Without any doubt one of the most iconic exhibition halls of the German capital, CO Berlin is a space in the center of Mitte devoted entirely to photography. The exhibition of Gregory Crewdson especially strikes in their summer program. Renowned contemporary photographer from the United States, Crewdson's work is known by a pervasive and disturbing atmosphere of mystery. Landscapes or scenes from everyday life frozen in time where the protagonists seem to be staring into the void.

Shane, Beneath The Roses

The exhibition at CO Berlin entitled In a Lonely Place focuses on three seemingly very different series: Fireflies (1996), Beneath the Roses (2003 to 2007) and Sanctuary (2010). While Beneath The Roses could be considered one of its most famous and representative series, the other two series in black and white are the author's own personal experiments, but after an accurate analysis are revealed as a perfect complement and in armony with the usual topics of Crewdson: A feeling of loneliness or abandonment, and above all a connection to all levels with the film world. It should be noted in the exhibition a number of documents of great interest for a better understanding of the work, on one hand the documentation with storyboards, sketches and photos of the process of creating some of his works. On the other hand a recent interview with Crewdson about this show, who explains in detail the influences, the process and the circumstances surrounding this series.

If you pass by Berlin before September 4, we strongly recommend you a visit to this exhibition with one of the most interesting photographers today.

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How many times have you read or heard the term "parallel reality(-ies)"? Probably in a science fiction context or as hypotheses trying to explain a parapsychological phenomena. Nothing further from reality, the Research & Development studio LUSTlab can make perfect use of this association of words in order to explain one of their latest projects: Urban Echo.

Urban Echo is a simple idea that connects cities, landscapes and people who are in distant parts of the planet. How? Through a simple technology that combines video screens, webcams and a good internet connection that allows for real-time streaming. At a first sight the result is something we have already seen: a simple live connection. But LUSTlab's idea goes further, superimposing video screens and cameras, producing an short of effect like a reality within a reality within a reality within a... Would not it be wonderful to replace the advertising on billboards for such a project?

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The protagonist of this Monday is hidden between polaroids with expired colors. Lauren Treece, the author of the photos you are going to see, hides her dreams in mist, wild landscapes, stars and sparks that appear fleetingly by night. Her images speak of magical moments, rituals, dances and meetings with spirits so naturally, such as a woodland walk or dance with some friends at the edge of the sea.

Her photos have been published in magazines and blogs such as Urban Outfitters, Beautiful Decay, Anorak, Ignant, Vellum, Carpaccio Magazine, etc. Aside from her incredible photos, she also makes great illustrations and dioramas, all surrounded by the always present mysterious atmosphere, where as soon you are living a dream or a nightmare.

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If we would have to find a project similar to Belio in Japan this probably would be Shift, relatively speaking of course. Back in 2000, we already talked about this online magazine in an article published in Belio 005: Japan. Among many other projects, each year they publish a calendar with a selection of works by artists from around the world.

If you would like to see one of your illustrations, paintings, photos, graphics, etc.. published in the Shift calendar of such a significant year as 2012, you should be thinking about sending a proposal, right? It's simple (no subject), it's free and you can do it just with a couple of clicks. So go and check out: www.shift.jp.org/calendar. Remember that the deadline for submitting your image is on the 20th of August.You still have 16 days left!

And here's the second part of our photo-documentation on anonymous gestures. In the following collection of photos you can find more feelings, especially a lot of love spread through the walls, fantastic creatures who smile and greet you on your way, digital paradoxes and a lot of casual scenes that could well pass by as a contemporary art installation in the backyard of a museum, and last but not least a funny coincidence. What is art for you?

We invite you to send us your own pictures (JPG files, 640 pixels wide) to our e-mail address: info@beliomagazine.com. Anonymous expressions, urban aesthetic situations, and above all a great talent for observing and capturing the magical reality in which we live.

