ARTWORK // Stag Girl

ARTWORK // The StagBeatles

GIGS // BLOT @ FUGA / Dec 27,2009

Looks like this is our year ending gig. An end to a super hectic year for BLOT.

GIGS // Christmas Eve / Eristoff Wolf Night @ Thai High

Artwork // Folie A Deux Pt4

Ho hum, Gaurav refuses to do a Folie A Deux gig - that was meant to be our dark deep dubstep project. Looks like we can finally debut in January with a tour with our friends Order Of The Essence - India's premier Dubstep production and performance act, based out of Goa. Some artwork we will have to settle for right now. Postcards anyone?

ARTWORK // Getting started again

Its been a while since I did anything constructive off late with respect to graphic design / static visuals... so i thought i would itch the itch, shake off the negative energy that was accumulating on my back because of all sorts of avoidable encounters and situations, and start afresh, exploring some simple visual ideas that i find myself very engrossed with nowadays. Its wonderful how simple things can become complex in repetition and lose their origins and become nice little patterns. Its amazing how a little electronics can twist the aesthetics of the natural visual into something that the mind recognizes as completely synthetic.

FRIENDS // Audio Reactive LED Unit

Our partner Abhishek Ghate and his friends at Studio Miscellanea are working on a series of experiments with Arduino and LEDs, here is a video that shows a simple audio reactive installation idea. Check out more on abhishekghate.blogspot.com Hopefully these experiments will become a part of the interactive experience at a BLOT gig sometime in the near future.

PiXELS // BLOT + Anil Chawla @ Wave Festival

Thanks Santosh for these pictures!

Gigs // @ Pebbles, Bangalore / 13 Dec 09

Arthouse / All the Stuff we have been curating this month >>

So here are some flyers from the fairly eclectic route we have chosen for Arthouse, the gallery and cafe we curate as a group. The core vision is to develop a new sort of cultural venue in the city, where young people can see and experience contemporary arts and culture in a friendly and accessible environment. Lots of more exciting stuff coming soon @ the Arthouse. Check it out on www.facebook.com/mocha.arthouse and get in touch if you want your work seen there, or know anyone who might be interesting to showcase on avinash@blot.in

Arthouse // 04 Dec 09 / New Delhi Guitar Quartet Session 1

Curated by BLOT @ Mocha Arthouse

GIGS // BLOT @ Zenzi / 07 Nov 09

Experiments // VideoFeedback Lab01 / VJ Viktor Furiani X Guru Jayalakshmi Eshwar in the BLOT Studio

VJ Viktor Furiani (Lyon | Mosquito Massala Collective) is spending time with us in the studio, and performing some video feedback experiments with Bharatanatyam exponent Guru Jayalaskhmi Eshwar. The aim of these experiments is to build up the collaborations between BLOT and these 2 artists towards a performance in early 2010 - a multimedia cultural performance fusing Bharatanatyam, Electronic Music, Video Feedback and Live Visuals + a lot more surprises ! :-) This is one of our most exciting directions right now, and each discovery promises new things. Watch this space for videos and images from the next experiments coming soon!

GIGS// SPACES // What makes a place a scene?

Just like a house is built of wood and stone, and a home is built of love alone, a scene is built of intangibles that forge the tangibles into their own way. Take for instance, the place we play at tonight - Salon (something something) Wilde Renate..translating into the The Salon of the Wild Renate (an old german name)... a 100 year + home converted into a grungy underground techno club by a group 4 young and unassuming guys who gave me coffee, opened the shutters and set up the video and do the handyman's job all over the place..very cool!.Check out these pictures from this crazy place, which, when completely ON, has 4-5 different rooms for music, each with its own flavour. Currently undergoing construction in the top 2 floors, the place will soon become a club, a hostel (!) and a space for creative studios and craftsmen. I already booked myself a video residency slot for next year when they open all that. And a gig for BLOT early summer 2010. Intense.

Check out these pictures and the video walkthrough, where you will meet Ben - one of the founders and he is also studying architecture.

