when you read the journal regularly you might get an idea of my joy repetition, I like to do things again and again. if it works, why would you abandon it? this contradicts the need for new experiences and trips beyond the draft-able, the opportunity to actually discover and learn something new. but these moments are hard to get in few moments the corset of duty sets you free. nevertheless, repeating things delivers a certain feeling of security and the illusion of control. we might call this tradition.
it has become a tradition to visit zeeland during the carnival season, it often feels like finally leaving winter, calming down while starring at the sea and discharge thoughts about sorrow and duties to give ideas the space they need to step in.
our trip was well prepared and surrounded by stuff in need to be done, we did not find relaxation the way we wanted to, additionally it was way to cold to dream of spring.

this does not mean that the repetition concept does not work anymore, it just did not work this time as change penetrates everything. I know that the centre of a loop is empty, a ritual is nothing without it´s meaning. it´s up to me as usually.
there has been an entry gap due some good and some bad times, I feel that I do not really get into the year, I have lost the flow that usually keeps everything in balance. but the joy of repetition makes me check the last years journals, and a lame start can still make a great year.


visiting the vleeshal in middleburg has become a standard as well. actually we are only into a very small part of the art exhibited here, but it is cool to experience hip contemporary poritions. apart from that it is always interesting how this beautiful but very special space of the vleeshal is used as space during different exhibitions. the show by anchan/anna daucíková and christina della giustina focussed on older works exploring nineties´ pioneering a queer porition in (back in the day contemporary) media art. the aesthetics and the dumpy imagery.


even if the show did not get us, we enjoyed it and there was a finding anyway: at first, it was great to see some classic tube screen monitors in the show, they are out-dated but still have a distinctive aesthetics that catches me a lot. it is a great way to show a moving image apart from a projection, flat screens do not appear this appropriate in an exhibition space. plus, the show was inspiring on how to present photographs apart from putting them on the wall into a frame.


we wanted to do this for years already but there is much to do in domburg that never made us have time to visit the local museum. as there was not museum or show of interest on our way home we just decided to finally do it an check the marie tak van poortvliet museum domburg. the paintings from a collection explore the seaside. no contempory findings but an opportunity to dive into gone decades. the fascination for the sea never faded.



more on rituals: I love to sit outside at café verdi in domburg watching the people rush by hunting for pullovers or sea food, or let´s say watch them doing what I do when I am not sitting in the café. the other ritual is to visit the doghouse in biggekerke we stayed in back in 2010 on our way back home. over the years I posted the pictures of it turning into a building site, being demolished and rebuild. this year I just come up with some pictures from the 2026 trip (right side) and the views from ten years ago my phone brought up before we went on our trip (left side).


hanging out in a tiny house is great during short trips to the sea. this time we did not have a strange toilet situation which means double comfort but only half of the fun.


we returned back home on sunday so I spent the carnival´s ‘rosenmontag’ (the climax of carnival in germany). I actually like watch the parades and live music events on tv, I am happy for people celebrating like this while I am happy that I do not have to be part of it. nothing feels more relaxing. nevertheless, carnival and the netherlands are both great opportunities to consume some nonsense food: I created a dutch version of a childhood classic: a milk roll with two whippet cookies. there is nothing more satisfying than smashing them before enjoying the extra sweet and empty calories.
(just to keep it clear: I did not post an image of whipped cookies to discuss the politically correct name for it, just use the non-offensive determination and we can skip a useless discussion. we´re not on facebook here.)


last year, we visited the textile museum in tilburg. as my mother is a trained tailor I thought it would be great to visit a textile museum with her but tilburg appears too far away making a trip too stressful. after a short research I discovered the cromford textile mill in ratingen. the museum is recently under reconstruction but there is still enough to discover for us. I was attracted by the exhibition of the white dresses exploring the pure shape of the fashion of different epochs. the show was far smaller than expected and reminded me a little bit of a school project (without being disrespectful in any case) but it was actually entertaining and educative.
additionally, we stepped into a lecture on spinning machines and the process of turning fluffy cotton in yarn. I was surprised about my mother´s interest and concentration, I have finally understood the process of spinning and remain impressed how engineers created quite complex industrial machines 200 years ago.


