she
made her first full length album entitled
Surreal Estate, aside from having two
singles ready to come out before the
end of March. «A sort of coming out
party. It’s not straight forward anything,
though under the large umbrella of
house», she tells us. But Ana Sia is also
one of the most celebrated DJs of the
Ana Sia off the studio being active and taking
advantage of the winter. Just another form of
moving meditation.
Studio set up.
West Coast. Tastemaker and Evangelist
of tomorrow’s hottest sounds and bass
from around the world, she was raised
in the suburbs of Minnesota, has lived
in Manhattan, Hawaii, and now lives in
SF. She defines herself as citizen of the
world. Artist by profession practically
from birth, first as a ballerina and then a
musician, Ana associates her childhood
with the stage.
She has been on the stages of some
of the world’s biggest festivals such as
Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Detroit
Electronic Music Festival, but her most
exciting memory is tied to Black Rock
City, Nevada. «There’s nothing quite
like playing a sunrise set at Burning Man
Festival. It’s incredibly surreal». Speaking of the CaliforniaDance, Hip-Hop
and Electronic music scene, Ana Sia
is convinced that there’s no dominant
city, but rather a West Coast sensibility.
«But it’s also not the dominating sound
anymore. The presence over the last few
years has been a lot of cross-over and
hybrid genres; a resurgence of classic
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“The term ‘nonsense’
is one of the most
baffling words in
our vocabulary. It
has a negative quality
only, like death.
Nobody can explain
nonsense: it can only
be demonstrated”
MALIN GABRIELLA
NORDIN
Inside the Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This
is where her family is from and she does her best to
pilgrimage back as often as possible.
House and Minimal as well as hard Rap
making it’s way onto the same dance
floor is what’s up right now». There’s
no specific artist with whom she would
like to collaborate at the
moment, the only criteria
is that he or she should
be European. She’s currently listening to The
Click by Breach and Dark
Sky, Everything by French
Fries, Rest in 3Piece by
Salva and Work by A$AP
Ferg. Regarding the fact
that there are evident
differences between men
and women in the circuit,
she specifies: «Yes, there’s
an obvious difference in
the numbers speaking
girls vs boys, but I really
don’t describe it as sexist.
The opportunity is the
same for every one human
trying to make a career as an artist. For
the same reasons I don’t want anyone
handing me anything because I’m a lady,
I don’t want the fact that I am one to
have led me to where I am. Ladies are
out-numbered in general in the entire
human population so when it comes
down to ‘jobs’, we only have the advantage in the role as ‘mother’. We win that
one».
Her relationship with technology, as
predicted, is rather intimate: «Just after
seven years, I’m all Apple Macs, have
a few synths (a Roland Juno 106 and a
Slim Phatty from Moog), various midi
keyboards that work and a graveyard of
tools that have bit the dust». Her dream
is to continue to share and make art with
other people in all of the most obscure
places on earth.
Maneki Neko collection plus one live.
These are Ana’s spirit animals!
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Florence Tétier was born
in 1983 in a suburb of
Paris where she lived and
went to school until she
turned 18. In 2001 she
moved to Lausanne, Switzerland where she studied
Graphic Design at ECAL,
the Academy of Art and
Design.
As soon as she graduated, she started working
in the fashion industry
assisting Maxime Büchi
in research and graphic
design for his magazine
Sang Bleu.
Shortly thereafter,
along with Maxime,
Jeanne-Salomè Rochat
and Florian Joye she
founded Novembre
Magazine, a quarterly
magazine about art and
fashion. Florence doesn’t
read blogs, she’s not
interested in words, she
prefers images and it is
on these that she focuses
her research.She adores Paris and that’s
one of the things that influences her the
most. It’s also where she currently lives
and works and, aside from working on
Novembre Magazine, she’s an art director
and freelance consultant.
‘Details’ on Florence: she’s reading
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk and she’s
convinced that webzines are the natural
evolution of publishing, not a prosaic
way of replacing it. Florence’s aptitude is incredible: her relationship with
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Cartier Ring, picture from Novembre Magazine issue
1, photo by Florian Joye, AD by Florence Tétier.
images reveals her sensitivity and the
care with which she works on the details.