PROJECTS // How to set up a gallery in 5 days

PRESS // We didnt even know about this one :-)

Thanks Pramod for the up on this one >>

PROJECTS // Pop Pop Goes the Arthouse

So here are some pictures and a video from last night @ the Arthouse>> this is the guys from the studio setting up >> with space restrictions and with a sense of not crowding it all too much, we only put up one set of images last night..and hope to refresh it in 10 days with the other stuff thats gotten printed and framed. In all from the 300+ works we got, a group of people (with varying interests and backgrounds) selected about 50 works for printing. Selections were made based on some simple constraints like file size, quality (many interesting works were very low in resolution sadly) and also trying to build an eclectic set that showed different perspectives and visual approaches.

We got some complaints from people about closing submissions on the site..i guess that fact that e had 5 days to make the entire exhibition was not communicated well enough for people to understand that unless we stopped submissions on the end of day 3, we would not have enough time to curate, print, frame and put up everything in time. Keep in mind that the menu for the cafe, the uniforms of staff, some video installations, and a separate photography solo show were all designed and executed in these 5 days..so thats a lot of work for a small bunch of people. Very proud with this project and very very happy with the response and positive energy of artists around the world to have contributed to our crazy suggestions. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!

Lots more things to come >> project documentation..a pdf book for everyone to download..and some good pictures from the place..some contacting of artists for future showings at the gallery and request for art sales from artists depending on audience responses..

What an amazingly manic beginning to our space. We hope we can bring a new spirit and approach to the arts with our work here. Swing by the Mocha Arthouse in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi if you are around to see it in person.

Remember >> Say No To Art Snobs.
Thiruda

Projects // Pop-Up-Art-House >> almost there!

Thats Funny Feral standing next to the first artwork put up at the Arthouse Gallery which we are curators for .. this is a wall from the Pop-Up-Art-House project..more coming soon

PROJECTS // Pop-Up-Art-House / 3 days to go!

PROJECTS // POP-UP-ART-HOUSE

Alright time to burn the midnight oil> we have 5 days to make a radical art exhibition >> check out our new manic project >> POP-UP-ART-HOUSE >> its a pop-up art exhibition that is going to (hopefully) appear out of nowhere on the back of online creative networks .. thats the idea atleast :-) SO help us make this happen and save our asses

GIG VIDEOS // Nathan 'Flutebox' Lee Pt 2 / 'Who Killed Summer"

Another video from our gig on the 25th of Sep 09 at Southbank Centre, London with Nathan 'Flutebox' Lee >>

GIG VIDEOS // Nathan Flutebox Lee Part 1

More coming soon..this was absolutely one of my favourite performance experiences. I think a lot of that had to do with the venue and context of the performance.

The Southbank Centre, one of London's most respected and awesome cultural complex, was quite the starting point for this new journey I find myself on with visuals and music. I can only remember the National Opera in Cairo, Egypt (which is maybe the best venue I have ever played at) that made me feel very proud of being there, of being a part of a larger group that was so talented, and in front of an audience that was respectful, eager and most importantly, seated :-)

This is the first of several videos I am uploading next 2 days..watch this space.

MIXES // Rumpelstilzchen | BLOT DJ Set | Sep 09

Here is the new set for September >> well done Gaurav, I am amazed with your new found efficiency :-) Hope you like the artwork I made for it...from my little shopping expedition in Mumbai.

For the uninitiated (like me) >> Rumpelstiltskin is a character in a fairy tale of the same name that originated in Germany (where he is known as Rumpelstilzchen).Skipping some paragraphs on Wikipedia, we arrive at >>

"To-day do I bake, to-morrow I brew,

The day after that the queen's child comes in;

And oh! I am glad that nobody knew

That the name I am called is Rumpelstiltskin!"

(and further...) The name Rumpelstilzchen in German means literally "little rattle stilt". (A stilt is a post or pole which provides support for a structure.) A rumpelstilt or rumpelstilz was the name of a type of goblin, also called a pophart or poppart that makes noises by rattling posts and rapping on planks. The meaning is similar to rumpelgeist ("rattle ghost") or poltergeist, a mischievous spirit that clatters and moves household objects.