maybe it is because of winter or because of getting older, I really enjoy ganging out at home and work on stuff or listen to music. I also returned to visiting the sauna regularly (as far a possible), listen to opn´s 2nd coachella performance in 2024 and leave through the deathstar shield generator (i´ll come up with a photo as soon as possible, and you´ll know what I mean). a short moment of happiness was me sitting in my car with a buzzer waiting for ordered burgers to be done at a burger shack nearby. I was listing to oneohtrix point never live at coachella 2024 again while starring into the dark above the field. it was somehow peaceful and thankful. a random moment that eventually felt good. peace is inside of you.


on sunday, february 22, the kunstmuseum gelsenkirchen opened the ‘open house’ group show exploring 20 from over 80 available positions exploring the gelsenkirchen art scene (which I still belong to by birth and on-going activity). the show is actually in the museums rooms, and I feel tankful to be a part of it. however it is hard for me to understand how the museum came with it, well advertised and even featured in wdr ‘westart’ I cannot tell if this is sketched as blockbuster or compulsory exercise.
I have changed as person and artist. I do not expect people to recognize me as I am aware of my limited importance. I was not really into small talk or acting strategic, I thought it would be way more meaningful to skip interviews and not to stand in front of my work to explain it to everyone. my moon was placed high (as I requested it) so I guess it was not realized by many visitors, nevertheless, it´s position is great from a strategic point of view.

the ‘westart’ tv feature was announced as feature on the show but turned out to be a feature on philipp valenta and his work. during the tv feature I had a nuno-at-superbowl-moment: when rihanna was set to perform the superbowl halftime show in 2023, it was reported that back-in-day touring guitarist (and my hero) nuno bettencourt was brought back for rehearsals to perform live with her. it turned out as a disappointing joke that during the halftime performance there was no guitar sound to hear at all while nuno appeared on screen for less than a second. within the ‘westart’ feature my moon appeared in a pan shot for a second, missed in the blink of an eye. my younger me would have been disappointed, but this is ridiculous as I just feel like nuno.

I am also checking my options in the shadow of software and production struggle, maybe cgi is out-dated and I can embrace artificial intelligence in image production while having a position based upon concept and photography saving me from a.i. slop. a sea of options is making my work even more suspicious and interesting, at least for myself.


we´re not really into celebrating our birthdays, we often have to do a kind of event for our families but we usually prefer to escape to benelux. this year was somehow about lamas so I got michi a tiny rubber lama next to vouchers and some fun stuff among heart-shaped balloons. as we still have the former neighbour’s outcast sesame street rubber line-up, michi arranged a party around the lama. here we go! we had a good day but not as wild as that!
(do not forget to use boards of canada´s 'aquarius' as background music, if you´ll put it on instagram. 'orange' - 'yeah, that´s right!')


after months of writing, producing and planning, mahorka label head ivo petrov and me have finally managed to fix the date for the release of the new record of tides album ‘intercelestial’ for march 27, 2026. he is into a lot of processes, nevertheless he remains cool in spite of my frequent nerdy issues I come up with. the last time I came up with a tape was back in 2002 for the debut album of shaved space monkey called ‘ready to go’. back in the day it was a dying medium and wanted to have a tape copy for my ford fusion which still had a tape player as I couldn't effort a compact disc player when I bought it. now, about two and a half decades later, the tape is hip and back, ‘intercelestial’ will be available in numerous digital formats as well as on tape! I even brought up my old sony walkman, I guess it was build to last forever but it is actually not working anymore.

