we must have been planning this for months, in retrospective the summer looks great, but it is a hurry, always. puzzling dates and appointments duties and the question how to use your time properly. I do not even find time to write the blog. recently I´m sitting in the garage getting my tires changed for winter – well, summer´s over. however, even if I had structured my time differently, we decided to return to the hoge veluwe for some nature and art experience. this is and was a place for frequent returns but there must have been a longer time in between. you always feel like discovering something new. we´re all quite exhausted, fighting with some viruses floating around, also I´ve damaged my knee while jogging, hoping to find back to my pretended ‘juvenileism’.

the kröller müller museum is a tourist magnet, things get more crowded every time. I often feel that people only come out for leisure stuff while you find no-one to do the jobs. (and I am also quite frustrated about this.)

going to otterlo is special to me as I have a fragmentary memory of getting there with my parents so walking through the museum park feels like waling through a childhood memory.


we went into the museum without checking what was on display. we were surprised to discover another great hans op de beek installation, a town at the sea, peaceful at night. it once again feels like a claerbout piece has come to life. (see also 2024-04-05 creativity on an island (and leisure of course) | entry by sven)


the museum is known for having a lot of van gogh pieces on the collection and it is great to see the iconic pieces. but we felt it was a kind of strange: as the museum creates a lot of diffuse light van gogh´s works appear surprisingly flat. (we feel that the museum folkwang crates a surrounding giving the works more depth) so this is like a ‘mona lisa moment’, spending a few seconds next to the superstar you immediately recognize – but this is actually all of the experience.


the cyclops (sorry for not knowing the artist) has a strange fascination on me. the painting is somehow naïve, beautiful and sad, I have a lot of sympathy with the giant cyclops. he might be a misfit outcast walking around and never getting what he craves. too much revelation? here we go!


the museums building for the classic collection features a kind of plaza, an open space which can only be entered through one door offing a peaceful space. in the middle of the pool you can watch a kinetic sculpture by george rickey preforming it´s slow choreography. the sculpture appears magical and I do not really have an idea how to create something making these movement son itself. I could watch for hours, but even time-off is limited and follows schedules.


I must have passed this cabinet a few times without noticing or caring about. it actually shows a kind of ‘brutalist’ owl by picasso. like all of his pieces, it looks simple at first sight but surprisingly accurate on the second look. picasso still surprises.


we did not have enough time to discover the hoge veluwe by bike again, as we left the museum quite late (and the other visitors grabbed all the bikes) but we had a good time in the museum park. here we go, finding new paths and new works. you never know who you´ll might meet in the park.


the needle tower be kenneth snelson fascinates me even after all these years. you see it but you do not understand. here for decades.


marta pan´s floating sculpture nicknamed swantje is my favourite above all. I have already expressed my love for this pieces a decade ago and it is still on. floating for eternity, maybe this is the actually fascination. you need to experience it yourself!


we must have been watching too many ‘alien’ movies over the last weeks so this one scares me a lot. sorry for not understanding and caring about art and turning it into a joke instead. this is not what I usually do. I apologise but it is funny, nevertheless…


there is one spot which looks like a setting for a memory of something I never had. a pick nick with big families, having a good time. or is this reminding me of a movie? somehow this scene triggers me, is it a memory or a script, of the past or of the future?


the museum park also features a sound installation, some speakers in the woods doing some ‘selected ambient works II’-style a capella surround performance. well, this is what I wanted my ‘aural park’ project to be like: a nature experience in combination with a sound that is conceptional and takes you somewhere, opening a door into a new dimension. I still think this could happen one day.


yet another remarkable sculpture. whenever I see this one I know it is the doorkeeper for a great night. this is a three-d-printed sculpture by matthias danberg, obviously just a demo version ending up as stuff rolling around in the car. too bad for the show, to good for the trash, so this one is the co-pilot for the upcoming adventure eve.


this still from community really struck me. jeff winger staring at the table and bringing structure to his memories and feelings. I can completely sympathise with it. you may start with egoistic purposes and you find yourself among people you realize to be in love with in the moment when you have to let them go. we need to watch community again. no doubt. for the fourth time!?




jamming whenever possible. making music, especially song oriented stuff keeps me going recently. the next architects of utter destruction album is waiting to come up while I am already writing and programming for a forth chapter. well, it is not a classic band and the great thing is I won´t sound like one. it is like nine inch nails or seefeel. you a some guys standing together for the press photo but actually it is just one driven guy puzzling snippets together in perfect solitude. it´s always been like this and it finally makes perfect sense.




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

today seems to be the first day that looks like summer is over and I immediately look back and ask myself how I spend or wasted my time. I remain in a strange mood these days, I reported that becoming older made me accept to take more dead ends, you turn around and seek for the new one. but that doesn't mean that it would not take a lot of power and the frustration remains. I cannot solve certain conflicts and I am finally willing to accept that. ending relationships asks always for starting new ones, but am I able to accept what I receive? I often feel like monty python´s black knight: having lost everything and still negotiating with nothing to offer. this holy grail scene seems so absurd in the first place but is a perfect metaphor for our self-delusion. once again, I am surrounded by dead ends. of course, I have great friends I can keep things together but I am missing inspiration.

the art scene, which once appeared to be the kingdom of happiness, appears so stupid now. we are not making money, we do not become famous (or at least relevant), we do not even meet people being interested. my personal approach in making art seems to change. I am bored and annoyed by the frequent software changes, the programs change and I just play around with it making my work randomly produced software showcases – which is actually the last thing I wanted to do. can I still find a new approach to photography, video or sound? can I hand over the euphoria or thought I tried to embed into the pieces?

music has become relevant again. jamming really connects people and writing (and producing) a great rock song is magic not easy to master. and here I fail once again: rock music is out-dated, my approach is even to sophisticated to make people listen to it, avoiding streaming services keeps me invisible for the half-hearted music lovers. where is everyone? I feel like everyone seems to vanish into a very own world. and I might witness myself doing the same…

we have seen artists come and go, visual artists quit some time after leaving the academy for getting kids and/or the fact that there is no chance to actually win in the game dominated by big players. the scene appears ridiculous after a while. musicians start to be different and have to give in to commercial rules or have to fail. after all this jamming I did not find people a live band would work with…

things remain the same. so do I. I often feel like oscar wilde´s ‘remarkable rocket’, made for the big show but fails by getting wet. all this talk about nothing. but there is consolation for the hopeless: doing something unsuccessfully for decades raises the chance to become cult!


working with cinema 4d is scary these days, I feel like having five different versions on the machines, making me wonder where I find tools and how to activate them. (maybe I need a new approach) there might be a rending coming up to an architects of utter destruction single which will not be part of the forthcoming album and will be featuring primal scapes. did I say too much? rendering something, bouncing something…


meme time again: I found this one sliding into my facebook timeline nailing it completely. I must have discovered the dropped-d tuning back in the nineties when I was studying the tabulatures for queen´s ‘headlong’ and I never got rid of the fascination for it. tuning down means a full range of four full octaves on a strat and the easy way to do heavy riffing with only one finger. whenever I come up on stage everyone knows what my lowest tone will be. however, for years I have never tuned it back again, even if I can still switch over to standard tuned playing immediately. but who needs that?




driving home I accidentally listened to ‘disconnected’ by german idm group funkstörung. I was always thrilled by the album artwork but I never really got into it. nevertheless I thought some tracks should be added to my glitch hop hdj set. I wanted to skip this project as the success was always limited and I cancelled the last show for reasons. now I am thinking about to update the set once again and offer it to cool venues. could be cool, if you are…


big thank you to michael bruno matsimbe and everyone at eunoia for a great jam! making people dance to improvised green day songs was a surprise, just like coming up with the 'mission impossible' theme. it´s been a blast! more live next (this) week!

architectsofutterdestruction.com


update 2024-09-12: here´s a little studio update: michael and me are recording together once again. summer had been difficult as we were both busy with serious stuff to take care for and could not proceed our projects. fortunately I recorded the AOUD album in my studio with the help of michael by sending some synth tracks. even if we could not synchronize our schedules, he is part of the production – it worked similar with further musicians appearing in the next album… michael is pretty relaxed in producing a follow-up to the fantastic macrocosm album, we have been recording snippets over months for probably coming up with an ep for primal scapes. next to that (and prominent over the last weeks) we started working on a cover of an older song of mine. as I was planning some kin of new release in 2023 I asked michael to do a cover or remix of a song of mine. he picked ‘dust ride’ from ‘the singles’ (which actually appeared on ‘the senary process’ in 2009). he did an interesting electronic cover version but I never found a context to put it out. however, I had the idea to work on it together again, as we agreed that there might be material we are not done with. we started to play around with it and recorded tons of guitars, but we kicked out a lot of it again, we recorded my singing, chris with a bass and a lot of arranging and swapping ideas. the result is pretty cool, different from the original track and I guess both versions will keep their relevance. recording with michael is cool because we always have a great time in studio and do not think about who will put out a song in the first place. however, michael wants to put it on the next primal scapes ep which is a great idea and I will also put this song on the forth (!) AOUD album and maybe release it as single in advance. next to that, michael has some fine songs sleeping on his hard disk waiting to be released. still a lot to come. keep an eye on our sites:

primal-scapes.de
architectsofutterdestruction.com




update 2024-09-12: we are also working on 'collected riffing works 3', a long term project which already features two episodes. I will bring back primal scapes collaborations and further producers. it will be ambitioned, surpeising and very cool. have a look:

svenpiayda.com/recordoftides/crw.html


update 2024-09-13: there is so much to do recently, I often only hang out at home to fall asleep. thursday was my day off and I was still taking care of private duties. while driving around in I thought I could need some time in the museum folkwang. I would not go into a church on my own to calm down and sort my thoughts and feelings, but strolling through the known collection often helps. next to it I discovered the recent ‘6 ½weeks’ show having petja ivanova on display. I do not claim to understand, but I like the combination of sculpture, video animation and sound. it brought me into another world with a glimpse of getting what it might be all about. however, this was actually immersive. even if I sometimes try to copy situations to bring back moments I did not tray to copy this one but it was somehow like discovering the ‘6 ½ weeks’ show back in 2019. five years just fly by.


update 2024-09-13: probably one of my favorite works on exhibition in the museum folkwang is ‘aviariation’ by william forsythe. I remember discovering this work back 2019 as well and I somehow expected it to vanish, to be just temporary. fortunately I rediscovered it yesterday. this tree is a funny object, sculpture, performer? It feels like a david claerbout video has come to life. and it hands over a question to me: as the tree is ‘forced’ to dance I question my actions forced by duties… is this my choreography in life? dancing is often mistaken for freedom, but dancing with others needs a choreography, at least rules. maybe actual freedoms might also mean uselessness, nothingness and lack of need to move anyway. however, this tree is massively underrepresented while it is one of the best contemporary artworks on display. william forsythe is referred as choreographer and dancer, apart from that he is quite parenthetically an outstanding conceptual artist, teaching dance and developing questions apart from all the fun his work contains.




update 2024-09-14: I am looking back on a week full of work and making music plus some sleeping in between. the scene that puts people together always fascinates me. like art is for me a playground to discuss ideas, the jams are a playground to discover people. recently I am struggling with my narcissist trauma. I have realized more and more people from my past fitting into these behavior patterns making time a wasted time for everyone else. also I realize more and more people in my recent surrounding to be problematic. here is a situation you may know: you get triggered by a tiny thing some says or does and you are surprised about your own anger. next you you´ll meet you are glad that everything is fine, no need for an open conflict as everything appears to be just a little ‘misunderstanding’. unfortunately, these ‘misunderstandings’ happen again and again. am I getting paranoid? maybe, but I tried the other way around: finally I have found friends and colleagues which never put me in a situation making me feel awkward. there is relationship without being toxic. I feel like having a lot of evidence on my table, I only have to do something with it.




update 2024-09-14: at least there is a funny running gag in my life: from time to time the cats of the neighborhood come around to check the ground floor. sneaking in, you often only realize them by coincidence. sometimes interested in cuddling, sometimes interested in the furniture. these visits pander between friendship, joy, interest and arrogance. I have told before, cats can teach you a lot. I have always considered myself as the dog guy, but I am actually a cat guy but I can live without. now you know.




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

summer is still here and even if there is a lot od stuff I have to care about, I do not want to complain. nevertheless I realize that I cannon calm down properly, it is not a question of weather, sports or free time. lying outside listening to boards of canada (or whatever) does not work. the plane won´t take off, one side of the brain screams my duties. travelling to the holy castle on the hill is tricky but it is full of space for creativity, love and finding. my keys just don´t fit these days.
apart from this I go through something you might know (it is not about being spiritual or esoteric): sometimes you feel like you are confronted with signs, subtle but clear, telling you where to go if you believe to have a choice. you might wonder: is the universe talking to me? am I fooling myself? and if I look back, I often feel like fooling myself by presenting guidance for the shit I decided to do myself. but maybe I just remember the cases in which I have failed. and once again, am I fooling myself? you will have to follow the universe´ guidance, and even if you are fooled you have made sure you did not ignore the universe` guidance. I will let you know.
the good thing about getting older is accepting the numerous dead ends without questioning the whole journey. the rest is the shit you know yourself as good as I do.


visiting the 2024 szeniale was on my list for months, I did not play there to enjoy the festival and put out the live bootlegs just to feel connected to it in a way. the festival was not as well-attended as it was in years before and I did not feel convinced. also I had to say that I did not feel good myself which made it impossible to enjoy the full program. however, it was the perfect opportunity to have a beer with my friend and colleague sandra a.k.a. cannot be named who supported by performances in gelsenkirchen over the years. we need to do that more often.