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Since many years ago I have the habit of not going out without my camera in my pocket, It doesn't matter if I am traveling in a foreign city or in my hometown. So I can be always prepared and ready to capture the unusual or peculiar of a city life. Every good lover of contemporary art, graphic design or street art has probably encounter more than once surprised by the beauty of the casual, an anonymous gesture or an accident with aesthetic consequences. I do not mean an act signed by an artist who uses the street as an exhibition hall waiting for a gallery to offer a contract.

The photos you will see below are part of our personal collection of anonymous gestures, usually they are people with the only intention of communicating their feelings in a plastic way, others are common scenes that could pass for art installations, perhaps they are just a simple child's play, a verbal dispute or the expression from a homeless with a degree in typography, and in many cases just the passage of time transform a wall, a graffiti, an advertising or a poster into a much more beautiful and symbolic art piece. Who did it? Why? What did he express? are questions that are irrelevant, what matters is that you've noticed it and probably it cheer up your day. More tomorrow!

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The protagonist today in our summerish mondays dedicated to photography (Photomonday) does not come from Asia or the United States, neither from the northern Europe, is from right here, from Spain, just that simple: Ibai Acevedo. To find photogenic paradises, moments to remember frozen in paper or great photographers, you do not need to go that far. And the proof is given to us by Ibai and his amazing photographs, where his protagonists, beaches, friends and a lot of bands (La Pegatina, QuèFem Amics, Joe y Los Sutiles, Élena, Love of Lesbian, Nadadora, Florencio Cruz, etc.) seem like taken from a dream. "Real dreams" says his portfolio that he captures with the same elegance and simplicity as he presents himself. A pop, colorful, indie, enthusiast, dreamer, creative and friendly character in a pop, colorful, indie, enthusiast, dreamer, creative and friendly world. At least that's the way he offers us to see, that's the remembrance that stays in my retinas after enjoying once again his photos.

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To end the week we are going to leave you a few extra videos, medium-length films of half an hour each, so you can enjoy them quietly during the weekend. In our video section you will find a documentary about art and voodoo in Haiti entitled Atis-Rezistans: the Sculptors of Grand Rue and also Sorry, We're Open, the first surf movie by SUPERbrand.

And for those who enjoy beautiful summer sunrises, or those that miss them (July has been a really grey month for some people), we present you the last video creation from Geso: PXL Storm / Sol. The work illustrates a stormy night and the subsequent evolution into a digital sunrise. It is slow work, meditative and atmospheric, that works as visual complement for the great music composition Sol from Jesse Somfay. So now, here comes the weekend, take it easy, relax and enjoy the view:

Although it is a very common practice on the Internet, we rarely copy the news or content from other websites or blogs. We try to create our own news, but this time we will make an exception as the occasion really deserves it. Thanks to one of our favorite art blogs we discovered the fantastic work of Katsuya Aoki.

Aoki's style is an unusual update of the Baroque style through ceramics, a technique not very widespread in contemporary art scene, but this young Japanese takes its highest expression. His latest series of works, Predictive Dream Series, are focused in the exploration of a symbol as enigmatic as abused: The human skull. Although obviously in the hands of Aiko boundaries between human, fantasy and death are intertwined, forming beautiful objects of desire... Never was such a beautiful death!

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As every summer for eight years, here comes a new edition of Art Trek, the greatest festival of indie illustration. As usual, be held in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. Organized by Eva Cardon (Ephameron) as a meeting and group exhibition, where some fifteen artists of all nationalities present their latest works.

This year's guest artists are Ana Albero (ES), Ana Carucci (AR), Aidan Koch (U.S.), Edel Rodriguez (CU), Ephameron (BE) Wagenbreth Henning (DE), Jack Teagle (UK), New 2 (AU), Olivier Schrauwen (BE), Paul Paetzel (DE), Romy Blümel (DE), Sainte Machine (FR), Till Hafenbrak (DE) and Wanderers (BE). The opening will be on August 6 at Galerie Mekanik and runs until September 17.