some weeks ago I had a funny dream about ivo came up personally to me to deliver some tapes. In this dream I was still living in my parent´s apartment in gelsenkirchen and the tapes looked quite bad. I asked ivo: ‘did you drive up here from bulgaria for ten hours just to deliver the tapes? do you do that for everyone you are working with?’ he replied: yeah, that´s no problem, in my job I can say I have a breakfast or something and then it is okay to go somewhere else.’ even in my dream I considered this as a funny but also strange answer. however we are running into the same direction and I am really looking forward to the release on this specific date. we are also talking about a smaller collaboration afterwards but no album, I just like to see how my label debut works out. as we are talking about a lot I did a montage of a symbol image, unfortunately we do not have face to face communications.


sven piayda | get you the moon
OPEN HOUSE: KUNSTSZENE GELSENKIRCHEN
kunstmuseum gelsenkirchen, gelsenkirchen
2026-02-22 - 2026-04-26

‘open house’ guided tours will be offered
march 22, april 12, and april 19 at 3 pm.

kunstmuseum-gelsenkirchen.de/ausstellungen/
open-house-kunstszene-gelsenkirchen

kunstmuseum-gelsenkirchen.de

horster str. 5-7
D-45897 gelsenkirchen




sven piayda | aftermath
KURZstummfilmfestival
zeche carl, essen / youtube, worldwide
2020-09-26, 3pm at zeche carl
2020-09-25 on youtube

kurz-stumm-filmfestival.de
'aftermath' on youtube
youtube.com
facebook.de/kurzstummfilmfestival
facebook event



questions? complaints? ideas? contributions? collaborations?
click here

being an artist working with digital media always means being critical with the own medium, not because I dislike it but as I want to now what it is actually. recently I see a change coming up, there is a change within technology – for the producer and the consumer.

I know I am not the first but I am a little proud to have brought or used cgi in artworks, I still think it looks good and works conceptually. my work has always been playful but also being critical on media. I predicted a shift from democracy to ‘mediacracy’, as you can tell people what to think (and chose) by picking what they see and consume. when a.i.-generated content hit web 2.0 (known as ‘social media’) things just accelerated. screens and timelines with imagery that is just pooped out, generative production without preproduction, realism upon nonsense, the end of believe, evidence and truth. it believed to be progressive to read a text which had not even been ‘thought’ by another human being, how weird is this? I did not see this coming when I felt clever creating a word like ‘mediacracy’. this is the change for the consumer, he or she has not chance to understand, to discuss, to question, it is too much, too bad, spreading nothingness with the frequency of a machine gun.

all of this fell into the age of digitalisation, a promise given thirty years ago saying that everything gets better when replaced by digital advices. the promised land was never reached but brought some new problems, on-going software updates and frequently bought devices (made of materials from questionable origin) to be still able to run software that makes updates to keep working. digitalization is no a bad thing at all: microsoft word is a great digital version of a typewriter, but it should not be confused with a teacher underlining false words with a red line as you do not learn from your mistakes. it enabled the creator who could still change back to the typewriter, it did not try to replace the creator or force him into dependency. even in the digital age we must be aware of the tool´s purpose the use it properly and not get lost in a meaningless activity that is believed to be contemporary. we get dependent (maybe addictive) to rented software enabling our job, art or everyday tasks. recently, we experience maxon ´s rising price policy and client annoying decisions, and where do we go when the machine stops and your tool is taken away from you? (some of my colleagues and me believe that there is a change, maxon seems to be in need of money while adobe already has a foot in the door, I guess they might swallow maxon one day the swallowed macromedia two decades ago and c4d will be added to the suite becoming digital folklore.)

there is a flood of digital production on the one hand and a reduction of available software on the other – so what do we do with it?