Of course, in the Internet era everything
is constantly becoming more simple and
immediate, including researching images
or studying a concept: but is it really that
simple?
We asked Florence to tell us what
a typical day is like for her, what her
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Picture from Novembre Magazine issue 5, photo by Nicolas Coulomb, AD by Florence Tétier, styling by Natalie Yuksel.
Florence Tétier
by Cristiana Rivellino Santella
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“I try to stop around 8 pm,
just to have a social life”
Always regarding the creative
process, we asked
her how much she’s
influenced by her
roots and her family
in her work: «I
guess both France
and Switzerland
influence me. I like
working where I
live, and I always
find inspiration
where I am.
My family has
a thing for art,
painting and illustration, as well as
sewing and book
binding. Even if it’s
not fashion related,
I guess it was an
influence in the way
that I’m naturally
drawn to art and
crafts of all kinds».
When she talks
about her work,
she talks about her
origins, her path,
what brought her
to where she is now: she confesses that
she hadn’t planned on participating in
Fashion Week, but, nevertheless, it’s
something she finds fun nowadays. What
does Florence think of social networks
and blogs? «I like Instagram because I’m
a very visual person, I don’t like to write,
so it’s easy to use for me. I take a lot of
pictures with my phone so it’s an easy
process. I have two accounts, “Novembre Magazine” and “florencetetier”. I
mostly use Novembre though, cause I
think it’s too centered on me if it’s only
my own account and I have a problem
with that».
Picture from Novembre Magazine issue 5, photo by
Florian Joye, AD by Florence Tétier.
creative process is like: «I wake up and
then I go to work at my studio. Then I
answer e-mails, and I work according
to what’s going on, really. I work on
Novembre everyday, and work for my
freelance business at the same time. I try
to stop around 8 pm, just to have a social
life, you know?
But it’s always difficult because there’s
always a lot to do with Novembre, and
we are a small team of four people, living
in three different countries».
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TOKIMONSTA
by Gaetano Scippa
Tokimonsta (Jennifer Lee) is a Californian DJ and producer of Korean origins,
as her name suggests (‘toki’ stands for
rabbit), as well as the first woman to be
part of the crew of forefront label Brainfeeder by Flying Lotus. After taking
piano lessons against her will at ten years
old, Jennifer experimented with sampling
for the first time «never playing a piece
Tokimonsta with a bunny mask.
from beginning to end, but specific portions of piano pieces», thus discovering
Hip-Hop, Electronic music and a way
to produce it by herself. Half Shadows is
her latest album, preceded by the single
The Force feat. Kool Keith, and released
in April by Ultra Records. Inspired by
Haruki Murakami’s book Kafka on the
Shore, the album includes the voices of
many vocalists such as MNDR, Andreya
Triana, Jesse Boykins e Gavin Turek.
«The Force came from a
dark and strange place,
whereas there are songs
that come from an uplifting perspective or loving
or deep one», shares Lee,
who among other things
participated in the Full
Flex Express electronic
summer camp along
with Skrillex, Diplo and
Grimes.
We asked Tokimonsta to explain one of her
tweets where she writes
that artists have to evolve.
«I don’t want to live in the
past, but I want to take it
and move forward with it.
Honestly, the album isn’t a
huge departure from anything I have done in the
past, but people become
reluctant even with the
smallest of changes. The
biggest change is that the
rhythms and tempos are
not all within the ‘HipHop’ spectrum of 80-95
bpm. I’d be disappointed
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Cover art of Cosmic Intoxication EP,
released on Ramp.
“I love taking the
challenges”
YI ZHOU
in myself if this new album sounded like
previous projects». Speaking of Hip-Hop
and Electronic music rather than wonky
(«It’s a terrible word»), Jennifer compares the East Coast, which unites tradition with future Garage, Techno and
House with the
West Coast, which
is «more rooted in
psychedelia and otherworldly sounds»,
complaining about a
lack of serious Electronic musicians.
On the other hand,
now part of Brainfeeder, sure of never
having thought of
being a ‘first lady’:
«I probably would
have been the ‘first
lady’ of almost any
hip hop or elec-
tronic group». What does it mean for
her to be a woman in a male-dominated
beat maker environment? «Inspiring
younger females to pursue production
and making people curious about what I
do. People say ‘This is good, for a female’
or ‘You are my favorite female producer’.