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What you see on these lines seems a landscape, but far from being a creation of the God's hand or Mother Earth is the result and work of Kim Keever. What you see is a photograph and what this artist exhibits in galleries are photographs and videos, but the real art of Keever is in the process: creating a world within a world, miniature landscapes that are familiar but never before been captured.



As we said the secret is in the process, Kim Keever made ​​in his studio every landscape, alive with lights and liquid, pigments and gases creating fictional environments. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries worldwide and has recently opened its exhibition Mountains, Forests and Ocean Shores in the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. It will be open until December 30.

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Indonesia is one such favorite destinations when taking a vacation in paradise: nature at its best, perfect beaches, islands taken from a fairy tale, temples that invite to an aesthetic meditation... The protagonist of this second edition of our Photomonday may well be Indonesia, but we are actually talking about the work of Hengki Koentjoro, amateur photographer from Jakarta. No doubt that the local factor is an advantage in capturing the grandeur of a landscape, but Koentjoro's talent lies in his mastery with white and black film, the lights and shadows, and the composition. His work is a display of patience, careful observation, good taste, beauty and perfection, definitely a modern classic in photography. Judge for yourselves:

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We close the week with this great video by The Dound Collective for the Saatchi & Saatchi Director's Showcase 2011. A true demonstration of creativity + new generation technology. The Found Collective defines their work as the combination between film makers, animators, musicians, illustrators and interactive developers: "We recognize that the future is in a merger of these disciplines and we see that our specialist skills, when put in one place, can lead to exciting and innovative outcomes." And regarding what we see on the video, they absolutely achieved it!

Have you ever felt like your body would be full of light after the culmination of a creative process? I don't mean rays coming out of your fingers... But that kind of emotional vibration in which the image you have in your mind merges with the image you're creating on your computer. And then you feel like both, mind and computer screen, were to explode in colorful forms. Usually accompanied by the rush it produces you that song you have been listening over and over again as the soundtrack for your creativity. Well, the artist that we present today at Belio comes to represent somehow all this process: An explosion of technology, color, creativity, binary codes and digital worlds.

The image you see on these lines is one of the works of [dNASAb], to be exact one his recent video-sculptures, hybrids of digital creation, painting process and a lot of experimentation with glass, optical fibers, plastic, resin, fluorescent silicone, etc. His works are based on objects of our consumer and communication culture: screens, computers, portable technology devices, etc. The artist explode them in the creative and physical sense to portrait the process of data exchange, the information overload in a tech-society and the exponential development of a virtual world.



Last June closed the show Dataklysmos at Irvine Contemporary, which presented the most recent and ambitious pieces from [dNASAb]. The evolution of his work is an interesting path that alternates two similar but opposite processes: to give physical form to the digital creation and digitalize the physical results. The outcome is as spectacular as the images that you can see behind the cut.

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In many different occasions we had friends, readers or collaborators asking us about street art, what we think about this movement nowadays? Which artists do we like today? Which proposals seem genuine for us? or just, what should be street art? Our taste in this and other art disciplines (and music) always opts for those creators who try to push the edges between different disciplines, but especially those who follow their own style, exploring, regardless of the public, the success or to fit into a movement. Within the so-called street art we've seen over the years different trends, from the old-school graffiti, to the creation and design of characters, kind of nice pop icons, passing by the revival of stencils, posters, etc. One of these latest trends in street art is what defines the following video as "Graffuturism", the same we have been calling for years as Street Abstract Expressionism.

Recoat Gallery is proud to present the exhibition titled Rudimentary Perfection, bringing together an impressive group of notable international artists linked by their innovative spirit & shared graffiti heritage. Each of these artists has ventured down a unique path, offering a radical take on expressive, figurative & letter-based abstraction. The participating artists include SheOne, Duncan Jago, Jaybo Monk, Matt W. Moore, Augustine Kofie, Nawer, Morten Andersen, Poesia, Derm, and Mark Lyken. You can find more information and pictures in the following blog: rudimentaryperfection.blogspot.com.