I could not find the inner peace to really enjoy a concert. I stepped into the performance of ensemble unterwegs a group of four ladies meaning strings plus voice performing classical songs as well as chansons. I could not stay for their full gig and I was sorry for them to only have a small audience (like me usually) but they have once again celebrated the magic of music. no matter if you are into the style or the sound, if you open your mind to the magic (once again) discipline floating from the universe into your little heart (and leaving as tears through your heart) is always something you cannot put into words. this group was able to open this portal and making it flow. I wish I had known them before.


there were two installations featuring speakers playing monologues by people in need to tell their story. I can say that I like the simple idea but it does not catch me and reminds me a lot of lame (gangsta) rap habitus of ‘telling my story’. I think, on a medial level it does not make sense for me as I hope for a dialogue or a monologue that serves as an archetype telling me something about by own life. a simple report without further intention does not trigger me. but hey, I am reflective enough to see the irony of telling this in a blog. coming back to my demanding, I sometimes discuss blog posts with readers and friends and it is the overture to a dialogue. or you just keep reading the blog to not make the same mistakes I do wondering if I will do them again while keeping reading it. maybe in all these mistakes, reports, showing-off, questions, jokes, and embarrassments there is this one idea which may change yourself, your life and everyone around you. just get through the by-catch.


one of my guilty pleasures of 2024 became listening to post malone. this guy is an uprising superstar for years which is a fact that makes me feel uninterested in the first place, doing quite boring american hip-hop, I realized this guy as being a great musician even able to play nirvana´s ‘nevermind’ in an impressing way. the world realized his rock music background and waited for the abandonment of hip hop. as 2024 appeared to be his transformation to a country singer (how strange and fascinating is that!?) I gave in to the fantastic medial advertising and performing and I decided to get into it. it ended up with me listening to the last album ‘austin’ delivering a lot of good pop music, touching the edges of folk, rock and hip hop. the next step was supposed to be a country album. superstars scale things up to make sure there will be commercial success, the project is supposed to generate profit. apart from this it is even more surprising to me that it works. I never expected myself to listen to country music and have to ignore the clichés which are coming along with it but there is a an album with great songs, great musicians and a fantastic artwork. the cover artwork is based up a photo of a blue pick-up truck dropped nose down into a lake by mexican artist gonzalo lebrija. this does not only cerate a stunning and fontless cover (is the truck an kind of symbol for posty?) is also generates a perfect ad campaign as the deformed truck is exhibited for fans to visit. to me, this is the perfect way of advertising and making artwork for an album these day. big project played well. with all my sceptics for country and mainstream superstars, ‘I had some help’ is the song of this year. (cowboy) hats off!




by the way, to cut a long story short: the universe did not sent something, I have fooled myself. I feel like I would like to be nowhere as I am still the punchline of a cosmic joke. echoes of the past can break your heart ...all that could have been… of course we go on and take the stupidest thing seriously. staring into the abyss as all possible answers got lost on the road behind you. I call it a dead end pivot, but I have been in every single one. how do you go for another loop knowing to return to the starting point? is this less scary than actually getting somewhere new? I am bored of my own frustration as I only cry for myself. it remains an indifferent universe and I will never pretend to read signs again. I will get over it. pretty broken. end of the story. (the picture is a 2023 rediscovery, daisy lying in the bar of sailor´s pub waiting to get the jam started.)




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia




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

it is an annual issue, before the summer break everyone is asking where you´ll spend your time off. and this is also an issue for us. I have a certain dislike for this strange concept of working and then spending all the money on ‘perfect time’, I prefer to get work and leisure in a balance for the ‘flow’ – even if I know that it is also an illusion. however, as I did not wanted to spend some days of too far away for certain reasons, we ended up on a special place. going to luxembourg was not an option, spending time at the north sea is always great, but we needed to see something else now. we ended up at neugrad, a settlement of container-shaped tiny houses on the historic vogelsang hill in the eifel region. (I do not talk about the third reich history here, we had a walk around the historic buildings but we did not need more of it on holiday – we know enough about it to dislike it.)
the tiny houses are futuristic and, well, tiny, featuring a small terrace and a sauna and a boombox to play your music. a great place to be and to calm down.


a glass front is great to lay down in bed watching the sky and plants wave in the wind, before drowsing and falling asleep. a great opportunity to hang out.


and here is my perfect way of relaxing, outside with an old art magazine reading about basquiat and the massachusetts institute of technology and their cooperation with artists to get to some bigger questions and impulses. do I feel inspired? definitely.




going on summer holiday means also going to a museum nearby, obvoisly contemporary art. we went to eupen in the german speaking dstrict of belgium. we were once again surprised by the beauty and the ‘non-beauty’, in belgium everything is always merged together. we were surprised to find the museum opposite a supermarket and next to a solarium. I was even more surprised how well designed and large it appeared on the inside…
the IKOB museum featured a show curated by kids escorted with a catalogue/reader asking you to match the exhibited works to their themed rooms. these works appeared as stickers showing the exhibited artworks as copied or reimagined by the kids. a concept that appears quite odd on the paper turned out to work pretty good. the show was well curated and set up while the sticker game forced you to have a closer look on every artwork exhibited. also it triggered the gamer in competition in us taking the thing pretty serious. also the beautiful town of eupen impressed me, it felt like an alternate version of germany, being in a foreign country but speaking and hearing german feels so strange ­– and it is not far away from our home. however, I am already checking for apartments…


a great opportunity for me on summer holiday is to take a guitar for with me. playing and rehearsing is always relaxing for me and often I take time to write songs. this time I did not pick up the guitar very often and I did not write lyrics but I fixed some riffs for songs and even thought about how to develop wider sound opportunities with the equipment I have for architects of otter destruction. the next song is always behind the last release.





as I asked michi to take a picture of me with the guitar we went on and fooled around posing. the white strat called ‘daisy’ escorted me for the second time on holiday, it is rough like a war horse and sounds pointy and direct.

architectsofutterdestruction.com


the place to be in the eifel region is monschau. so we went there on the next day. michi was quickly irritated by strange toy shops/exhibition spaces and stuffed animal exhibitions and annoyed by all the people running into the town – eating, drinking and buying ugly souvenirs. what did we expect? being a tourist here makes you feel stupid, a town seducing with beauty and loosing it by selling it.



whenever we go to a town we need to check the museum, when there is no museum we check the church. I feel a certain connection to transcendence, michi doesn´t, so we find common ground on admiring architecture and statuary. monschau´s cathedral presents a quite unexpected and untypical interior by placing the benches in half-circles around the altar. in reflection on what community works within a ceremony, this appears a s a quite obvious way to do it. would you have expected being surprised by getting offered an unexpected alternative be entering a church?


of course there is also a museum, the monschau foto museum was featuring a group show on fashion photography. a decent show and fantastic architecture to present these works. unfortunately it was not allowed to take pictures inside, so I can only deliver the view on the house outside. the tourists would not dare to come in so we spend most of the time within the exhibition on our own.


on our way back I wanted to make a stop in aachen. I wanted to visit the ludwig forum for some time now but it never happened. the building is impressive, the staff is friendly but the art did not convince me, here are big names but also the dust of the seventies layering like fog on the pieces. nevertheless, the shows ad some highlights for me, above all I saw three works by jean-michel basquiat. the one above was new to me and impressed me a lot. by surprise I just read days before about it giving some phrases to explain what makes his so unique in his time and remaining meaningful afterwards. but I do not need it, his work made an impression on me long before I could describe it. up to today, I am always impressed and inspired, finding joy and impulses in it.


we also had to check aachen downtown. I can hear dietmar her screaming in my head: ‘we wanted to do it!!!’ – and we will, as our visit was just a short run-through, getting an idea of the architecture and the beauty of the cathedral without having time or concentration to get I or have a real experience. so this short visit made me realize that I have to come back with a lot of more time.




even if the navigation system says that aachen is just a little bit more than an hour away, our way home appeared like a comedy episode featuring numerous closed streets making sure that we would not get to the highway. it found a climax when the navigation system lead us to a driveway which was obviously out of use for a longer time now. things looked easier in the draft and we will return when all the building sites are finished so we might reach these places in timespans anticipated.


update 2024-08-09: as we pretend to have some more time off in summer, I thought matthias and me should also go to the museum instead of just hang out with burgers and beer. I would have loved go to düsseldorf for this but we could not find anything teasing us, so we ended up quite casually in the kunstmuseum mülheim. michi joined us spontaneously and we went through the reopening show once again. what is it like to spend the afternoon with teachers/artists in the museum? well, much talk and background checking. during the reopening I have already realized that most of the lent works come from düsseldorf, matthias even specified that these pieces appear to have been taken form hip galleries located along one street in flingern. well, this is what we come up with in the reopening show of the kunstmuseum mülheim?


update 2024-08-09: as did not know what to do the other day (and being less creative than we thought we were) we once again ended up in the museum. the küppersmühle in duisburg came up with a karin kneffel show we wanted to see anyway. some years ago, we experienced her works in haus lange/haus esters in krefeld and we were impressed by the technique and the composition. It is fun to look into interiors while the raindrops tilt the picture in an non-blurred version. these pictures are magic and they even look good photographed. back in 2014 I even made my own version with ‘drops’. this way of painting is skilled, funny and seductive – you can approach it on different levels…


update 2024-08-09: a detail I can relate to immediately: a guy laying down at a random place, putting the tie on his eyes for a power nap ­– I can even imaging him coming back. I do not know if this is a good or beautiful picture but the motive triggers me in all simplicity. maybe it is a kind of an ‘inner motif’, in impressionistic scene handed over to you.


update 2024-08-09: the staircase at museum küppersmühle has a strong fascination on anyone coming in, often in need to take pictures. still I do not even know, if I like it. I can relate to the brutalist srchitecture of naked concrete, but why would you add this strange oxblood red colour? it looks so staind, not clean, not rough. It remind me more of a set in star wars, this could be the staircase down to the cloakrooms of the cantina in mos eisley. as michi did some mobile shots capturing the composition of the architecture I thought we should stage this picture of me gazing into a lamp like it is a kind of precious artwork. well, my instagram story has never been more frequented or received so many likes what makes the whole thing completely random. after post-conceptual and post-internet we have finally reached post-content.


update 2024-08-09: I am wearing glasses since a decade ago, it helps me to look better but also to look better. (sorry for the joke) as age delivers some hyperopia, I have stared reading without glassed and thought my frames might need some updated glasses. I went into the same store I got in ten years ago (where the mighty flamma was helping me to get the right glasses) and explained what I wanted to do. the friendly optician lady measured my lenses and to our surprise she said my lenses haven´t changed. well, less work for them and more money for myself. however, paul commented my neugrad picture writing ‘you look more dangerous without glasses’, so at least I have found a way to look dangerously.




update 2024-08-09: after about 15 months I got back jamming with a group of people I know from jams in their room as we did 15 months ago. it was nice and short but these jams go nowhere, things are just for fun. I brought up Susie but the volume knob fell off – I was so irritated about how much this irritated me. I fixed it the other day. this summer I took time to get to a bunch of jams but most of it left me quite unsatisfied, a lot of the magic did not happen. also I am a little stuck with the AOUD album, I worked on it for so long now and are about to finish it but the momentum of euphoric movement has just slowed down. I do not want to mess it up and I feel that nobody would care if I would. apart from that I just started to chop and layer samples again, some midi stuff, well, there is another record of tides album nearly done, effortlessly in times off on the couch or in the garden. it just happens, it is the fun of doing it and I will sell the catalogue to warp records some day and get rich. this plan is genius and way to simple.


update 2024-08-09: I was shocked when paul presented his pink strat heavily modified in the instagram story. the srv/hendrix partscaster pinky turned into a neo trashy van halen frankenstein. I do not even know if it is legal to modify a guitar ins use like that. I said: ‘how can you convert so quickly from hendrix to eddie?` paul replied: ‘they musthave put me something into the coffee. but maybe she´ll have three singlecoils again next week.’ but he is right, style is about development and it is never done, also it is cool to mix a hendrix lick with a tapping figure. I was lucky to get the pink frankenstein handed over and it is super playable. after some jamming I had to bring on ‘ain´t talking ‘bout love’. it´s a trashy beauty but I am in love now.


update 2024-08-09: here are our two ladies for the road side by side. a strat is a contradictive construction: my white daisy appears to be ‘authentic’ as crafted in the fifties but it is actually heavily modified. this is what I have learned to love about the start: it is not a holy grail but a simple concept that is open to all, just like open source.