(and finally...) probably has remnants of older legends which held that malignant sprites and goblins would steal unattended babies and replace them with a child (or "changeling") of their own.^[2] (Similar tales exist about trolls as well, though their motives were generally seen as selfish rather than unpleasant, in that they supposedly found some of their own children too humanoid to exist among them.) However, tales like these in themselves were intended to stop children from playing outside without care, or mothers from leaving their children in danger.

Listen to the Mix right here >>

Rumpelstilzchen | BLOT Dj Set | Sept 09 | by blot

ARTWORK // At the Bone Setting Clinic

Satisfied Patients at the Bone Setting Clinic. Picture by NanoSwami - newest member of BLOT

ARTWORK // ChickenFeed

STREET ART // VINCENT B. VS. BLOT

Vincent B. is an artist from Paris, and he is in India exploring new directions for his work. His friend Zacharie hooked us up for a fun morning in Pahadganj (Delhi's backpacker destination)..woke up at 5..picked them up and started work at 6:15. With permissions from shop owners for painting on their closed shutters, a bag full of spray cans, some markers and brushes, 1 camera for timelapses and stop motion, 1 camera for video, tripod and a pack of cigarettes.

We spent 2 hours at Pahadganj - Vincent painting on overdrive, without really stopping for a breather between shutters. We got quite a curious crowd going, especially the kids. So this project is about collaborating on the street art and documentation of it through a music video that we are starting work on this week. And the plan is to do more in some more trippier places, and figure out a tighter collaboration, maybe culiminating in some performances. This was great because it felt like a different sort of gig..he was painting..I was shooting, and going between video, timelapses and stop motion. Got some good ideas for next time from this time! Check out the pictures below, and watch this space for the new video soon (we hope :-)

PROJECTS // Bharatanatyam in a New Light / Jayalakshmi Eshwar + BLOT + Sattyananda

RANDOM // 3000 on the facebook page

yeah right for whatever that counts :-) we all know how facebook is one big lie boo hoo.

GIGS // Parallel Dimensions Chapter 02 / 12 Sep 09

GIGS // BLOT @ Manre / 11 September 09

MIXES // Listen to the BLOT August Mix Right here >

Misadventures of Pushpa & Praveen : BLOT. by blot

PIXELS // Parallel Dimensions Chapter 1

Check out some pictures from our gig at the Lodi last week in collaboration with Sattyananda from Audio Aashram. This was chapter one and from the looks of it, this could be a great collab for the future. The plan here was to isolate ourselves inside a cubical volume of mesh screens..something I have been wanting to do for a while but the venue and situation was never right. I enjoyed the night exactly the way I always imagine it..one my own in my studio with some good company and great, impactful sounds. Having the screens was a nice way to block off the audience a bit and make it an extremely internal experience. We played together in bursts of extreme focus and enjoyment, chilled a bit, talked about what we want to do with this and life in general..very different from a techno night when there is hardly any time to soak it all in sometimes. More to come! The night was also great cos we figured out a new collaboration with a bunch of designers who would rather be known as Part-Art .. more on them soon.

PROJECTS // BLOTSQUAT PREVIEW 1

So if all goes well and if everyone helps as they should :-) then we should have our little weekend pad and BLOT Store and mini-cafe up and running in Hauz Khas Village. Sick of spending all our time in Gurgaon, Thiruda and Funny Feral left on a mission one evening to find a place with the same view as Gunpowder (the new place to eat in town, run by folks just like us :-) and somehow we actually did..sealed the deal in 2 days and now we have an abandoned empty room with an amazing view and a lot of promise! The plan is to spend all of september making it cool for us to work out of on weekends..and then populate it with art, music, film, photography, apparel and toys that we make. There is a little balcony to sip on some ginger lemon tea on beautiful Delhi winter days (with a bit of cake yes sir)

More than anything else, its a place for us to escape the fucked up city we are in right now. And this is a very small price to pay for something as important as that.

