Caught the opening reception for graphic designer / DJ / street artist / Obey Giant guy Shepard Fairey's Print Retrospective 1997-2009 at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery on our last night in Berlin.
Celebrated as a Person of the Year in 2008 by GQ Magazine, Fairey's HOPE poster in support of Obama's run for President became a part of the US National Portrait Gallery's permanent collection in January.
Worth visiting. Till July 11.
The HK International Art Fair was on last weekend. Definitely time well spent. Here are a few mobile snaps...
Among the featured artists: Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst, Julian Opie, Keiichi Tanaami, Kusama Yayoi, and one of my new faves - Korean artist Lee Jae Hyo, whose signature works are massive sculptures of wood and stainless bolts.
A true icon of the digital age, Julian Opie's lenticular, pixelboard and "moving pictures" garnered more than a few double-takes. 
Anish Kapoor's Hex Hex (2008, stainless steel, 205 x 230.5 x 45 cm) - a mirrored concave of hexagons with the effect of an towering inverted fly's eye.
Due to the seasonal crunch, the OOITO/Rezidents exhibit will run until December 24. The show of personal work which was scheduled for this week has been postponed.
Last week at Open for Design, Futurefarmers posted an entry called Senseless about Crispin Jones' An Invisible Force. Their description brought me back to the BankArtLife reception in Yokohama almost exactly a year ago. Jones was showing a table alongside work by a number of other artists, all of which was kinetic and/or interactive and tactile. A constant queue of people were ready to be challenged by Painstation , the sadistically entertaining work by two German media artists, Volker Morawe and Tilman Reiff.
As with An Invisible Force, the point of Painstation is endurance against discomfort. Two players face off in a game of Pong, right hand on the controller, left hand on a sensor unit. Both players receive various distractions from the unit -- heat, whipping, electric shocks etc. As time goes on, the punishment intensifies. The first person to remove their hand from the sensor loses. The real game is who can withstand the most pain.
I lost every time. Despite the open wounds and blue welts some of the pros were sporting, with me the unit had not even escalated to the point of inflicting pain. Of course being a leftie put me at a disadvantage because the controller forced me to use my weak hand. But in truth the reason I lost was that the anticipation of the being touched by the whip made me flinch.
Monday is the start of a two-part exhibition I'll be doing with Huschang Pourian. Part one is a joint show for OOITO and th’ Rezidents, on till December 17. 
Part two will begin the following Monday (December 18) with more details to come later.
The venue is Café Pause, where I participated in Canadian Style earlier this year, curated by Jean Snow.
We'll be there on Friday from 7 to 10pm. Please drop by if you're in town!
Designboom's photo report of the Mart at 100% Design Tokyo is online, with links for individual booths. Here's the link to mine.
It was a crazy week - exhausting but fun - filled with interesting people and nice stuff. Thank you to designboom, 100% Design and everyone who dropped by. Special thanks to Yuki, Yuko and Huschang.
Jean Snow meets th’ rezidents (above).
Birgit Lohmann from designboom (above).
Addendum Three more, courtesy of Designboom.
Chatting with Tom Dixon.
Woman inspecting Rezident Ginger, perhaps trying to decide whether she should let him tote her stuff around or cut him up and make him into a toy.
Today till Sunday at Jingu Gaien-Aoyama.
www.100percentdesign.jp
Here's the designboom crew yesterday during set-up: Massimo, Birgit, Andy, Anita and Dean.
Rezidents t-shirts in two colour combinations will be available for sale at the designboom mart.
It's official. Th’ Rezidents will be at the designboom mart in the 100% Design Tokyo tent. Drop by, say hello, and bring home your very own Rezident!