update 2024-08-09: just me outside the pub hanging out with the jammers and listeners. even in times when it will not work or flow, we still have a great mash-up of culture and community. let´s see where it may take us.


update 2024-08-13: I love to go to the darlington park. michi says that I am the only person in the world referring this place as ‘darlington park’ and not as ‘müga’. as it is a former gardening exhibition, the park features some fountains and monuments which give you a certain post apocalyptic fine de siècle feeling, something I am indo very much. walking through or hanging out in summer is just perfect, you´re lucky if you bring some beer and pizza with you. one spot connected to my pop culture background: doesn’t this place look like anakin´s and padmé´s wedding spot? the scene is set on naboo but was actually shot in italy, and there is not much postproduction in it. okay, this isn´t italy, this is just a park in mülheim I call darlington – this is my naboo!


update 2024-08-13: I was invented to a party (or sit-in) in a schrebergarten nearby, I am not sure if I will be there but I like the idea to go there and walk home. however, the email invitation (rare these days) came with a capture shot of google maps showing the entry. the picture was somewhat like a david claerbout piece to me. a place to clam down, have a good time and meet humble people but it comes as automatized file size reduced jpeg. this is just a sketch of an idea and the idea is to create feeling well with a community. this is pretty poetic, isn´t it? I can only take a picture if a place delivers this kind of intellectual and emotional appendix, I am not shooting much these days. the places are there.



update 2024-08-13: I did so many jams this summer, I like the community but I was often not that happy with the interaction musically. I know it is not about playing a composition; it is about finding something on the way. when everyone finds his own and forgets to listen to others, the result isn’t very pleasing. I guess it I is the same with politics and society. however, I am a pendulum between the extremes and I went back to finish the next architects of utter destruction album, here I can control as much as possible and be the controlling freak that would be kicked out of any band. however, the album is what it is supposed to be. songs and sounds you would expect and you did not expect. once again it is independent bombast, a blockbuster with a student´s budget, thinking sounds that would not be possible technically. once again, it is a unique sound, mixing the perfect orchestration with first takes, puzzled together from different drummers and programmers – all around one guitar. it has never been more pop, it is never been more punk, well, my version of it. I will do some single edits soon. first sounds at the end of the year, new album out in 2025.



update 2024-08-20: I feel pretty familiar with the city of xanten, I like to go here for private professional reasons. I always wanted to visit the apx, the museum of the roman colony and it´s leftovers. last thursday I was luckily invented to join my colleagues to go there and we had a great day. of course, it is much to discover and you only get the half of it when you talk about what you did all summer, nevertheless you walk around the arena and the bath houses, the museum and the café. the romans are still fascinating and strange: philosophical, democratic and technically inventive on the one hand, brutal and fascist on the other. how do you get these extremes together? if you discover their architecture, their furniture and interior design you might realize that they come pretty close to what we have today. a lot of their knowledge must have gone lost during the middleages, but I do not feel that we are so far away from all of this. out luxury is a lot further developed but it appears to be based upon the roman standards and innovations. are we further developed by just being in the future and having changed gladiators for iphones?

also, looking at the fragments of the fresco wondering if the artist was aware of being still 'relevant' 2000 years later, it is a question we do not even come up with anymore. the digital age will be forgotten quickly as it only focusses on the 'now'. and yes, I know that Iam a part of it and i am not starting a fresco or marble sculpture anyway...




update 2024-08-20: michi has got a new ride and we call it 'bessie' and above you see the reason why. the planet express ship with a female captain. let´s go for some popplers!




update 2024-08-21: it is like a bad joke sometimes. on the day michi got her new car, my car (nicknamed 'rocco') made the 'engine' control lamp light up, insted of driving to my sports club I directly drove into the garage. you know how they say: if god opens a door, he closes a window. (taking care of draught or something). however, sometimes life feels like jack sparrow dancing on a sinking ship. anyway, that was an opportunity to mash up some memes I found on rocko (the australian cartoon kangaroo I named my car after) getting his car fixed. maybe everything in my future has already been shown in a cartoon!? let´s seee when I get my ride back, so we can finally make a race in fulerum...




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia




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

we are on summer break finally, still it is hard to calm down. my fist week off just passed by with some sports and hanging-out but still taking care of thongs that cannot wait. I did some rework on my websites, some of my domains did not open on any browser (and approaching theses sites via facebook resulted in content loading failures) so I sat down to invest some money and time to make the websites work by using contemporary standards and technology.

however, as I realized that we are celebrating 25 years of zany music (I wrote zm even on my demo tapes back in 1995) I got aware that the label has finally become real. back in the day, we all wanted to have a label but you needed to finance about 500 copies of a release plus promotion unless you wanted to keep them for yourself. the idea to get rich with your own art or music remains a fairy tale. some people make art, others money, deciding for art means no money, deciding for money does not need art anyway. however, zany music kept going, featuring my own releases and from collaborative projects. I did it to represent myself in the first place, but I never received a single demo in 25 years. back in the day christian eschler a.k.a. kill scrxxn (and partner for mmaakkee) asked me if I would release his music on the label. I did not expect it but said yes, why not… he actually never send something and he does not have to and can keep control on his own work – as we all can do releases by ourselves. everyone is his own label now. I always loved to see my release surrounded by others or being listed on a label artist site among others proving that I am part of a scene. now I do not see the need to applying to labels anymore as all of them appear quite unable in making promotion, connection or events. plus I suppose I was already working with a label keeping the profits of my work, but how could I prove it? it comes down to this. do what you love and be as independent as possible. every collaboration is just what you wanted and not needed to do.





I have spent the second free week with recording of the third architects of utter destruction album. as you know, I have been writing riffs and lyrics as well as doing programmings for about a year now. if you work on something for so long, things might loose edge. you think about arrangements and phrases again and again, modifying them again and again. you have listened to these songs in your head a thousand times, but you have to nail them within the recording, you do lines diffenetly or make stupid mistakes. the great thing on working like this is that you are able to do the riffing properly and avoid mistakes… the great thing about having some more equipment is to be more relaxed when stuff is not working, you get used to it and switch on another device…

the sound is quite special I think. it combines perfectly arranged orchestral parts with rough recordings, you have to keep it fresh. within every single song you can find altering production methods and qualities, endlessly processed and edited samples and brave first takes. I like to call it bombast independent expanding from rock to electronica, from pop to punk. checking old pictures I realized that is use the production method for over two decades now, it is a simple one making sure I can perform the songs I write plus production is done quickly as the possibilities are very limited. above you see a recent picture of a laptop and a my tascam 8-track copying the backing track, and on the right side a picture of me doing the same thing in early 2004. (the picture was taken with cheap digital camera as nothing affordable was available 20 years ago.) when I finally start recording I really want to get things done, I layed down my tracks in four days, I do not want to have a break with the process and I want to think about new songs. I have reported on the AOUD facebook site, so these are the reports:

july 16:
we are happy to finally announce that architects of utter destruction have finally started recording a new album. today the guys have been working on songs which are recently called 'modern dance' and 'ventrilloquist'. the album will be out on zany music, check out the anniversary features over at www.zany-music.com.

july 17:
the new architects of utter destruction song 'david' has been recorded today. just to keep you updated! ;)

july 18:
just a little studio update: architects of utter destruction have recorded two songs today, 'riposte' and 'change'. more soon!

july 19:
architects of utter destruction have just finished recordings for their upcoming album. the recorded the songs 'idiots', 'unfold' and 'princess' plus some additional synths. the recording period is now over, the rough mixes sound pretty good. after a break (to get fresh ears) mixing and mastering will start in august. also we would like to say happy birthday to our hero brian may turning 77 years young! check out sven´s blog post on experiencing Q+AL live in copenhagen two years ago: 2022-07-23 queen + adam lambert, copenhagen, june 18, 2022
www.svenpiayda.com/blog

architectsofutterdestruction.com


dietmar came up with the idea to visit the ‘rundgang’ an exhibition of student´s works from the folkwang university. I remember visiting it back in 2022, see 2022-07-10 will the gate open if I stop shaking it? | entry by sven. we decided to go there on a friday night, as we entered the sanaa building, we were (more or less) alone in these sacred halls. the positions of documentary photography did not convince us but the building did – once again.


as we approached the main building we could hear house beats sounding all over the place (and through the building and its exhibition) with all the students around having a good time in the sunny evening. we walked around being obviously the oldest ones, you could easily tell the students from the alumni. we had a lot of good chats with the professors and students, I realized that the young and crazy students appeared do be very kind and open. I was really envious, this places offers so much space and opportunity to play around with material and form, photography and production while offing a perfect view out of every window (see head picture). this is where I am going to study in my next life. we watched more or less everything and we have been impressed be some works, unfortunately we forgot to take some more pictures. but I took a picture of this one. I did not check the plates as I do not know the professors anyway but us suddenly stood in front a plate telling ‘fotografie / dr bruce banner’. wait, isn´t banner the incredible hulk? is this a namesake or a joke? if have any information on it, please let me know. (is vader still teaching industrial design…?)

folkwang-uni.de


after a two-hour walkthrough the building we sat outside among the students to chat about the universe and everything inside and outside of it. you can put dietmar and me everywhere without any silence. we share the need for a deeper understanding, maybe we are the nerds among the ordinary. however, we share the interest in still wanting to know and getting better. this keeps us young, we’re still students… in our minds …or in a parallel universe.


and here are some snapshots of my appearances at the anyway jams in june and july. always fun, sometimes magic. jamming made me a better player, maybe even a better person still learning and developing interaction and friendship with others. also I am better concerning gear, I learned that you have to use stuff or offer it to be used, remain and exchange it. sound actually comes from the fingers (hi gain may help) sometimes mates send new songs asking for honest feedback (what an honour) or tell me that they are reading the blog (which always surprises me as do not expect anyone being interested in my ‘adventures’). so if you are reading this, let me know. and let me know what you are looking for and what you find.


making sites ‘safe’ for you is truly expensive. I really hope you enjoy and have some fun with it and check frequently. plus, you are always welcome to contribute. above you see the non-safe ‘http’ version, make sure you always try ‘https’. safer checks!

www.zany-music.com




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia




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

I did so many journal entries and I cannot remember if I have already used this one, however, it is a quote anyway (see the flaming lips). I always took this phrase as a joke but it is actually not. Life is getting complicated more and more, on a political, professional and personal level, everything has a maximum importance – unless you are confronted with reality, issues of life and its final chapter. I have never felt older than today even if I pretend to myself that I still twelve years old – I know I am not. I am aware of not wasting power in side battles for some time now, these days I am getting aware that I do not have the power for it anymore. I witness a lot of change around me, friends trapped in duty, colleagues leaving for different reasons while there is no fresh blood coming into the system.
time is running through my fingers like sand, so is the rest of what was set as important, necessary and ‘how it has to be’.
everything falls apart, the universe is not made to be stable. I see the change and I cannot handle it on my own.

as you find yourselves trapped in a nutshell within a thunderstorm upon the open sea, would you still discuss who let the toothpaste open!? often I feel alone but most of the solitude is self chosen. apart from that, my focus is on the other person, as I try to fulfil needs. I am aware of my limitations and I am also aware that my actions are often substitute actions. (willing to do something and doing something without actually changing anything…) I am often irritated or even disgusted when I witness this behaviour in others, while I have to confess that I often end up like this myself. however, at least you are doing something. and to close the circle: the last thing you need someone forcing you to do something when you crave for every little slot of self-determination.

I guess, I understand the flaming lips title/phrase now: you are already at the gates of hell and you still haven’t understood that no-one will pet your ego anymore. imagine to end up facing the devil presenting your demands. might be fun – maybe not for everyone.

somewhere I read that most of out behaviour we have and consider as part of out personality is actually just a strategy to avoid conflict. I had to think about it and it is scary because it always indicates that you are way less than you thought you would be. I guess it is true, there is a lot of avoiding conflict in my behaviour, no need to take side battles. but if you are about to loose anyway or realized that you do not fulfil other peoples needs as they do not care about yours, you can go for it. the consequence levels lower than the aim. but is this personality, the moment in which you put your needs higher than the ones of others?


I was chosen to take care of the sound at our school´s summer party, actually doning the roadie and mixing job also includes the deejayying. I colleague supported me picking party standards from spotify while I added as much of aphex twin and basement jaxx as I could from my mobile phone (plus some rap music which was conceded to be cool among kids but is actually out-dated theses days) however, it was fun and winds me up a lot more than I thought while the music you play is actually random beat noise to people. let´s see where we go from here.