matthias danberg an me discuss these topics from time to time, he went back to painting (also using a.i. to play around with variations of a sketched motif) as a cgi is no longer reasonable concerning investment in time and money as well as perception of a fed-up audience. I have to find answers myself, how can I make a video reflecting itself, telling something about its depth in a time that it is lost? how can I be critical on a.i. without producing stereotypes? what is the core of a moving image? I am still deeply frustrated about these developments but I guess we must work with it develop an perspective as artists. so we are little bit like the ‘pre-raphaelite brotherhood of the digital postmodern age (of a.i.)’, a digital movement that is vivid and productive, well knowing that things fall apart after a certain point. apart from this I got a little bit bored of cgi and its aesthetics, it came up in the claerbout show. the work looks good, but cgi has a cerain plastic look you cannot get rid of, merging it wit a.i. might make it better but generates another conceptual question: why are we sustaining images or a world which is more and more simulation? how can we label the simulation hypothesis as science fiction while we consider a shift into simulated imagery and text as progressive?

this year I will finish two big video pieces to be added to the portfolio: ‘little dance of fourteen years (posing/refusing)’ is an endless variation of cgi generated scenes, testing the limits of what I can do here. this work has been started back in 2020 and the machine rendering it has become out-dated even before the opus maximus was released. (even back in 2020 I was reporting about license issues while working on this piece, see 2020-09-24 these ‘campfire headphase’ days will end soon | update 2020-10-07) the other work ‘suspended animation’ is still in progress mashing up footages of different origins dealing with the issues I have brought up in the paragraph above. as an artist I am still not done yet.


here are some dry orchids, they are still beautiful in this state but I do not really know how to photograph them. this is an image with two ends: I just copied the imagery of laurent montaron´s ‘pace’ and build a connection to an upcoming music video: I have finally used footage I did back in 2017 when I was hanging out on the couch with a broken leg, I was filming the orchids with my phone and I always wanted to use the material in a great way, well, here we go.


berto herrera preformed in front of david claerbout’s ‘aircraft (f.a.l.)’ piece at konschthal esch for a ‘slow thursday’. this created exactly the image I would love to create while playing with record of tides at mudam or konschthal in front of a great work. I am still trying to make things happen, but I feel that it might be also okay to concentrate on production and the aspects of a project that a mostly joyful for the creator.


matthias and me did our first classic for 2026 to discuss personal issues and world politics (and how these things are connected) we might get older and more calm but like most of us we feel that the first weeks of 2026 are enough and we would like to do a straight shift to 2027. my experiences shows that years can get great, especially when they start so bad. but hey, I cannot promise anything.


a classic picture: in 2017 I participated in the laser-biathlon challenge at the medl wintergrillen at ruhrauen, in the years afterwards I did not really feel fit enough to do it so we skipped the langlauf for sausage and crepes and just do the shooting. surprisingly, I am still a good shooter, even knowing that the challenge is to shoot with a high pulsed pumping heart. so keep this in mind while seeking an argument with me…


on of michi´s friends had tickets for wildes holz playing in essen´s philharmonie but couldn’t attend to that date so we got the tickets, it sounds like a joke that I was offered two more tickets from more people who could not attend. however, wildes holz is a phenomenon, the pure joy of music presented in a show full of humour and instrumental perfection. when we went there, I was not really into it, after some bad day I was not in the mood to see people, especially the upper-class cultural audience. wildes holz did their program and nailed it, no single second of boredom and the evidence that all music is beautiful. the raw beauty of music sometimes grabs me pretty deep inside encouraging me to do even more stuff far apart from what is known as mainstream. wildes holz, again and again.

to say thank you for the tickets michi bought a ‘klassiker live’ double cd and had it signed by the band making her feel like a little girl asking for an autograph from someone known from tv. I´ll keep a digital version being a fan of flute live looping and every interpretation of ‘ave maria’.