GIGS // Nathan Flutebox Lee + Friends / London / 25 SEP 2009

So we are doing visuals for the amazing Nathan 'Flutebox' Lee in late September. We got noticed on this very blog for our videos and got a call sometime back. Very little time left and lots to prepare for. There is 3 rehearsals before the gig, which should be a first for us :-) Check out nathan in these wildly popular youtube videos >>

GIGS // BLOT + DJ Krick (Berlin) @ Insomnia 28.08.09

GIGS // Back to Kolkata / 4 Sep 09

ARTWORK // SweatShopMan 01 / This is not my story

So Funny Feral is up to no good I say :-) We are starting a new project called 'SweatShopMan' which are artworks conceptualized by Funny Feral, and remixed / relooked by Thiruda and then back again if need be. (check out funnyferal.com) The first one is the one FF sent me, and the second one is my interpretation. FF is also the brains behind our earlier 'I Like Small Stamps That Taste Funny' set and artwork.

PROJECTS // BLOTSQUAT! >> Coming Soon

ARTWORK // Kassia Karr 2009

This is our new friend Kassia Karr, from the US...she has been a volunteer for the blindboys.org street intervention last week...she loves vintage pin up illustrations and I chanced upon a picture of her on facebook ..with her permission of course I fooled around this morning with it...was feeling a bit lazy so didnt do everything very neatly, but I like the way the arms interlock with each other.

Artwork // Creature Discomforts No. 3

Still trying to figure out the right aesthetic for this set... its getting better bit by bit, but still a while to go...i think the issue is where the mind interferes and wants to see anatomy the way its used to seeing it, especially since these are basically photomontages of existing animal and human anatomies. I realize that the mind also wants to see balance and physical possibility intuitively. So bit of a challenge also because I am running out of resources, but thats the challenge too I guess. More soon!

ARTWORK // Creature Discomforts No.2

GIGS // PARALLEL DIMENSIONS / Chapter 1

Thiruda and Sattyananda from Audio Aashram are teaming up for a series of nights at the Lodi starting 21st August 09. Expect layers of projections under the night sky with pysbient, meditative and chill-out electronic music. Expect Parallel Dimensions to bring a new experience and rhythm to the nights in Delhi this winter. We hope to experiment with the set up everytime like we always do with BLOT. Aesthetically, this represents a new direction for us, and something we have been meaning to get into and this was just the perfect opportunity. If you have heard Sattyananda's music (or been to his studio like we have :-) you would realise the space and time that his music exists in, and we hope to capture that through the visuals and vice versa.

SOUNDS // TECHNO / 'TSUKI'

Listen to the new BLOT audio track 'TSUKI' right here >>

TSUKI (Original Mix) by blot

Tsuki (突き^?), is the Japanese word for "thrust", coming from the verb tsuku (突く^?) Tsuki is one of the five target areas (datotso-bui) in kendo (along with men, do, hidari kote and migi kote).^[1] It is a thrust of the point of the shinai to the throat, intended to cut a carotid artery. In combat with a sword, the opponent would then bleed to death. Unlike most other martial arts that use this term, in kendo, tsuki is a comprehensive term for the movement and the target. (Source: Wikipedia of course)

ARTWORK // Kapil Dev Saves the Day!

Anyone growing up in India in the 80s would have seen this ad for BSA SLR bicycles with cricket star Kapil Dev making it to the stadium just in time (all thanks to the bike of course) >> came across it on a blog and couldn't resist.

ARTWORK // Creature Discomforts No. 1

ARTWORK // To The Circus I Say!

Some more explorations of tiling, multiplicity and the use of photographic elements. More importantly, a sunday very well spent > 2 hours at the Empire Circus in Hyderabad, with Russian dancers, African acrobats, Indian jokers and 2 elephants. Small film coming soon! > watch this space.

ARTWORK // The Perils of Tight Underwear

ARTWORK // Tiger Tiger Blottin Bright

Didnt turn out exactly as I wanted..will work some more..thanks Funny Feral for the excellent observations and pictures yet again. You are a star! (see www.funnyferal.com)

MIXES // AUGUST 09 COMING SOON

GIGS // Kris Correya in Delhi - Powered by BLOT