I just like to post a lot of stuff I see in paul´s instagram feed, making noise and fun stuff with the guitar is something I am pretty much into. now he posted this image of himself escorted by the words ‘less hair more gain’. I wrote back: ‘you will end up like me…’ I hope we´ll share some riffs soon!

instagram.com/paul_cora_wip



our friend grischo schluesi did not only come up with a perfect video for ‘the future is over’ by record of tides, he also did a great post-birthday-summer-garden-party. having a big garden is great, lacing light and seats into it leads to perfection. one of these magic moments you do not realize while you are into.


grischo did not want to get gifts but coming up without was not an option. as he is also into vinyl records we thought we could find something at onkel stereo, but did not want to spend too much money as vinyl are pretty expensive these days. fortunately (or unfortunately) they still had the ‘purchased ep’ I left there three years ago on commission and I thought as I would probably not sell there I could pass it on to grischo as his not only a record of tides collaborator but also a long time fan and supporter. using my own releases a gift is something I would not do anymore these days but in this case everything fell into place. don´t forget to watch grischo´s great video!




a few times I reported to have been working with o.s.cillator on a common track and I have had a spelling mistake in all posts, how stupid is this? I apologize and have corrected everything, I guess.
our track is trcky, I have been correcting bits again and again and am recently finishing the video I have been rendering for months.
'common findings' performs great and is a great album indeed, but there is more to come... (picture by b. dickamp)


as it is summer I try to lay back an finish stuff I need to finish for years. however I am up to an exhibition project connecting th epast with the present. sounds great, lets see what will work out, cross your fingers!




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia




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

these days are full of thoughts about the future. we are trying to anticipate, we want things to be better but actually fear change. these are strange days, from all points of views. the attempt to get control on the future is arrogant and selfish, but it is ridiculous first of all. but what is the alternative? being the passive admirer of things happening, no control, no ambition, no responsibility?

about a half year ago I was drafting a new future for me and all beloved ones around me. now, six months later, living in the future I have created a basement for. did it turn out the way I anticipated it? well, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but taking control is better than any alternative without my actions. It is never done, finished, no happy end, just on-going ups and downs. you´ll get used to it.

dietmar send some scans of analogue black-and-white photographs he took during our visit with a former colleague of the folkwang show ‘wir ist zukunft’. the picture above he took of me looks like a cliché: a busy phone caller in a modernist architecture, actually it is just me in a museum (a place for time off and relaxation) taking care of issues that obviously cannot wait. in this era of elevating the anticipation I accept the flow. the high and low, hope and fear. after the development bath the black-and-white photo reveals a lot of grey. I accept that.


I was doing a sunday tour with my mother ending up in heissen for a coffee and some ice cream. in the end we sat in front of the ‘käseglocke’, a classic seventies architectural masterpiece of a subway entry nicknamed as cheese dome while triggering strong associations. back in 1998 as young design student I had to write a ten-pages-homework-assignment dealing with the primary design element of the point. well, ten pages, here we go: I also came up with the ‘käseglocke’ as one example for using the ‘point’, as it is covered with round coin-sized orange tiles. and here we are about 25 years and numerous changes later, remembering this anecdote while watching the tiles falling off, one by one. I could not refuse to not take tree of them home.


as I am sometimes teaching bakery shop assistants in english (and semiotics) I discovered a sales counter for training of sales interaction. within I discovered a lot cakes and sweet stuff made of silicone. I was totally thrilled and need to create a series: cakes in places where they do not belong. maybe I ask the bakery shop assistants to assist me?


I still hear michi running down the stairs. I thought I must have let the toothpaste open or something, but instead she had a close encounter with a larger insect. the hornet must have travelled through the chimney into the restroom´s aural window ending up in our house. michi reported it to have the triple size of what I actually found. I saved her professionally with a glass and postcard, and after some documentary photographs we put her back outside.


ratingen made a big impression on me, once again, I had to visit it for professional reasons and made a walk along the city wall once again. I discovered the beautiful dome as well as the cafés around it and the people enjoying street music or a beer in the sun. this felt like holiday but it was just 20 km away. recommended.


I went to a birthday party (a 50th birthday, guess we´re that age now) an I discovered the chocolate well. how could turn it down? so I lined up among the kids to cover bananas, strawberries, marshmallows and pretzels in liquid chocolate even before I went to the real buffet. then I went to the real buffet and returned to the chocolate well again to dip the stuff the kids have left over. keep in mind: a chocolate well solves every problem but it crates a bunch of new ones.


on june 6 I returned to jam to du – a fantastic jam at steinbruch in duisburg – featuring gifted musicians, audience, a mixer, light and numerous friendly and interested people. tom of kantpark told me on a jam before that they would going to open the night. as we have also played together numerous times and enjoying it a lot (you might remember us jamming the instrumental ‘stone’ as LPV at makroscope) it was clear for me that I had to see the band play live. I expected it to be good but it was far better than that. these guy make an amazing sound, have great songs with german lyrics and vivid drumming that keeps you in motion while listening. especially björn made a new impression on me. I know that he is a great guitar as well as bass player but he is a great singer as well. how can you do the riffing, soloing and singing like that? I wish that could be half as good just half of the time. there was a lot of love among all guys that night an I was tankful to play some songs later that night as well. we talked about collaboration once again but we all have schedules. I would love to start a live band with these guys and I believe they would like be on stage with me, but even if it never happens, I know it just because of everything that is know as duty and sleeping. one day… cross your fingers.



I swear that I am no fast driver but me getting a picture sent for driving to fast has become a running gag. so here is a collection of some rediscovered pictures, 2021 and 2024 must have been photogenic years – or I just drove slowly within the other years… to be continued… (still collection more for a t-shirt)


as I visited moenchengladbach for professional issues, I thought it would be cool to also return to the haus ur in rhydt. I must have read about it for the first time back in 1999 in ‘art at the turn of the millennium’, I finally found time and opportunity to visit it myself in september 2023. going back to this place appears emotionally challenging to me, as this return creates a kind of framing narrative for the dramatic changes which happened in the second half of the past year. however, if you compare it with the original picture from 2023 you can see the nature exploding and overcoming the given shape. time just passes on and nature takes what it can take.

gregor-schneider.de


I was surprised to see the bells with names. we know that ‘schneider’ is the great gregor schneider (and I have no idea who ‘schmidt’ is), while ‘reuen’ refers to hannelore reuen, who is – according to my knowledge – a fictional character and no real resident of this house. I was even more surprised to discover a postcard addressing her in her open post box (I did not touch anything, it was open and visible). maybe I should send her a postcard, but I will probably visit her from time to time.


park sounds 2024 had a rough time. the weather is pretty cold and wet these days, you do not come to hang out at the park. anyway, I wanted to visit park sounds at least on one day this year. the wednesday was cold and offered some krautrock. I left after an hour, I can also come up with interest in krautrock but these sets often appear quite one-dimensional. once again I come up with the story that I wanted to place a track (something of record of tides ´’black album’) in a set, I was very polite and patient but the professor messed it up. it would have meant something to me, and it would have spared us sets with returning names or four tracks from the same ep available for three euro on bandcamp. well, a part of me is still full of schadenfreude, I know, I should not. however, you have me standing alone with tears in my eyes when you put on some aphex twin. it is way too easy.


it was great to jam at anyway again, we came up with a minimal line-up, which made us play a lot and create some magic moments. and people like what we do, I saw people dancing, one girl wanted to book us for her birthday party, others returned to see me at makroscope… whenever paul shows up, things get really funny! unfortunately his hard playing broke the whammy bar, so here he is on bass. (these thick strings can handle his strokes!)


I hope you have seen him play on the sidewalk in front of the guitar store on instagram. he just put the half stack outside and smashed some chords. this scene looks like a staged one from a movie, but it is real, and it is so easy to bring joy to people´s lives.




and there is this picture, I have to put it on because it looks way to cool. this is a nice figure to impress, but it surprisically worked musically, i swear.


playing for electric café ruhr was great! It is like meeting old classmates every time. this scene is so supportive and yeah, we are a scene celebrating ourselves. above you see me with an alcohol-free beer next to tangerine tom (left) and thomas machoczek who hosted the night. It is always great to hang out with these guys since showing up an performing back in 2018. looking for the next ECR!


here you have some snapshots of o.s.cillator a.k.a. oliver schupp and me a.k.a. record of tides performing at the 16th festival of electric café ruhr. it is amazing to perform our stuff in a fitting context and play for people who are truly interested and open-minded, positive and communicative. I am still working on finishing the feature track I do with oliver as he claims to be happy with what I did to his jams. things will take time as we have to do the mastering and the video production (which has also already stared). keep an eye on this guy and stay excited for our common track to come up.


as you know I am a lot in frohnhausen these days. here I discovered the stature of a harp player as placed in the open backyard of the historic houses. you can see it from the streets as you drive by through the blocks. as we often do walks through froho we also visited the harp player. I like this one as it pretends to be a homage or memory to easier times (which probably might never have existed.) in my own world I can also read this as the martin monument, that fantastic multi-instrumentalist guy who usually comes up with a harp to add some extra bluesy escalation. apart from that I realized that froho is full of statues and monuments, even murals. this is my town.


update 2024-06-24: as I was travelling a lot because of professional reasons I decided to return to carlsplatz and get some new glasses. I have strong fascination for this place, I generally dislike düsseldorf but this place is fascinating, a market that is there every day and feels like holiday. I usually come here for short stays as I race from one appointment to another, but I need to spend a day here, consuming and wasting time.


update 2024-06-24: michi spend some days in hückeswagen for half-professional reasons, to bring her back I decided to drive down to her and check out the place. it is actually beautiful and rural, it felt like a town in luxembourg somewhere out of city, nothing spectacular but nice and friendly and a great place to calm down. we checked out the lake and stepped up to the castle as this might be a great place to hang out and probably do nothing and relax. before going home, we sat down in an ice-cream-café and had some spaghetti-ice-cream-variations. michi found the most clever place expecting rain and so we witnessed a massive shower coming down. I might have reported about this a few times, but this is the greatest thing that can happen, you simply sit there with a coffee or something while the rain washes away all the fear of missing out, all of what else would be left to do. sitting and watching the rain is a great reset. recommended.


update 2024-06-24: before going home and struggling with the dinner issue we decided to make a stop in neviges to do dinner at the ‘wohnzimmer’. as you might know, I am extremely fascinated of the brutalist cathedral as well as of the sixties spirit which hangs all over the town. the ‘wohnzimmer’ is the café/restaurant that nails all of this: you can enjoy the retro interior while watching the ‘mariendom’ through the large windows. I am sure that there is a lot more to discover… I am living in a fascinating region.


update 2024-06-24: something I wanted to do for decades was to start my personal map of places around you could visit whenever you have time to not miss the great spots instead of doing the same thing again and again. I finally started the map; also to organize the small trips I do with mother to show her the beautiful region. a great place nearby (but somehow hidden) is the ‘halbachhammer’, a historic water-driven forge located somewhere in between the gruga and my house. the building was originally build in weidenau around 1417 but das demounted and rebuild in 1935 in fulerum. the whole thing appears like a monument symbolizing geographical change, making the impossible possible. there are a few dates each year when you can experience the forge in action, usually announced in the screen door.


update 2024-06-24: one of the places in which I work and teach feature some courtyards with pools. the story escorting it sounds like an urban myth: in one of them lives an old carp as big as a dachshund, he shares the pool with some more beautiful koi carps and shy turtles. the big carp is usually fed by the secretary, kuno – which is the official nickname of the fish – likes some dry cat food and a plucked chicken (no kidding!) from time to time. I have seen the secretary petting kuno´s head while feeding and I could never believe the words myself – even after witnessing the scene. I had no idea that you could have a friendship with a fish. today I spend a minute next to the pool, kuno must have mistaken me for the secretary and came out to present his hungry mouth. I was was even lucky enough to take a picture, can you see the disappointment in his eyes?




update 2024-06-24: as I wanted to introduce my mother to schloss borbeck we accidentally found this place on the other side of the road. while approaching you do not expect an arena like this one. I told michael schreiber about it who said that this was the debois-arena (and I found out that it is an unused former boxing arena). I still dream of the big ‘spring festival of idm’, but I have no idea how to make it happen. imagine some electronic and experimental performers doing a festival here, on a hot summer day, all free, all weird…


update 2024-06-24: thursday has become the day for jamming, there is always something going on. this has become a fix point, after the week is done and your head is full of duty, you just grab the strat, jump into the car and smash some chords (and aimless tapping solos) helping everyone (and especially yourself) to move away from all the everyday problems. isn´t this what playing live is all about according to dr brian may? there are some magic nights, there are some shitty mash-ups, you have to take both as it is supposed to be fun anyway. and it is and it is far more than that.