opn´s ‘tranquilizer’ sent a little wave of ecstasy through the music world. lopatin said, if you like this, wait until you hear what we did for ‘marty supreme’. I was curious and I was waiting for the release to come up digitally on boxing day, bought it on bleep and put it on my phone to take it with me to the kirchberg. ‘tranquilizer’ is a good piece but needs some time to be fully understood as it has its very own approach to sampling, sound and rhythm. the ‘marty surpreme’ soundtrack is impressive but is not as easy to listen to as it appears fragmented by scenes without score. I was even more surprised to see photos of score listening events with people sitting in front of speakers enjoying a score without knowing the movie. more hype is not possible.

this is impressive, lopatin started as a nerdy boy with a synth, releasing on his own indie label to be picked up by trent reznor to open after soundgarden for nine inch nails. (how do things like these come to happen!?) the alternative rock touring experience inspired ‘garden of delete’, his second album on warp and became producer sidekick for the weeknd. after opening his sound to whatever genre or source and scoring independent movies, things scale up putting the recent score on the oscar´s shortlist and doing online lectures.

lopatin´s success is well deserved as he appears honest, busy and his musical output full of integrity. it is great to watch a nerd being successful with just doing what he his doing. this is my illusion, of course, to believe that a big career success is waiting for me by just doing the weird stuff I do. is his biography a blueprint for mine or just the proof that this career is happening to one in a million?


update 2026-02-08: it took two attempts to visit the ruins of the isenburg with my mother. I had mistaken a path through the bushes for the official way to reach it, so we looked quite ridiculous for other people walking by. when we finally made it she was not really impressed by the ruins´ walls surrounding us while I was annoyed by stupid techno music sounding over the hills from a big party with location unknown. however, we both enjoyed the view over the baldeney lake. I never get bored of the region I live in.


update 2026-02-08: we made a quick visit to the restaurant surrounding the kluse chapel for some coffee and cake. I was surprised to find the kluse inaccessible surrounded by a building site. let´s check later again what is happening here, take care of this gem!


update 2026-02-08: yesterday might have been the first day supposed to be called ‘pre-spring’, sunny and warm enough to take a walk and sit outside in a café. I really love sitting in the café grossartig in heißen watching the church. nothing gives you a stronger illusion of a dutch experience: being in the netherlands, having a coffee and a cake and watch people passing by while having no fixed plans at all. while you put all your duties and sorrows aside, your brian comes up with some ideas and solutions without forcing it. well, this isn´t but it is a close as possible.


update 2026-02-08: a long saturday filled with work and duties ended with a rave: local underground superstar chris clarinova (frühling in frohnhausen) invited to a public rehearsal at frohnzimmer performing some acid house making me feel that its 2006 again. he surprised a few times with a mixture of musical ambition and humour turning the calm guy into a real stage hog. he announced three tracks only preforming for just 30 minutes and nailed it. it was great to be in this strange living room dancing among people with kent granyon, watching chris taking off the jacket to unveil a pink shirt and sunglasses at night, a hypercool tongue in the cheek. a perfect saturday night for the older guys, having a beer, dance in an underground location to an underground artist and getting home before 9 pm.


update 2026-02-16: I had to bring up my moon for the upcoming show at kunstmuseum gelsenkirchen. since my mother moved away back in 2023 we did not really return and we never knew why we´d should. I was surprised to see that the kinetic collection has left the basement and is now on display in the first floor (I am old enough to have witnessed the second relocating of the kinetic collection). I was missing peter vogel´s large sound pillar to run around and enjoy the sounds. but there is a tiny, mono speaker equipped version next to further works which appear new to me (and sometimes remind of laurent montaron´s ‘melancholia’).


update 2026-02-16: even if I missed some of the evergreens I discovered some works unknown to me like the kinetic aquarium and rebecca horn´s butterfly. as I am usually critic on how kinetic works are presented within the room, the works on display look good, even more contemporary than ever. before I left I catted with the receptionist about the missing sound pile and the sphere-shaped light tree performing a light choreography. she said the remembered enjoying to interact with these works as well but they are all in the depot know. we´ll have another look at the show when we return to the ‘open house’ opening, I hope to see you there!


