08 Open 48 A Celebration of Street Art Sara and Marc Schiller of the Wooster Collective 10 Tehran Graffiti on why they love street art 12 Spy 1: Joska 54 Pictoplasma New cities, new friends, new fairytales Tristan Manco sees if the characters are still at war 14 Spy 2: Adolf Gil Lights on leaves reveal the city 58 Oh Shit Venezuelan artist Alejandro Lecuna takes action 16 Inside Basementizid (Heilbron) 60 In Your Ear Flip 2 18 Cheaper Sneakers Music Marbury and the art of endorsement 62 In Your Eye 20 Skating the Great Wall Books A photo journal by Kevin Metallier 64 Show & tell 26 Squatting the White Cube Banksy in LA Bombing the Brandwagen 66 Show & tell 24 Rider Ink FriendsWithYou Bootleg Show Steven Gorrow 70 Show & tell 34 Illustrative Works Iguapop 3rd Birthday Exhibition - Kukula - Lucy Mclauchlan 70 Want It Products - Brooke Reidt 73 Got a name for it? 47 Sawn Off Tales The art of Vincent Gootzen F L I P 2 Creative action = active creation Lucy Mclauchlan Lucy Cover: Cover: Issue #11 Creative Director Garry Maidment [email protected] Editor in Chief Harlan Levey [email protected] Associate Editor Jason Horton [email protected] Art Director Tobias Allanson [email protected] Music Editor Florent de Maria fl [email protected] Production Manager Tommy Klaehn [email protected] Distribution Susan Hauser [email protected] Contributors Brooke Reidt, Logan Hicks, Christine Strawberry, Tristan Manco, Kukula, Joska, Sara and Marc Schiller, Kev M, Lucy Mclauchlan, Adolf Gil, the big ‘I’ in Iguagpop, David Gaffney, Steven Gorrow, Jorgy Bear, Street Player, Cyrus Shahrad, Guifari, Sergei Vutuc, Vincent Gootzen, Lecu, Timothy Leary once said that women who want to be a beautiful book and made us again regret our limited Sam Borkson, Cameron Bird, Nounouhau Collective, Nelson and Conny Neuner. equal with men lack imagination. pages. See works from Catalina Estrada, Miss Van, Nina Braun, Ephameron and a few other artists, all in Advertising: This issue of Modart is a strong indicator that while the this issue, all women. So what? It wasn’t a theme or a Garry Maidment: discussion over the place for women in arts, as in other [email protected] conscious choice. +43 676 441 5462 areas of our lives, continues, quietly women are squatting the stage. It might have been a question of sensibility, but it was Rasmus Ostergaard never one of sex. [email protected] We don’t have quotas and don’t care what color, gender, +33 672 54 64 56 nationality or musical tastes our contributors have. There is no lack of imagination here. On the contrary, we Publisher Whether we found them or they found us or somebody got a story on shit, a guy whose work works best in the Methodmedia AB we both hold close laid his coat out to bridge the puddles, toilet and a photo spread that suggests China is the future Editorial Offi ce 8 it is the work that brings itself to the page, even if to be and not only because human reproductive capacities are Methodmedia AB } honest, it is often the person that makes us all the more diminishing at an alarming rate. We also got a feature Kapuzinergasse 47 6020 Innsbruck enthusiastic about sharing it. story from a couple whose passion has butterfl ied into a Austria platform, which artists and activists all around the world OPEN Enthusiasm is a sign of stupidity so don’t listen to us. are leaping onto and off of- Sara and Marc Schiller of the Printing Have a look for yourself. Grafi ca Editoriale Srl Wooster Collective describe one of their loves. Bologna, Italy Meet Joska and Kukula, one is in Berlin, the other in LA, www.monrifgroup.net Then there’s a Pictoplasma feature from Tristan Manco. both young women who will draw you into their intricate Are the characters still at war? Let’s see … war is there Publication: fantasy with their technique and imagination. Meet Lucy Modart Magazine ISSN 1653-6088 anyway, but we is skating through the streets straight out Mclauchlan who works out of the same London gallery as to the sea where his story descends to meet the mermaids Distribution: Banksy, Jamie Hewlitt, Stanely Donwood and others and If you are interested in stocking Modart, contact Susan on and without words, emotions begin to make sense. paints as if she might improve the world by doing so (we +43 (0)512 56 00 64-10 or email: [email protected] reckon she does). Meet Brooke Reidt who is turned on Enjoy, modart magazine is published 6 times a year by Methodmedia. Reproduction of editorial is strictly pro- hibited without prior permission. Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily refl ect those of the by projects which are not for profi t and provides a body —Harlan publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written consent, except for permitted fair dealing Open of work as intimate as it is open. She sent in enough for under the Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988. Application for permission for use of copyright material including permission to reproduce extracts in other public works shall be made to the publishers. Repro- introducing tiffany bozic, the newest element eden advocate duction of editorial is strictly prohibited without prior permission. All rights reserved copyright 2006. see the element eden fall collection and learn more about the eden advocate program at www.elementeden.com www.modarteurope.com gsm rocket europe: ph: +33 (0)5 58 700 700 MODART #11-Tiffany.indd 1 3/11/06 13:01:07 TEHRAN GRAFFITIBY: CYRUS SHAHRAD It may be decidedly low on B-boys and backwards caps, but Iran’s capital does boast an underground graffiti scene that sees kids 2) FASHION 3) RAVE CULTURE 4) WESTERN MUSIC of all ages risking potential imprisonment to scrawl their sentiments on the streets. Subversive Banksy-esque stencils may be The religious minefield presented by clothing restrictions Some 60% of Afghanistan’s opium and heroin leaves the Most Iranian cab drivers, once they’ve caught a snatch of notable by their absence, but the pieces on display around Tehran are often no less politically charged: a finger flipped to the in the Islamic Republic is one that many young Iranians country via Iran, and drug addiction is an almost accepted English being spoken in their backseats, will do everything religious autocracy by letting them know that young Iranians are enjoying the very things the government would deny them are all too willing to wander into as a means of making a part of Iranian society – historically as prevalent among its in their power to prove that they’re wise to the intricacies of – Western music, drugs, even love. And while they can hardly rival the complex murals of cities like London or Paris, there is statement. Bright colours, according to the authorities, are great poets as it is within today’s army of out-of-work actors. Western culture. Many do so conversationally – asking how something deliriously charming in their simplicity: an expression of the innocent humanity at the heart of one of the world’s most off limits; suits are okay, but ties are too Western; short Recently, however, designer drugs like ecstasy have become easy it is to get work as a lifeguard in London, or bragging 10 maligned and misunderstood countries. sleeves are acceptable but few people will risk wearing an increasingly common currency for the youth of Tehran, about how many girlfriends they’re currently stringing along } shorts even if they’re running to put the rubbish out. It’s the who regularly leave the city and cross the Alborz mountains – although those with less of a head for languages tend to 11 I } T I girls, however, who have had to make the most adjustments, in convoys of hopped-up Peugeot 205s, and then dance the simply slip a CD into the stereo, sit back and let their tunes I T 1) ROMANTIC LOVE not only knowing how far back a hejab can be worn before night away behind the closed doors of a family villa in one of do the talking. The results can be mildly disconcerting: music I it technically becomes a scarf, but also managing to turn the pre-Revolutionary pleasure resorts crumbling beside the is bought on faith from CD rippers in the local bazaars, who raff It’s hard to believe that a word translating literally as ‘romantic love’ could be considered subversive, but then this is a country where it’s still a calculated risk for young couples to wander it into an icon of Iranian femininity along the way – surely murky Caspian Sea. As a result, techno music is making ever compile their own illicit mixes of what they think is currently G raff around hand in hand, even in the Western-style shopping malls of more upmarket northern Tehran. one of the most impressive feats of aesthetic evolution in stronger inroads into the popular consciousness, its blazing popular in the States. To this end, it’s not uncommon for G Police regularly stop boys and girls driving around in the same car and question their relationship fashion history. It’s not surprising, then, that designers like basslines and pounding four-four beats a middle finger to Westerners to find themselves being driven through the city – the only acceptable answer is husband and wife or brother and sister (even cousins are fair Monsoon, Zara and Diesel are making such a dent in the the religious establishment, and as unsubtle a contrast to with the Backstreet Boys, Bryan Adams or Elton John blaring ehran T game), but without identification to prove it, they may still find themselves carted off to the station.