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia




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

the events on may 25 have been announced a long time in advance, the closer this date came the more you got insecure on if it will be as great as anticipated. as I did the show for ‘begegnungen’ at galerie an der ruhr it was scheduled directly to do the benefit auction in the end. (this time it was set to support the asb wünschewagen putting last wishes of seriously sick people into action.) there is no argument to not support this event – even more, here the whole art and money thing makes sense…
additionally the kunstmuseum mülheim announced the reopening after a six-year-closing for reinstalling the climate regulation. It was set that we would have to check the ‘new’ museum later as well. we all started into the auction pretty sceptical, will there be an audicence? will people bid on stuff. klaus wiesel came up with a collection of works to put on auction, we checked the pieces in advance. having a piece on auction myself, I also wanted to bid on art. I focussed on o piece by laas abendroth or wolfgang kleinöder, I discovered works by dörthe speetzen. we put some bank notes in our pockets as maximum budget.
gallery head ivo franz appeared as auctioneer – with klaus wiesel bringing out the pieces in particular order. our scepticism vanished quickly, people were willing to bid, to spend money and to have a good time.


when my piece came up, I got quite nervous, as I did not expect anyone to bid on me. Ivo knew how to hype my name by calling me the ‘ruhrpreisträger’ (which is true and a big thing in the city) and asking me to say some words. I came up and said some weird random words on the piece and took my place in the audience again. I was extremely surprised to witness a bidding battle, starting at 50 euro, ivo made it up to a final bid of 160 euro. this is way more than I have expected and much money for the right thing.


this kind guy called carsten made the final bid for the small version of ‘baltic friend’. we went into my exhibition to check the work and make sure that it is signed properly and took a picture. I can say that I feel happy, thankful and appreciated and once again, this is a set-up it which everyone wins: carsten gets an artwork which he likes to have on his wall, the asb gets money to make the world a better place and I get some appreciation for my work. can it get better? sure: we are taking the picture in front of ‘grey tree after mondrian’ which had also been purchased by a collector apart from the auction.
so I had even more money to reinvest. I say a deep thank you once again to everyone of you!


when the work by wolfgang kleinöder came up michaela reacted quickly. (she made speedy gonzales look like regular gonzales.) I was pretty surprised and did not bid on the same piece and so she made it! I was waiting for the lass abendroth multiple ‘bitte nicht auf den pianisten schiessen’ to come up, but I had to accept that this was far above my budged. as it was donated by an collector, it was taken off the auction again to get the appropriate price for it. (later when I entered the reopened kunstmuseum mülheim I ran into the arms of laas and we talked and laughed on the strange development of prices. he is a great artist and great guy to hang out with, it would have been an opportunity to add his work to our collection. nevertheless, his work is worth it and some of his pieces are recently shown in the reopened museum.) I made a quick move when the ‘birch forest’ painting by dörthe speetzen came up. before we left, we even donated some more money as we did not spend as much money in the auction as we planned to.


even if I am sometimes critic about the ruhr gallery, I see the qualities in it while accepting the downsides. klaus made a fantastic job in curating and installing making it easy to participate (and he is such a great guy knowing and appreciating all the art colleagues, taking care of you and your art that you will never say ‘no’ to him) while ivo was making it happen and turned it into a big event. I feel like experiencing the peak of my commercial success (is this sell-out!?) and it sustains my idea to use all of the art, the thinking and finding to move the world into the right direction. on the next day the ruhr gallery site announced: auction result for the project ‘10 years of the wünschewagen’: 3,365.15 euro! thanks to all artists, schools, saarner business community and the many donors! numerous student works and art bangers such as originals by sven piayda or carl altena, manfred dahmen + peter helmke, klaus wiesel, heidi becker came under the hammer.

galerie-an-der-ruhr.de


as written before, the kunstmuseum mülheim closed for two years six years ago to reopen now. (I know this is a fantastic joke…) within this time the director of the museum has changed and I have abandoned the commodity team of local artists so I do not really feel connected to this place anymore. nevertheless I consider it as beautiful and necessary. how do you make a party? well, an open house, drinks, food and music. as we approached, we listened to the last industrialesque sounds of a dj performance by julia bünnagel using prepared vinyls to modify the sounds and rhythms by altering spinning speed or equalization.


the house looked pretty familiar, not much is changed – which is good in my opinion. the house keeps it´s character, but defines the space inside by some new walls and colours. all of it appears decent and functional. also blind window is now open: in between the exhibition spaces you get this beautiful view on the town hall tower. it feels like being somewhere else, but this perfect beauty is home. in front to this beautiful view lies a qr code leading to an augmented reality piece by banz & bowinkel. and here we see the non-functioning renewal. the museum has added some very contemporary works to the collection, which is a great move to remain relevant. this piece is appears lies a helpless try to appear hip: you are supposed to download an app to see primitive elements to appear on your device. this might have been the future two years ago, but it feels so out-dated today as it reveals a further weakness of the piece: it has nothing else to offer than being a showcase for the recent ability of technology. a half-value period of an artwork could not be shorter and to me it feels expired on the big day of re-opening. this displays a weakness in curating: to appear hip and up to date you have to mix digital art to the classic approaches, banz & bowinkel are known archetypes in and around düsseldorf, so picking them is a save move. I would never expect them to show my work instead, and I am not displeased for not asking me but I want to work out a point: back in 2016 it were matthias danberg and me who brought digitally produced artwork into this museum while discussing, explain and questioning it. (I know it sounds a little too much arrogant than it is meant to be, but please try to follow my thought.) the museum had an own connection or path into the digtal age (also with artists like ralf raßloff) but instead of seeking an own position, it was decided to follow the ‘franchise’ principle. now the local museum offers something you will find in museums around, which verifies the pieces as art. there is nothing wrong about it, but it average.


when we went through the rooms (with some new and contemporary works) I was often reminded of the k21. the museum really feels like the kunstsammlung in the ständehaus – just scaled down a little. and to be honest, it may make it to the better version of re-using a villa as museum. once again, the collection received some young blood, sometimes surprisingly good, sometimes just surprising, sometimes just average in the sense of showing names others show as well. I do not know if I will have a relevance for this museum in the future. I am open for everything but I am also fine with everything. I do not have to get my relevance verified by a museum as I do not consider myself as relevant. all I can do is a serous attempt to create good art that hands over a thought to the audience, maybe I can pop up on the museum´s radar or even not. I can do a show at galerie an der ruhr and just enjoy the show as a visitor. the one piece that made me site an stare was the one by katrin stroebel: to fans imitating the wind in the palms. this is so simple (and cheap in production) but fascinating and close to what art is all about: using something so simple everyone could take and turn it into something vivid, something capturing the essence of someone or something, here it is just a the wind in the landscape. in comparison to digital art this piece is not playing with the audiences inability to understand the technical set-up which is mistaken for admiring art, this piece is so simple like a magician revealing the trick – but you still believe the magic. well, its art, obviously.



and there are some more pictures by martin varga of the opening of ‘fragments of interests’ at poma taking place at mestský park in košice, slovakia. beáta kolbašovská and jakub pišek did such a great job in curating, documenting and sharing, it is a shame that they are so far away, I would have loved to have been there and make plans for further stuff. keep an eye on the exhibitions section.


and another one for the collection: captures on the highway, while I was sure to be not to fast, but the speed limitation was set 20 km/h less than I thought it was. within the digital official hearing I know it I useless to explain or admit and it ends with me paying anyway. so here is another ‘federal paparazzi attack’ picture for the collection, michaela said, we should do a t-shirt, and I guess that is not a bad idea.




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia



sven piayda | triangle readings
BEGEGNUNGEN
galerie an der ruhr, mülheim an der ruhr
2024-05-05 – 2024-05-26, opening 2024-05-05, 4 pm
asb wünschewagen charity auction 2024-05-25, 3 pm (to be updated)
(extended for private view)

galerie-an-der-ruhr.de

galerie an der ruhr
ruhrstraße 3,
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

getting to know that the k20 in dusseldorf came up with a large retrospective on hilma af klint was a big surprise to me. she had to be presented in combination with the ‘actual’ pioneer of abstraction wassily kandinsky (and without spoiling: his work appears quite faint in this context). she means something to me, not only because her work is in the public domain, also because her biography gives hope to all the artists that feel to be too progressive to be understood or appreciated by their contemporaries. apart from all the context, her work is simply beautiful while seeking for truth without being didactic.


I do not have much time off recently as I´m living a life on call, which guarantees a constant stress level. when we entered the exhibition space at k20 it was a touching moment. having read so much about the works and then seeing them on the wall. I was close to tears once again, it was like seeing brian may live for the first time. I attended the show with michaela and a friend of her, I was surprised to get somebody to know who would go through the show even slower than me. we even did a second round. Standing in front of the swan is magic, how likely is this about to happen? but it does. I know this sounds pathetic but maybe this work is like the thing that has overcome its own shape and even its own time. standing in front of this geometrical painting you may think about alternate timelines (af klint discovered as pioneer of abstraction) and universal realization (spirituality the vehicle for a deeper understanding documented in cryptic imagery). this is exactly what art to me is all about. it is not about profitability, relevance or therapy, it is about a different way of thinking, exploring and finding.


af klint had been a huge inspiration for me ending up in two cgi series, a record of tides ep and album as well as a video. I do not want to tell all again, so I will simply quote form the journal and news.




I remember pretty good how I got to know about hilma af klint. back in 2016 I visited an off-space in essen placed in a backyard but being hilariously hip. as I´m pretty much into off-mainstream I have to admit that this place was far too hip for me. the art was shitty by just copying the posture of a work without dealing with anything, frequented by demonstratively non-styled people drinking cheap beer celebrating a hermetic scene. this hipster oasis has already vanished without anyone missing. however, even when the space was not really cool, I liked the idea of it, but it did not work out. back then standing around in the backyard drinking cheap beer one of the art historians I was heading to do a project with showed up. (her boss (a curator) made her appear as there was a hip artist present who was to be shown in her space. once again it was all hilarious.)
and there we were standing in the backyard, feeling overdressed in casual clothes, talking about art and projects, trying impress one another. she told me to have visited a show by agnes martin. that name rang a bell, but I could not imagine a work fitting to it. later that night I googled the name and remember knowing the work of martin. but a lot more striking was what google additionally offered: hilma af klint. I did not know here before and I had to ask myself what went wrong?

klint´s paintings are colourful, big and abstract. what makes it so special is the story behind it. having painted these pieces back in the 1920ies in sweden, knowing the pieces are way to futuristic to be accepted, so she demanded here work to not be shown until 20 years after her death have passed by. actually, the paintings have been rediscovered in the 1980ies (ca. 40 years afterwards) and put a shockwave into art history. is it possible that a woman from the north has invented abstract painting decades before mondrian & malevich came up with their constructions?

you can be sceptical about it, maybe art history has to be rewritten, maybe all of this is a big fake licking all these experts who have no clue. (as usually) however, this is enough stuff for a movie.

my fascination for hilma af klint and her work is different. I am not interested in her meaning for art history, because the whole thing is pure construction. I am interested in the idea that she was interested in occultism and modern technology (I can hear boards of canada tunes in the back), did not marry but focussed on art which lead to work which is carrying meaning beyond the visual. her work is abstract and even decorative, but it is also innovative, original and exploring deeper truths. this is what makes it special to me and it still looks seductively fresh.

quoted from:
2020-01-30 beyond the visible: genius in context | entry by sven


hilma af klint knew that her work was only available after her passing which makes her even more fascinating giving me shivers. on the other hand her passing date is far enough in the past to make her work public domain. this is not the only reason I have adapted it, but things fell into place here. above you see an installation view of my solo show ‘adaptation (you´re mine)’ at galerie gublia in spring 2018. the work explores the occult or the invisible in the image by cgi merging four of her lager works while hiding one in every rendering.

quoted from:
2020-01-30 beyond the visible: genius in context | entry by sven



the conceptually brilliant constructed pieces can also be found in the catalogue, here you can have a closer look on her and my work.

quoted from:
2020-01-30 beyond the visible: genius in context | entry by sven




the swan is an iconic and striking piece. it inspired my to do the ‘swan ep’ as record of tides and made me do a cgi version of it. as you can see in the head picture, the digital swan sculpture also ended up in a mini series turning around and in a music video for the record of tides ep. there is pretty much you can draw from a single work. being deeply impressed by her work and biography, an inverted and bluish version of a portrait photograph was used as cover artwork for the record of tides album ‘solna’. as much of the klint legacy is connected on her death and the rediscovery afterwards, I wanted to focus back on the beginnings, solna is the place where hilma af klint was born.

recordoftides.com

quoted from:
2020-01-30 beyond the visible: genius in context | entry by sven



this is the physical version I did of the ‘swan ep’ featuring transparent artwork making this release a limited collectible. the ep was produced on one day only (more or less, with some edits afterwards) as one endless track, which was edited and cut into listed tracks for the ep. I am not sure if this is my best work, but I think it is a great soundtrack escorting the artworks and ideas of af klint. the ep is no longer available but I am working on a digital release to come up in the future.



the third and non-happening glitch hop set. based upon a combination of having faced a tough time and finding hope for the future in frohnhausen, I wanted to celebrate it with a glitch hop hdj set at café mundgerecht in frohnhausen. I stepped in in january and offered an event, the staff appeared very interested, my confirmation via instagram took four weeks and a further request to be answered. we fixed a date and I requested technical needs but never got an answer. whenever I stepped by everyone was kind but no one seemed to know who I was. they even apologized via instagram for not communicating properly but it did not a bring a change in communication. two weeks before had been no change and I often felt like being forgotten. after feeling uncomfortable and stupid about it I made a decision ten days before the scheduled event after verifying that there was no poster, no instagram post, no sharing of the fb event or whatever. being aware that my event is quite special and it only attracts a few people I was wondering why to do it anyway if no one knows about it. feeling under pressure in other contexts anyway (and realizing that frohnhausen did not turn out as the answer for everything) I felt deliverance when I announced that I cancel the event. the answer came surprisingly quick, still we all are kind to one another, but my criticism was not understood. I never expect much, but doing an event without telling anyone is quite stupid. being too busy over months to not invest time for minimal promo on instagram or hanging a delivered poster is something is simply cannot understand. if nothing really matters you should not take action. however, this is something I cannot stand. once again, I was ambitioned and offered something as I wanted to connect with the scene around me. at least I demand a minimum level of taking things seriously. by the way, this would have been a first event before coming up with an audio-visual live show and this is also something not going to happen. well, this might be the end of my glitch hop hdj career…




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia



sven piayda | triangle readings
BEGEGNUNGEN
galerie an der ruhr, mülheim an der ruhr
2024-05-05 – 2024-05-26, opening 2024-05-05, 4 pm
asb wünschewagen charity auction 2024-05-25, 3 pm (to be updated)

galerie-an-der-ruhr.de

galerie an der ruhr
ruhrstraße 3,
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

to be honest, I had this funny picture of me in the strange dutch stairway and the phrase ‘further down the spiral’ came to my mind. things are depressing for me somehow. I wrote about being difficult situations of taking care and doing everything for solving issues but I feel that this is not coming to en end. the issues just come up like bubbles in a whirlpool, apart from understanding issues or being able to rate its relevance I have to settle it. one part of my brain is always somewhere else which is driving me insane. I try to be positive setting sail for positive events, I try to come up with stuff that makes the world a better, more entertaining or friendly place, but I realize a lot of focus on negative things around me. and it is true: the world has changed, we are facing crisis, war and stupidity.