update 2026-02-16: gereon krebber´s ‘blobster’ is a well-known piece of public art to everyone in gelsenkirchen, I like this piece very much as it is iconic from a sculptural view while delivering fine humour. when I red last time about it, it was reported that the piece was supposed to vanish as there was a new owner of the houses around and the public would not like it anyway. so whenever I look at it I wonder if the public opinion may turn into a false understanding of democracy wishing for art to vanish while having no idea what kind of sculpture would be acceptable at all? it is great to see it is still there and I hope it will stay.


sven piayda | get you the moon
OPEN HOUSE: KUNSTSZENE GELSENKIRCHEN
kunstmuseum gelsenkirchen, gelsenkirchen
2026-02-22 - 2026-04-26
opening 2026-02-22, 12 pm

kunstmuseum-gelsenkirchen.de/ausstellungen/
open-house-kunstszene-gelsenkirchen

kunstmuseum-gelsenkirchen.de

horster str. 5-7
D-45897 gelsenkirchen



sven piayda | beachball
COLLABORATIVE FUTURES
gmünder kunstverein/galerie im kornhaus
schwäbisch gmünd
2025-12-05 – 2025-02-01


gmuender-kunstverein.de

collaborativefutures.online/de/kurzfilm-galerie

gmünder kunstverein e.v.
kornhausstraße 14
schwäbisch gmünd


sven piayda | mff40
WIDERBORSTIGES PUBLIZIEREN - 40 JAHRE MFF
museum für fotokopie, mülheim an der ruhr
2025-05-15 – 2025-06-29 (still on display)
opening 2025-05-15, 6 pm

museum-fotokopie.de

>>> listen to klaus urbons: die geschichte des museums für fotokopie (2025) at radio makro archive

friedrich-ebert-straße 48
45468 mülheim an der ruhr




sven piayda | aftermath
KURZstummfilmfestival
zeche carl, essen / youtube, worldwide
2020-09-26, 3pm at zeche carl
2020-09-25 on youtube

kurz-stumm-filmfestival.de
'aftermath' on youtube
youtube.com
facebook.de/kurzstummfilmfestival
facebook event



questions? complaints? ideas? contributions? collaborations?
click here

here we go again and it is true, as you get older these new years eves come more and more frequently. it feels strange every time, thankful to have ‘finished’ a year and then start a new one. to be honest, I am missing my own positivity, there are plans on what is supposed to happen in the coming months but I do not have an idea on how to shape the future. it is just about going on.

the winter break was a needed escape from the professional problems I am facing after struggling technical and organisational issues, going back to it will not change anything anymore. this time it is not about being creative or ambitioned, this time we skip the master plan for the escape plan.

my creativity and ability to collaborate concerning my music activities are vivid, there is a lot coming, something is still developing, zany music is the place to be as I am pretty unhappy whenever others are in control handling other peoples output in an inappropriate way.

however, we were able to return to luxembourg again. it has been a while but it feels like coming home. when michi discovered the great david claerbout solo show at konschthal esch it was clear we had to attend it, so we booked our days around it. indeed it was touch to go there directly after xmas without any time to relax, so our trip felt like a race as well, a clearboutesque slowdown turned out to be the right thing.


we spend the nye 2019/20 in luxembourg and I was thrilled how relaxed everything turned out to be. the german export hit called ‘weihnachstsmarkt’ has reportedly made its way to france and even to luxembourg, meaning crates on every free place and a ferris wheel next to gelle fra attracting numerous people turning our beloved city in a classical overcrowded tourist hotspot. nevertheless, a 'weihnachtsmarkt' in luxembourg is a great (and only) opportunity to have a käsekrainer. I think it is okay to have one in five years, okay this time I had two.