I don’t want to be your ‘favorite female
producer’, I want to be your ‘favorite
producer’. Also, because I am a female,
a lot of people judge me more harshly or
belittle me. Overall, though, I think the
weight of the positive is better than the
negative». Tokimonsta is an artist who
lives in symbiosis with her machines and
openly declares her love for technology.
«It’s fascinating and always changing.
When I was a kid, I was always the one
who fixed the VCR, computer, cable box,
etc. In my studio, I do all the arrangement on the computer, but I record a lot
of real instruments (piano, rhodes, guitar,
weird gadgets), analogue synths, as well
as use a Roland 303 to resample a lot of
my sounds to give them a fatter sound».
Tokimonsta performing
live in 2012.
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Faye Toogood
by Rujana Rebernjak
It was difficult to reach Faye Toogood – a
ferocious protagonist of female design
– because she recently had a baby. You
may think the newborn girl will probably
become a famous designer herself, considering the environment she will grow up
in. However, Faye stated that she decided
not to treat her, dress her or build her
surroundings in a design-influenced way.
That seems kind of the right thing to do
if you consider Faye’s background: she
studied Art History and even did «a bit
of Fine Art» before moving on to work
as Interior Design stylist for World of
Interiors. And you see it in her work –
full of references to past and present
mixed together to create the delightful
combination of colors, natural materials
and sculptural volumes characteristic of
Faye’s work.
Mrs. Toogood says she has only been
to one job interview in her life. What
initially seemed a casual shot at an ad
found in a paper ended up being Faye’s
Artwork of the Fullflex Express Tour with Skrillex,
Diplo and Grimes.
Cage for birds, limited edition of eight,
designed by Faye Toogood, 2011.
ticket into the design world. The job was
for the aforementioned magazine World
of Interiors, a job she got
thanks to a suitcase full
of inspirational images
and drawings. Ever since
childhood, Faye has been
obsessed with collecting
strange objects and references – an obsession
that ranges from natural
minerals to 19th century
jewellery, Yves Klein
paintings to John Stezaker’s collages. She herself
The Back Room, installation during
London Design Week, project by
Studio Toogood, 2012.
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SUZANNE KOLLER
Spade Side Table/Batch, unlimited edition, designed by Faye Toogood.
“Unfortunately – or
luckily – you cannot
buy class”
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Atelier Piece, limited edition of eight,
designed by Faye Toogood, 2011
creates fantastic three-dimensional collages, with a knack for merging styles,
tools, modes of production and objects
from the past as well as present – creating
fabulous interiors, set designs and shops.
And even though she has been gone from
the magazine for quite some time now,
it’s clear that her approach has remained
unchanged.
She became known for pieces that
are explicitly sculptural, ranging from
geometrical side tables to her iconic
Spade chair. Even though some of these
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objects might bare a rough
and almost industrial aesthetic, they are all hand
made by British artisans in
batch production, hence
the name that unites them.
These sculptural assemblages allow Faye to have
the liberty to experiment
with forms and volumes,
nevertheless producing
pieces that are crafted
from exceptional materials, yet aren’t reduced to
a small number of pieces.
Combining traditional
crafts with an almost in-series production process
allows her to explore the
limits of production processes in the attempt to
bring innovative design
back to the stale industrial
environment.
While her studio and
her personal work seem
like two separate practices, you can clearly see
her approach in everything
she does. Studio Toogood’s collaborators vary from fine artists
to what we might define ‘traditional’
designers, a mixed group of people that
contribute to making every project a
singular combination of references. You
can see this in the projects they worked
on for the last London Design Week
as well as in numerous interior designs
for fashion companies like Comme des
Garçons and Vivienne Westwood. Every
project is both poetic and sturdy, soft and
strictly geometrical; most importantly, all
projects embody the idea that design has
something more to offer as a result of its
capability to evoke both past and present
– and maybe even the future.
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VOR—ZHO
Christina Alexandra
Voros
Mathilde Warnier
Jamie Warren
Haley Wollens
Bethan Laura Wood
Nina Yashar
Yi Zhou