I am desperate like everybody else. and then you find a picture of your younger self and suddenly you get aware of the problems you had at that time and realize how naïve and misled you might have been and how you wasted your time with problems which appeared to be ridiculous in retrospective. without denying all the problems, personal and global ones, I feel the gravity of the abyss – like everyone else – but from the bottom of black hole there is just hope left – or a vision of what you want it to be instead. try to imagine a future you would like to have and be aware if you make it happen (and be moderately disappointed if things turn out completely differently).


this is a quite funny and non-dramatic example of disappointment: as I did a seminar for students last friday in krefeld I thought I could step over to venlo to get some new sneakers. it was like a comedy scene. I discovered some exclusive adidas superstars a year ago and I thought it could be cool to return and check if there are more and new exclusive sneakers to get. when I approached through the pouring rain I realized the empty shopping windows. I could hear myself saying: ‘that´s a joke!’. I did not have fish, did not buy a vinyl but I enjoyed driving home listening to my music. however, sometimes an imagined future collides with reality. the joke is on you, but nevertheless worth laughing about.


back in spring 2023 I discovered ’frühling in frohnhausen’ by chris clavinova feat. mogaik. I knew I know this guy by sight and after rediscovering the song in 2024 I finaly contacted christian (the guy behind the song) via facebook. he invited me to a gig by his band cuba comet imperial at café mudgerecht – the venue where I want to come up with my third glitch hop hdj set. christian turned out as a decent performer and fromtman. however, I was surprosed when he came up with this song as encore. christian singing ‘frühling in frohnhausen’ in spring in frohnhausen is pure meta magic. how possible is in a universe to happen? I hope that the magic returns for my set.



christipher terhart premiered his visually stunning short ‘kaivalya’ to an open-minded and interested audience last thursday. I just remained in the audience among friends and collaborators matthias danberg and robin moedder. thank you for coming, this has been a long term project and I am happy that we have a premiere finally, that it is out in the world because it deserves to. so the soundtrack is also a project that is done now and I can focus on new output. I hope you like it as beat-less version of post-hiphop and that it works as an album for you. and here we go again, it has been months drafting, composing and producing it, and then there is the release and it is done. I am not disappointed but I somehow would like to have the world changed a little bit more. however, the movie will be available for streaming may 1, the soundtrack is out now!

www.christerhart.net


here is another snapshot from texel: this is what song writing looks these days. you have the drum and synth parts already programmed and finish the lyrics afterward. so now and then I sit down and write song lyrics to guitar riffs or synth programming. when it is done I can go to the studio to record guitars, bass and vocals. this is where the song turns into something different. I´ll put it on the album anyway, because you can tell after years only if it was a good or bad idea. however, now you know how song writing looks like.




‘triangle readings’ in the making, the big printer delivering ‘the grey tree after mondrian’. I wanted to come up with tis one earlier, but my phone once again faked to have lost the photo just to bring it back one week later. on display at galerie an der ruhr from may 5 onwards.


some weeks a go I returned to the kluse, a tiny chapel in the woods nearby. it may not be the spiritual meaning of this place, I am more impressed by the facet that it is there for 700 years (and the fact that the restaurant already surrounds it like a claw). my mother escorted me but she remained quite unimpressed (not even by the beautiful window), we lighted up some candles anyway.


I met paul, a hendrix and srv enthusiast, at various jams. we have a lot of fun playing together or even watch the other one play. I remember looking up quite irritated when paul screamed out in joy every time I hit a pinch note. we decided to have a drink together without guitars but making plans on how e could do a tiny guitar festival… I do not know how far we light come but it was fun. paul comes up with a pretty worn partscaster which he does not treat like a lady. (he breaks his heavy gauges nearly every time and even changes strings on the sidewalk, what impresses me a lot). I asked him how he got this worn look, and if it was authentic. he claims that the finish has fallen of just by hitting the strings (or body) with a thick dunlop pick. I have to believe it even if I cannot believe it.
paul gave me one of his picks as gimmick, I wanted to offer my ‘pick’ (recently a 10 cent coin) in return, which is far cheaper and heavier than any pick you can buy. paul laughed and refused as cannot imagine to play the strings with it without breaking them immediately. well, for more anecdotes from the road to come…



as you know I am fascinated by these strange and tiny staircases you´ll find in numerous dutch buildings, our texel block of rentable flats has this one, below you can see the ones I discovered and conquered back in 2018 in zoutelande. it is funny and risky, I like it.




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia



sven piayda | triangle readings
BEGEGNUNGEN
galerie an der ruhr, mülheim an der ruhr
2024-05-05 – 2024-05-26, opening 2024-05-05, 4 pm
asb wünschewagen charity auction 2024-05-25, 3 pm (to be updated)

galerie-an-der-ruhr.de

galerie an der ruhr
ruhrstraße 3,
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

the last weeks have been stressful, you only realize that it enough if you get to know physically, migraine strikes again, after a pause of a decade. even stuff that you are not familiar with falls down on you. my hi-fi system is completely broken, so it is not possible to listen to music which would help to relax like usually. as we had some time off around easter we needed to get out, but you cannot go to the same spot again and again but you are not open for something completely new as you are fed up with everything anyway. as michi believes that it feels more like holiday when you are on an island and the recreation starts when you are on the ferry (I do not get it), we returned to texel, like in 2017 – the year, I was ‘the man who fell to earth (and broke a leg)`.

as it is usually not a good idea to come up with laptops on holidays as you do not want to hang out on facebook as usually instead of gazing the horizon over the sea, we decided to come up with some stuff I use to expand my creativity. as I am working on songs for a third architects of utter destruction album, I have already written riffs and arrangements, I even finished the programming and have a guy working on a saxophone solo, all I need to do is to write lyrics. I had an afternoon sitting down writing for three songs… still some songs to go.

also, I started a tune called ‘texels track’ and another one called ‘anticipation for returnal’. both appear to as a mixture of boards of canada and oneothrix point never – well, it could be worse. in advance, as we were looking for apartments to book, I did the track ‘ugly furniture and maritime view’ as inspired by the rooms we ended up in. all in all, texel did not really work for us. it is quite remarkable that we could not remember of much of our first common visit (there must have been not much remarkable apart from visiting exomare, a station recovering young seals). the island has nice spots, beautiful land- and seascapes as well as great opportunities four hungry tourists like us. summing it up, texel appears quite exclusively, a little bit more expensive but not better in quality, however, zeeland pushes to the stronger dutch experience. there must be some more fried magic on this continental finger…


the lovely town of de koog stole our hearts, we remember the red light decoration of the hairdresser, we have now discovered the beauty of the little church – and the fish restaurant opposite to it.


the beautiful beach of texel, even more beautiful in the dusk. however, I miss zouteland when I walk a long, what´s wrong with me here?


and a beautiful view over the island and the town of de koog, here staged into the red light of the sinking sun.


in germany we joke about the dutch for starting a can museum because of having two cans. the netherlands are full of tiny museums exhibiting whatever stuff as is offers great tax relief to do so. so it was no surprise to find a sheep museum in an old shed. what looks like a damien hirst sculpture in first glance turns out to be educative, well, not to much actually. the farm mainly deals with production and selling of goat, sheep and cow cheese, and we imported a lot.


this is an actual picture of me in the texel apartment, late at night with the headphones on, pushing samples from one side to the other. it is a kind of magic when you find yourself alone in a random place doing what you are doing. this magic door into creativity and production or even flow can open every where, it distracts you from time and space. nevertheless it is even more special to do it there. so an upcoming record of tides album was partly made here and it somehow closes a circle: the project name even illustrates my fascination for and inspiration from the sea, you can tell by rediscovering my debut under this stage name entitled ‘timber’ which will turn 20 in august.


after a quite boring visit of (I guess it was) den burg, we drove to a more northern part of the west coast. it was extremely windy, extremely cold and extremely bright. I put on everything I had to protect myself like two pair of glasses, two shirts, a pullover, a hoodie and a jacket as well as two beanies. well, I truly felt like an astronaut on mars. the picture above is just a merged and colour edited mash-up. a place so uncomfortable but beautiful fells so strange and yourself like an alien. If there is water on other planets, are there mussels as well?


a last view from our lovely but also strangely drafted apartment, we had a perfect view on the town, the dunes and the sea and experienced all the wheatear changes here. a perfect view!


out way back was quite long, getting the ferry, passing by the submarine and not going through the ‘the 36th roundabout of shaolin’ as we expected from last time. we checked the shows in museums along our way home and found a prefect match in kunsthal kade in amersfoort combining their classic collection with the hyper-realistic grey sculptures of hans op de beeck.


his work s fascinating and somehow remind us of david claerbout. are these sculptures just big 3d-prints of 3d-scans? how did he do this even I know how stupid this question is in understanding and experiencing art. his protagonists, postures and arrangements are well chosen, appearing calm with a loud echo. the most impressing piece of this show is of course the roundabout enjoyed by well-dressed skeletons and their wild animals. is all human existence just a macabre joke?


the even more impressive and even more claerboutesque installation can be found in a former church nearby. a flat water pool with stones and reeds in front of the sun at dusk. an impressive installation without any doubt. what actually creates the magic (and might bring up some emotional tears) is the sun´s reflection of a slightly wavy water surface.


no sound, not much colour, just some people looking into this artificial landscape in silence, calming down and sharing an experience. I can say that I am more and more attracted by places like these or even churches in general. it has been tricky to find a ‘space for entire retreat’, apart from the question of religion, churches are great places for art, performance, remembering, thinking, praying and stepping out of the regular world for a minute. this work is the perfect piece to point into the same direction.


a former cigarette vending machine turned into a tiny and surprising art gallery is not new to us, it can sometimes be quite disappointing. but the dutch have such an elegant way to do it, even if you present global superstars you come up with the local heroes in the former cigarette vending machine as placed in a corner of the café. michi invested four euros to receive a beautiful piece by bianca pauline. it must end up on our wall.


before I went to the island I returned to the cathedral of neviges. I have developed a stage fascination for this building, the brutalist church looks more like a mountain on the outside, more like a cave on the inside. I wanted to calm down a little an sit in silence, surprisingly we discovered a an indian catholic ceremony, so it was not the right opportunity to find inner peace. neviges nevertheless has a fascination for me. the town is sat in a little valley, it reminds a little bit of luxembourg and also feels like it was frozen in the sixties. a strange discovery, again and again.


and another church: yesterday I finally returned to xanten spending a day off with my mother. visiting the city over the last decades for professional and later for private reasons I have developed a strong fascination for the cathedral, especially when there are flags on the towers. the inside is beautifully arranged, it features outstanding sculptural work and is a great place to find a moment of quietness and peace. we even visited the crypt which is a mixture of ‘grave place’, information center and spiritual place itself.



as I have mentioned before I stared (and finished) a new record of tides album in the winter of 2024. michael schreiber (a.k.a. primal scapes) did the mastering once again. as I wanted to have a feature by andreas hilburg on my record I asked him to do a melodeon solo improvisation for a track. the result is stunning, the his melodic approach leaves the grid and makes it more vivid, I edited and folded it a little bit and it even inspired me to add some drums and melodic ambience lines. however, the three of us were back in studio together (even if these were three studios at three times) and we recorded once again after starting our common sound for ‘despedida’, an instrumental from primal scapes´’macrocosm’ album, written and produced by michael featuring melodeon by andreas and guitar by me. you can/should listen to the track over here. the record of tides album featuring the three of us is supposed to come up in summer.


o.s.cillator a.k.a. oliver schupp is well-known for his all-live jammed electronic performances on youtube and the electric café, especially the outstanding performance in january 2023. next to that, oliver is also a rock musician, a decent supporter and a great guy to hang out with, so it was just an inevitable consequence to request a collaboration. it would just be great to have this guy in my universe. oliver supplied much material to chose from, so I did and got a great idea. the track holds his industrial scent but opens to aestival urban post hip hop. there is another record to come, and to be excited for…

oliverschupp.de


matthias and me made it to meet up at our classic isenberg ritual after my cancellation due stress and health issues last time. I gave up solving problems and move on, I just keep caring for whatever all the time. but it is amazing, set up as burger and beer experience focussing on the mysteries of art and women we actually do a lot of self-reflection and appear to come up with lines that create an echo – long enough to influence decisions. we get older and change as our topics change. however, matthias puts on a sceptical dr freud look and I guess that I obviously deserve it.


on 18 april, christopher terhart's visually stunning short film ‘kaivalya’ celebrates its premiere at südbahnhof krefeld. I highly recommend this film - and not just because I was allowed to contribute the music to this immersive work. terhart wanted beatless post-hiphop, the result are beatless and/or stretched versions of previously released tracks. the album was once again mastered by michael schreiber, who always gives the sound transparency and punch. the film and soundtrack will be available for streaming and download on 19 april. the premiere will be accompanied by two other short films, the directors and I plan to be present. seeya!