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On Friday July 15 opened in Strychnin Gallery (Berlin) the show Gentle Giants, a collective exhibition that showcases a diverse selection of some of the most influential and innovative creations of robot art done by a well selected group of artists. The exhibition will focus on the gentle, smart, helping and almost human aspects of robots that are enriching our society.

The list of participating artists includes: Michael Salter, Himatic, Doktor A, Mike Libby, Skeleton Heart, Seymour, Nemo Gould, John Lytle Wilson, SQUP, Caroline LeBreton, Stefan Fromberger and many more. A mixture of steampunk, recycling art and low-tech that worths a visit. Behind the cut you have a selection of our favorite works at the show.

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Today is Monday, we have a great summerish sun, we also have clouds, we have... all the ingredients to enjoy the day. And that's why today we have several gifts in a visual form for you. On the one hand this week our gallery will be devoted to aquatic images, mostly photographs. A perfect way to refresh your eyes every morning with Belio. On the other hand, at our home every Monday we will introduce a photographer. Titled as Photomonday we will show you the beauty in this planet, cleverly captured by the lens of photographers from around the world. Andrew, Cuba Gallery, is the photographer chosen to start this photo special.

Based in New Zealand, Andrew reveals himself as a true lover of life, nature, color, harmony... At least that's how his work speaks of him. An extensive portfolio with just perfect photographs that capture all the elements, water, air, light, soil, etc. at its best. An observant eye, his tools (a Nikon D3 and Adobe Lightroom 3) and an exquisite taste when it comes to composition and color combination make people, animals, plants, objects and landscapes representing a perfect world, impossible to define with words, only with pictures. As you can see below, or as you can see in his profile on flickr.

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Untitled Traces #1 is an Interactive installation by Martina Menegon developed in collaboration with Stefano D’Alessio in 2011. A wonderful performance-video where a dancer transform his movements into beautiful 3D forms in motion, a perfect portrait of time and soul. According to the artist, "A camera is tracking the real space and bodies, transforming the incoming datas into 3D coordinates of a mesh that became the digital representation of what the camera sees, and also generate electronical sound representation of it. The displacement of this 3D bodies and of those electronic sounds change through the movement amount of the real bodies."

Pac-Man, Street Fighter, Asteroids, Bubble Bobble, Tetris, R-Type, Double Dragon... If you know what we are talking about, probably you spent long hours of your childhood inside an Arcade saloon. For all those missing this big video game machines, here we introduce you Winnitron 1000, a free-to-play independent video game arcade cabinet featuring new games created by indie game developers from Winnipeg and across the globe!



According to their website "the goal of the Winnitron 1000 is to inspire and encourage Winnipeg game developers to become active members of the independent video game community". And indeed what started as crazy idea between some friends called The Bit Collective in Spring 2010, has become growing network with new games and restored arcade cabinets in different cities around the world (Winnipeg - Canada, Utrech - Netherlands, Christchurch - New Zealand, and New York - USA, so far). If you want to join them, build up your own Winnitron and include another city in the network, contact them. Lets spread the word!

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Each day the computer becomes an essential extension of our body, leading to an inevitable fusion of digital media creative manifestations. The collage, painting, sculpture, video, etc. now has a second renaissance with the tagline "digital" added. The art market is not far behind and is increasingly common for galleries to open their doors to digital artists. This is the case of Rare Gallery that presents the new digital collages of Christopher Rodrigues this July.

Planet series depicts imagined planets in various states ranging from barely formed gaseous orbs to fully developed Eden-like environments to vistas marked by pollution, waste, and scarring. The artist’s primary goal in developing this series is to bring to our attention the plight of planet Earth in the hope that we will do our share to help promote its healing.

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