hanging out at kirchberg plateau also means to do the classic pose (see head picture) and check the mudam. the first thing that came to mind were nina beier´s ‘guardians’, tumbled down marble sculptures of lions. this appeared to be the one of the strongest pieces around, the ancient order is out of control, no protection, a loss of culture and believe. we still miss wim delvoye´s ‘the kiss’ sculpture which vanished from the park.


we came to luxembourg for the claerbout show and we knew the on-going show at mudam would not get us. the presentation of additions to the collection left us quite unimpressed. jessica diamond´s ‘I hate business’ appeared to be a joke to connect to. I cannot say if this is great art, i can say that it connects to me, for whatever reason…


the konschthal esch appeared so different from what expected. the architecture was what I had in mind but I somehow imagined it on the country site, not next to the railway and an arabic supermarket (which offered us flavoured crisps you would not find anywhere else (but michi added that she had discovered the crisps even in a nearby supermarket)).


‘meditation on fire’ is an cgi-based work that I did do understand by just watching stills of it. the idea to dive into pictures that you would normally run away from seemed to strange but turned out to be as seductive as promised.


‘cat and bird in peace’ is one of the earlier works. to me it is not that spectacular as it illustrates a simple trick, neverteheless you can see that this piece is the basement upon all of the complex animations and narrations are based. apart from that, a real screen monitor is magic as well, don´t you think?


‘breating bird’ is a strange work, the birds breath is supposed to condensate and adding time to the frame but it is not really visible. michi is true: you look and wonder if there is a difference between a photo and a video. the double-angles scene is fantastic on its own. even more funny is the story or michi and me stumbling into galerie micheline szwajcer in antwerp having an assistant starting the work for us with us watching. they must have checked immediately that we could not effort to buy something, but there was a full lack of expected arrogance replaced by friendliness. this is what the art scene should be all about.


a key piece to the show is ‘die reine notwendigkeit’ based on the german translation of balu´s song. claerbout took disney´s jungle book and cut out all of the humanized behaviour of animals and slowing down the remaining scenes. I was sceptical if this piece being a classic cartoon animation would fit into his body of work. surprisingly it fits perfectly as he simply varies the technology, the style and the content. the work tranquilizes, it makes you watch for an hour like being on a clam safari. in the end the human girl appears to get water while singing a song about her (stereotype) future. as she glances into the jungle, there is no boy staring back.

there is me remembering to have seen the original scene forty years ago, finding myself in the future facing an altered version of everything. as the work appears technically simple I wonder how he made disney allow him to use the piece, this seems to be the biggest trick within this piece. also, it teaches something on visual sampling and how to use samples: not as juicy loop or source for processing but as original to be de- and re-contextualized. Simple as the early pieces and extremely convincing!


the newest piece appears to be ‘the woodcarver and the forest’. claerbout serves images that appear unreal, constructed, beautiful and meaningful. In this 20 hour narration we can experience the beauty of the woods (also the beauty of brutalist architecture). the woodcarver hangs out behind his glass front, staring into the woods and carving spoons. is this a real reflection on consuming? the woodcarver appears far away from any finding, he is trapped in going on without any idea of an alternative. you can read this as a critic view on consumerism but without consuming the woods there would not be a spoon, there would be no narration. the work is meditative once again, mixing footage, greenscreen and cgi (often falsely referred as a.i.). it still makes me wonder, I do not know what to think of it.

apart from this I got the impression that all of these computer generated images might have become somewhat out-dated. being a protagonist of these aesthetics in art myself I wonder if we had too much of it. there was a fascination for this new technology and its aesthetics but we might have entered an era in which we are flooded with generated images, people cannot tell the difference between a.i. and cgi plus all of this development has made images meaningless as they do not carry truth in documentation nor meaning as being generated to easily. I take this as a question for myself: how can I develop a medium apart from simply pushing it´s technical borders? this question does not have a simple answer but a classic cartoon seems so timeless and right in this context, as the medium is honest and the content meaningful.