'kaivalya' available for streaming on youtube

all info on christopher terhart and the project over at christerhart.net

zany-music.com
recordoftides.com


don´t forgot: we all were quite surprised to learn about the reopening of teh kunstmuseum mülheim to be scheduled for may 25. well, I am so curious and I like to see all the cultural people once again. hope to see you there!

kunstmuseum-muelheim.de




sven piayda | the impossibility to take pictures of the present
FRAGMENTS OF INTERESTS
poma / mestský park košice, košice, slovakia
2024-05-16 – 2024-06-06

facebook event
instagram.com/poma_2023

poma video panel
mestský park košice
košice, slovakia



sven piayda | triangle readings
BEGEGNUNGEN
galerie an der ruhr, mülheim an der ruhr
2024-05-05 – 2024-05-26, opening 2024-05-05, 3 pm (to be updated)
asb wünschewagen charity auction 2024-05-25, 3 pm (to be updated)

galerie-an-der-ruhr.de

galerie an der ruhr
ruhrstraße 3,
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

last sunday the ludwiggalerie schloss oberhausen invited for a cover design panel discussion with fabian elsäßer and me in conversation as hosted by dr. sarah hülsewig escorting ‘hipgnosis.breathe - album cover art und photo design by aubrey powell & storm thorgerson, celebrating 50 years the dark side of the moon’. I can say that it was great to be requested, to be invited as an expert worth to be listened to. fabian and me have been pretty nervous but we did a proper job, sarah and everyone at the museum have been very professional, caring and supportive. I can say that it is great fun be involved into cultural context and taking a larger stage, but it is also pretty stressful, so it is cool to withdraw from that context again.

the event just takes an hour but we have scheduled and prepared it for months. four months ago when I was requested to join for an event I was into a very horrible episode in my life. when you are down it is hope that helps go thought it. in these days I realized more than ever that I need more than hope for a change coming for whatever reason, I needed to imagine a future that was supposed to be. over the last months I realized that I can create a good future, if I can imagine or visualize it clearly I can make it happen. the panel talk was just one little thing we drafted next to numerous other, even more serious things. it somehow feels like experiencing the future I have imagined before. things appear to be as they are supposed to be.

the upcoming spring makes me euphoric, even if I drown in never ending duties I have to take care of. so it it like a drama, it is comedy and tragedy, usually changing, but recently it changes so quickly that it feels like oscillation. what is happening, is this good, is it bad, is it funny, is it sad? I´m just a kite in a twister…



and here are some more pictures from the talk and some funny promo pictures taken in the hipgnosos exhibition. sarah, fabian and me had a good time together, and we were all a little giddy as we finished the talk successfully. photos have been deliverd by lena elster and michaela best.

instagram.com/LUDWIGGALERIE


last saturday we met up with the boys in frohnhausen, after partying in luxembourg, spending nye in leeuwarden and making a comedy short, we just met up for dinner. I have been at the hummelbude before for coffee and cake, it must have been in the afternoon when I found myself realizing that there wont be fish or beef. we expected great quality but all of us were surprised that everything was over the top and no mart or dairy products have been missing. chapeau!
the friendly waitress adviced us to check out the frohnhauser sudwerkstatt. It turned out that this is the pub opening I have been waiting for years before giving up. sudwerk head peter van der meer served some of his beer for free at clowns & pferde about three of four years ago and told about his plans. I replied that this is it (frohnhausen is the place to be anyway) and I was truly waiting for it and checked the intended venue frequently. I must have given up waiting, so I was even more surprised that van der meer has actually opened his brewery & pub featuring his own beer. how did I not get it? however, this is us in the sudwerk, this is us in the cool place of frohnhausen. to be enjoyed, to be supported!

hummelbude.com
frohnhauser-sudwerkstatt.de


the lehmbruck museum has postponed and then cancelled the artist talk with alicja kwade for a friday in february friday, so we did a short classic meet up. straight from the goldbar, here we go!


fortunately I returned to the makroscope for the freispiel jam session as opened by otho. I am thrilled by great musicians and it always teases me to form a band. on the other hand I can see these extremely talented people not getting a bigger audience than me. it is I finding I have to repeat as often as I can: we only do it for ourselves an this is more than enough. band leader blake wilder is a fantastic guitar player, singer and even has an idea for the visual appearance of the band. this group is recommended to be experienced live!


the makroscope hosted the electric café once again. I was looking forward to it and it was pure fun. it is like meeting old classmates and friends on the one hand and it is about discovering great electronic performances on the other. everything is possible, nothing is too strange impressed. the scene has emerged a fantastic series of events that is true culture, from the people for the people. it is not about money or prestige, it is actually about what it is supposed to be. it was great to meat michael and andreas (among others) and to make plans to play live in this context again.


as I wanted to spend a day with old colleagues (who turned out to be supporting friends) I set a date at the museum folkwang. we watched the ‘we are future’ show dealing with out-dated visions for the future. as we walked through the show, I realized that we do not have any great visions for the future recently, we are more into dystopia scenarios. as I have been facing a lot of change within the last months, I realized that many things turned out just the way I imagined them. sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I would not have been creative and decisive enough to bring up a future? maybe we can take this finding and scale it up, maybe we can imagine a future to make it happen. of course we will have to work for it, too. however, dietmar and me ended up at isebergplatz, where I end up with every good friend. so this is his view on the magic place.


I swear that I am a decent driver, however I take a picture once in a while. I have a collection of ‘federal paparazzi attacks’ and I usually joke that I have enough for a flipbook. I swear I did not see the tempo limit sign, it must have been different to the one in the navigation system. sometimes you are rolling faster tan you think. however, I look pretty good and relaxed, I thought I should share it with you.




here is another beautiful picture of the fog I wanted to share, it looks like an alien invasion but it is just the water tower nearby…


I almost forgot: we all were quite surprised to learn about the reopening of teh kunstmuseum mülheim to be scheduled for may 25. well, I am so curious and i like to see all the cultural people once again. hope to see you there!

kunstmuseum-muelheim.de



sven piayda | triangle readings
BEGEGNUNGEN
galerie an der ruhr, mülheim an der ruhr
2024-05-05 – 2024-05-26, opening 2024-05-05, 3 pm (to be updated)
asb wünschewagen charity auction 2024-05-25, 3 pm (to be updated)

galerie-an-der-ruhr.de

galerie an der ruhr
ruhrstraße 3,
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

it is an annual routine, my friends and colleagues already know about it. while some of us are into carnival (my refusal has been replaced by respect over the years) it appears as an unwritten law that we use the time to escape to the netherlands. just a short trip with all it´s standards, and yes, it feels like fan service to hunt down for the classic moments that feel like relaxing. pretty weird but working. it is a dilemma, why would you do the same thing again and again while dreaming of something new…well, you now it works. nevertheless there are first times within the routines, while creating a pattern you will realize the non-fitting element immediately.
above you see me at ‘the grey tree’. when we decided to do a walk from oostkapelle down to domburg we entered the woods with the tree in it and it is impossible for us to not visit it (... if we find it). we have already visited it in autumn 2023 with my mother but I did not find time to blog about afterwards. the tree has a funny meaning for us, we discovered it back in 2011 and we fell in love in it. as it was gated we also learned about it´s historical meaning and the connection to mondrian. this tree, mondrian´s approach and my adaptation of it will hopefully be part of my contribution to the klaus wiesel curated galerie an der ruhr group show ‘begegnungen’ scheduled for opening on may 5. it is going to be very conceptual, I will have to produce a reader and some works of the portfolio which have not been on display so far. cross your fingers!


the sculpture at the car park behind the dunes. this place is somehow magic as it feels like the end of the world but also cozy. we already had a stay in 2016 in oostkapelle, this is the update.


when we go to the sea, we need to see it and go for a walk… this time the sky was clouded covering everything into surreal light. looking back to domburg the beach appeared in strange colours, it somehow looks like a record cover by hipgnosis, meaningful, maybe melancholy, I can hear david gilmour´s guitar in my head… is this an omen?


these are our domburg standards, michi likes to brunch at the bier en melksalon (and so do I as I appreciate vegan and bio food more and more) while I love to sit outside in the cafe verdi, have a coffee and watch the people sauntering. when you leave, everyone watches you as dull as you did before. it is simple give and take.


and this is me dressed for the stormy (well, not this time) beach, I often feel like an astronaut discovering a far away planet with fauna on it. long trousers and flip-flops are probably the most stylish way to express a day-off feeling.


just another routine: we had a ‘toilet situation’ again. this is probably number four in in endless line of architectural solutions of embedding a cloakroom. or as like to call it: ‘it is no real holiday unless someone watches me while pooping.’ needless to say that this is definitely not my (sexual) preference, but it happens to us again and again. it looks like the toilet and shower are in a wardrobe, well the tiny kitchen is set into the right side. it was useful, cozy and nice, but strange as always.



this is our collection of ‘toilet situations’ through the years and countries… more to come.


our favourite restaurant at the zoutelande promenade de fiets was closed – and michi was shocked… I could not tell if this was just renovation or breaking down, the website tells it is ‘gesloten wegens verbouwing’ which calms us down a bot and makes a return possible. as you see, the beer taps are glowing already, we need to schedule our next return.


over the years (and especially after the corona lockdowns) we realized a wave of tourists coming in, everything was crowded and the towns across the beach tray to copy domburg as good as possibly with offering multiple options for buying cloths and bikes or consuming bear, coffee and fried fish. in the end, everything looks the same. to our surprise, it was not that crowded this time, maybe we came up so early this year while the weather was already sunny and warm. however, we wanted to close our trip with a coffee in the sun. unfortunatly we were not served, so we got our perfect place in the sun for free.


in 2010 we spend our summer holiday in a tiny house in biggekerke, it was cosy but actually not really comfortable, you had to climb a ladder to get into the attic where the beds were. it was also scary at night, when the storms appeared to tear the roof apart. also it had a tiny shower which you had to pass through when entering the toilet. it was tiny and strange, we nicknamed it the ‘doghouse’. I remember lying in bed in the attic taking pictures of the housed on the other side of the road. this is how the photographs which ended up in ‘insomnia’ had been produced. over the years – whenever we visited zeeland – we drove to the ‘doghouse’ and took a picture, especially in the last years. we were quite surprised and shocked to see that the ‘doghouse’ had been demolished. even the tree next to it had vanished giving space for the new foundation. it is strange to see that it is gone, like something of you past is supposed to be erased. with this story around it, ‘insomnia’ gets a new meaning and may become part of the ‘begegnungen’ show. we will see, it is a strong constellation anyway.



and here are some collected shots of the ‘doghouse’ as we were passing by on our way home. maybe we should document the new house coming up…?




update 2024-02-15: as we checked the portfolio today to find works with stones in it, Irealized how many tableaus are based upon photography I have taken from the inside of the 'doghouse'. 'insomnia' (2010) might be the most prominent one, but I have picked up the material again and again and created 'k-balls' in 2015. there are no pictures from the interior of the 'doghouse' but you can see the reflection of teh attic (with the beds in it) in 'wanderlust' (2014). also you can see the pre-demolition chaos inside as documented durning our crontrolling visits back in 2019.




and here is another shot of me at the grey tree back in october 2023. I will come up with the whole collection soon. and there will be updated to this classic motif.


update 2024-02-15: as I am heading to attend the museum folkwang with (ex-)colleagues we did a short visit of the museum yesterday. when you need to get out but the weather does not allow to go for a walk, these modern halls are a great alternative. this building somehow appears like a cathedral to me, it makes me clam down and feel safe. It is a contradictive place anyway. the basement is traditionally the space for recently graduated photography students, the presented works and positions are often pretty good and have a range. I was surprised to seen an multiple screen installation by anna traskaliková, we have met coincidently on numerous openings within the past years, and it is great to find a familiar name among the exhibited photographers. her work combines ai-generated images to all new compositions. well, I´ll return with my colleagues!


update 2024-02-15: as the alicja kwade artist talk was postponed to next week, matthias danberg and me spontaneously decided to attend the opening of the tim berresheim show at nrw forum düsseldorf. going to düsseldorf is strange, everything is big, chic and stressful. all the time you have to wonder if you like or hate it. however, you cannot really enjoy a show during the opening it is more a party where you meet numerous people. I have met an ex-student of mine, she graduated 15 years ago. does this make me feel old? yes, but only in an extreme way. it was great to meet beatrice richter again, we have a long artist friendship for years but also haven’t met for years. it was great to hang out and attend the sneaker exhibition together. and we had to do a sneaker selfie, well here it is…




update 2024-02-18: I have been invited to a private jam last night which was a nice but also weird experience. as there is no audience, you just play without working on a song or progression. as I like to say that people play the way they are, I can say that this was true for myself. as I did not feel as comfortable as is wanted to, I hit surprisingly many false notes and realized a certain lack of tightness. I am not blaming anyone, but I have also realized that I can only play properly and reliable if others do so. I am not sure if this concept of making music works for me. I have to put out the second architects of utter destruction album and then record the next one! hope to see you at the jams!


update 2024-02-18: today I have quickly visited the galerie an der ruhr to talk with curator klaus wiesel about my contribution for the ‘begenungen’ group show. I will be in the room in which I have already exhibited 'future perfect (lvb#10)' in 2020. the upcoming assembly is drafted as ‘triangle readings’ and may feature two videos, but definitely one next to prints in different production techniques. the galerie an der ruhr is presenting art on different levels, from different decades and sources. I am impressed by the power and constant announcements of shows and events, which is sometimes irritating. I am not into everything that is happing in the rooms but as the museum mülheim is still closed, this appears to me as the only active (off-)space presenting art in this city. I do not expect to sell art but I hope for a great show, I can develop a kind of show within a show with stuff that I am in and we will hopefully have a great opening on may 5. above all, I like klaus wiesel a lot as he is a very interested and gifted artist and curator. I was even more impressed as I discovered his installation which criticises capitalism. having worked for big companies in the past, wiesel knows what he is talking about, mixing up critic headlines with inflationary bank notes. the coin-filled sacks may remind you, that profits are an abstract good which becomes meaningless when rising profits are based upon exploitation. unfortunately the installation is supposed to vanish soon but it is hitting the point of our days. all the discontent, anger and violence must have an origin in the feeling of having less than others. maybe money cannot solve this problem, maybe we should head for visions instead of tax reliefs (and other populism)…




update 2024-02-18: above you see me performing at electric café in eisenheim, oberhausen back in 2018, the bootleg is still available from here. the makroskope will present the electric café ruhr next saturday and I am looking forward to meet my electric mates. also I am working on finishing production which might work in a live context, well, I really like the idea of coming up live again with record of tides. also I am working on new glitch hop hdj sets again. something might be coming up! however, i´d like to see you all next saturday!

HIPGNOSIS | BREATHE
album cover art und photo design by aubrey powell & storm thorgerson
celebrating 50 years THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

sunday, 17 march 2024, 4 pm
crossing boundaries: the connection between music and cover designpanel discussion with fabian elsäßer (cultural journalist deutschlandfunk/swr) and sven piayda (artist/musician), hosted by dr. sarah hülsewig (ludwiggalerie)

LUDWIGGALERIE schloss oberhausen
konrad-adenauer-allee 46
46049 oberhausen




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

this year begins somehow different, I fell that certain things are different. my january was tough, going back to work and taking care of issues, my ones and the ones of others. I went through extreme ups and downs and I experience post-traumatic stress (next to the current stress), sometimes I cannot trust myself. however, there is hope in it. over the last months I have also experienced that I can create a future that I can clearly imagine.
for the first time in my life I feel old sometimes, I experience myself as grown-up, sometimes I feel like the only grown-up in the room. and even more, I sometimes feel like a wizard, people confront me with the weirdest things to solve, actually impossible for me - but nevertheless - I do it. there is hope in it, for all of us.
above you see me doing a spontaneous kirchberg posture picture in kettwig. this place has become a magic one for me as I had to register a change in address for my mother here. it was like a victory to see the name of the city of essen on her identity card. the picture was taken on the (probably) first non-rainy day this year. I need to go back to luxembourg, but I do not know when and why, maybe we need some beach first.


and here is the town hall in kettwig. I do not want to romanticize everything, but it is somehow my statue of liberty, I feel like a migrant to a better world, which is demanding more beauty, tradition and concept of the self. anyway, a better place to be. yesterday I even visited this place with my mother on a very rainy day. it felt like rainy day off in a beautiful place, we love it.


as spring comes in slowly, the cats visit us again. michi is in live with the black and white one, this one is quite self-confident. she likes to check out our rooms and we have to keep her out, bus as you see she likes to chill at our place quite unimpressed of our opinions. cats can teach you a lot.


being part of the ‘einsicht’ group show at forum kunst und architektur in essen was great. the show ends today and feel happy with it. making shows has become fun. above you can compare my appearances at the openings from last and this year. it is crazy how quickly a year passes by in retrospective. who wore better?


update 2024-02-06: and here is another picture of me at the closing the ‘einsicht’ group show at forum kunst und architektur in essen. being part o fit feels good and relaxed. we quickly uninstalled the piece and had some ramen. the same night curator klaus wiesel called me to confess my participation at the ‘begegnungen’ group show at galerie an der ruhr. I want to bring up this video piece once again, but as I will have my own room, I need to come up with some more works, old and new ones. I even think about sound but I am not sure… watch out, show coming up in may 2024.


I am booked to be part of the cover design panel discussion at ludwiggalere schloss oberhausen with fabian elsäßer (cultural journalist for deutschlandfunk/swr) as hosted by dr. sarah hülsewig, curator of the ludwiggalerie, as part of the ‘hipgnosis | breathe’ art show exploring album cover art und photo design by aubrey powell and storm thorgerson. the museum invited me to the show opening and as I am part of it somehow I thought I should go there. it was a fantastic opening actually, meeting olad friends. I was not really a fan of hipgonisis, but I was afterwards actually. the team came up with brilliant ideas concerning cover design which I knew from the designers republic, but these ideas obviously appear a lot older… aubrey powell attended the opening and came up with brilliant anecdotes on paul mccartney, black sabbath and robert plant. a brilliant show that attracts music nerds (like me) as well as artists and designers (like me) and is a door opener to the hipgnosis universe.


when we attended to the hipgnosis show opening the museum was extreme crowded. as I was invited to join the museum had booked seats for me. these are the few moments when you feel important as you can push through the crowd getting to your extra bit. feels funny and does not happen often. well, see you to our cover design discussion on march 17!


returning to the anyway jam in january was pure magic. a lot of guys that usually play at stadtkrug came up ad we had a good time. even if you meet these guys not regularly there is a lot of brotherhood and goodwill among all of us. it sometimes feels like the ‘fight club’, every night you´ll die and you´ll get resurrected. this makes me thankful and happy. I am looking forward to the next jam!




update 2024-02-06: the makroscope will host the electric café on february 24. I really look forward to this date, I do not want to play but I really enjoy the performance and the people. on the same day, just at afternoon, the trinkhalle in gelsenkirchen will present the vinyl lounge, a perfect thing for vinyl addicts. I hope to see you there. I am recently thinking about to return live, maybe with the electric café context next time. as I am coming up with a new record of tides album and am about to finish another one, there might be cool stuff to play live again. I just keep the options and do it in a context that is most fun for myself. maybe we can share it…


in the middle of january we also joined a demonstration against racism and rediscovered deportation fantasies of certain political parties. it is great to see that a big majority is taking the streets to make a simple statement. it great to see that we are may, but is is not the point. we cannot discuss hate as political opinion, no matter how many people agree or disagree. we have to fight for solutions that work for everyone involved and we have to talk about issues that make people sympathize for extreme parties. there is no simple solution, and there is no need to turn history in a farce.

HIPGNOSIS | BREATHE
album cover art und photo design by aubrey powell & storm thorgerson
celebrating 50 years THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

sunday, 17 march 2024, 4 pm
crossing boundaries: the connection between music and cover designpanel discussion with fabian elsäßer (cultural journalist deutschlandfunk/swr) and sven piayda (artist/musician), hosted by dr. sarah hülsewig (ludwiggalerie)

LUDWIGGALERIE schloss oberhausen
konrad-adenauer-allee 46
46049 oberhausen




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, the fascination of the new year has vanished over the years. our new years eve was a lame classic for us featuring dinner, cinema and non-alcoholic sparkling wine. it must have been the first nye in 30 years on which I did not drink any alcohol. I also didn´t do it the days afterwards, I´d like to report that I feel better but I don't. we let the far neighbours do the fireworks and their did take it seriously, obviously. the last year has taken a lot from me and changed me a lot. I still need to get away from certain issues and emotions that remain of echoes of that situation. also I am trying to get back to normal life, whatever that my mean. so I am forcing myself to go out and make sports again. I feel like an empty shell, it is hard to motivate myself and allow a good time.

more or less accidently I started a new record of tides album and have already finished 12 tracks already. it just happens when I hang out with different laptops on the couch, layering samples to a weird post-whatever sound. it just happens. (no, it is not 'playground magrathea', the album is finished for months, it is already the album beyond it...)

there are also projects coming in, exhibitions and options to play live, even anticipated releases, I am starting slowly and need to keep it on the comfortable level. if you are to old (as well as your friends) to party hard, you prefer a calm night and a great new years day in return. it has become a luxembourgish tradition – or lets just say an option – to spend the day in the museum. as the mudam was a little too far away and has nothing great on display we agreed on the lehmbruck museum in duisburg. alicja kwade is always entertaining, surprising and even questioning our reality and beliefs.


the cars of ‘parallelwelt’ are a contemporary classic. yeah, it is a flat joke as well, but she makes you gaze and wonder.




next to her sculptures kwade delivers exquisite video and sound works. a big room features humming speakers pointing to concave plates, while you walk between the plates the reflected sound changes and modulates. maybe perception is always based upon modulated echoes?


the room also featured spinning clocks as well as a broken on and a led clock. the plate on the wall also mentioned a bronze sculpture entitles ‘sun’. I checked the walls and the floor again and again, but there was no work fitting to the title. when I looked up I finally realized the sun. actually a bronze replica of a melon placed under the ceiling. maybe this is what the piece is all about, realizing the own behaviour. why would you look for the sun without looking up?


more or less to do the complete round we checked the hall of the lehmbruck sculptures, which has also made it as motif for a gursky tableau. michi had a strong dislike for the hall which is undecided if it wants to be a cave or pretending to be outside, the dark ceiling as well as lehmbruck´s depressive postures give you a hard time. only one piece developed a certain gravity, drapery in life-size needed us to look closer. I started joking that this is a spook and I was not completely wrong: even here kwade presents a ‘self-portrait as ghost’ hiding in perfect sculptural drapery.


as we had great spotlights in the dark exhibition spaces, we needed to take some pictures. well, it ended up like my version of 'parallelwelt’.


we did not see much art in the last months so we decided to use the days to do something and ended up in the museum unter tage in bochum. the underground space featured a group show on urbanity as well as on landscape. surprisingly we remained quite uninspired. even if there are great works on the wall, you do not get what it is all about. presenting and observing only does not hand over any kind of emotion or finding. In the end, this visit was quite disappointing.


next to the museum unter tage you can find the café which is build into (onto?) the ruins of an old castle. well, this is somehow the perfect image for the start into this year build in stone. My mobile shot of it appears as dark and uncanny as old masters approaches to landscapes. 2024 here we go, be kind, I am leery anyway.


sven piayda | skull and fish
E I N S I C H T
forum kunst und architektur, essen
2024-01-14 – 2024-02-04, opening 2023-01-14, 3 pm

forumkunstarchitektur.de

forum kunst und architektur
kopstadtplatz 12
45127 essen

HIPGNOSIS | BREATHE
album cover art und photo design by aubrey powell & storm thorgerson
celebrating 50 years THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

sunday, 17 march 2024, 4 pm
crossing boundaries: the connection between music and cover designpanel discussion with fabian elsäßer (cultural journalist deutschlandfunk/swr) and sven piayda (artist/musician), hosted by dr. sarah hülsewig (ludwiggalerie)

LUDWIGGALERIE schloss oberhausen
konrad-adenauer-allee 46
46049 oberhausen




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