‘olympia (the real time disintegration into ruins of the berlin olympic stadium over the course of a thousand years)’ is a fantastic piece. this is not a video, it is a actually a video game playing itself, at least controlled by the actual weather situation. it is supposed to change over time, so you need to watch it again and again. but something is strange here: having seen this piece years ago I knew there must be grass and other plans appearing, this version seemed to be a little bit to clean…


the exhibition had one last trick left to put on us. as you enter the last level you can experience a moment of total confusion: after stepping up the stairs you find yourself in a room constellation which feels familiar to the level below – and there are the same videos installed – wait, didn’t we end up in the same level even after taking all of the stairs? it took some moments to realize that the rooms are slightly different actually. and the video pieces might be the same ones but at different timecodes: here we found ‘olympia’ again with all the weeds. claerbout is skilled and humorous, entertaining and inspiring. I knew all of this before but this retrospective proves it once again.


on our last day we did the full luxembourg experience again, we even entered the casino luxembourg (open daily!) for a very depressing show and visited the gelle fra, the lift and funiculair. the picture once again gives you just a glimpse of the city’s beauty and the numbers of tourists having discovered it.


after so much action I was really looking for nye to do nothing at all. it was great to discover and watch ‘nausicaä of the valley of the wind’ which once again turned out to be one of my all time favourite anime because of the funny flying machines and nausicaä´s radical goodwill. she is actually solving the same issues we have, the heritage of human arrogance, environmental awareness, post-humanism and military conflict. simple and impressive, again and agan.




we returned to william kentridge ‘listen to the echo’ in the new year, and I had the chance to once again watch ‘to cross one more see’, a three-channel video installation featuring railing and creaky timber floor, dealing with the isse of bein a refugee. there is of course no artistic way to pass on all of the fears and issues (thank god) but kentridge manage to deal with a serious topic in a playful way, making it easy to think about it. the mix of production and media is awesome.


‘listen to the echo’ also shows its own making of, kentridge in studio leading musicians and dancers through his vision and even discussing ideas with himself. however, it took tree times to discover the model made for the actual exhibition. you cannot only explore the where which piece is set up, you can also see where walls have been added and how rooms are set up and are puzzled into each other. this show is a great production. kentridge is impressive, nevertheless I feel that I do only understand a tiny part of his oeuvre and after having a strong fascination it does not grab me on an emotional level the was claerbout is able to.


sven piayda | get you the moon
OPEN HOUSE: KUNSTSZENE GELSENKIRCHEN
kunstmuseum gelsenkirchen, gelsenkirchen
2026-02-22 - 2026-04-26
opening 2026-02-22, 12 pm

kunstmuseum-gelsenkirchen.de/ausstellungen/
open-house-kunstszene-gelsenkirchen

kunstmuseum-gelsenkirchen.de

horster str. 5-7
D-45897 gelsenkirchen



sven piayda | beachball
COLLABORATIVE FUTURES
gmünder kunstverein/galerie im kornhaus
schwäbisch gmünd
2025-12-05 – 2025-02-01


gmuender-kunstverein.de

collaborativefutures.online/de/kurzfilm-galerie

gmünder kunstverein e.v.
kornhausstraße 14
schwäbisch gmünd


sven piayda | mff40
WIDERBORSTIGES PUBLIZIEREN - 40 JAHRE MFF
museum für fotokopie, mülheim an der ruhr
2025-05-15 – 2025-06-29 (still on display)
opening 2025-05-15, 6 pm

museum-fotokopie.de

>>> listen to klaus urbons: die geschichte des museums für fotokopie (2025) at radio makro archive

friedrich-ebert-straße 48
45468 mülheim an der ruhr




sven piayda | aftermath
KURZstummfilmfestival
zeche carl, essen / youtube, worldwide
2020-09-26, 3pm at zeche carl
2020-09-25 on youtube

kurz-stumm-filmfestival.de
'aftermath' on youtube
youtube.com
facebook.de/kurzstummfilmfestival
facebook event



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