PRESS // On VJing in the Indian Express

GIGS // BLOT @ AZURE , Delhi / 06 Feb 2010

GIGS // BLOT @ DELHI SOUND TAMASHA in BERLIN!! / March 2010

The good folks at Culture-Must, Sound Tamasha and our friends in Berlin have hooked us up for what promises to be an amazing 2 weeks for BLOT in Berlin in the first 2 weeks of March 2010. Amongst the clubs we might play at are the legendary Tresor, Maria, Renate and some yet to be finalized. Truly exciting times ahead :-) BIG BIG thanks to Peter, Magali and Stefan and everyone else on the project.

ARTHOUSE // Super Friday coming up!

PRESS // BLOT featured in DE:BUG (GERMANY)

So we got a mail yesterday from our dear friend Clara from Silver Seeds (Lausanne, Berlin) and she picked up her favourite magazine only to find us in it :-) what are the chances we would be in a magazine in Berlin! twisted.

PRESS // 'Psychedelhi' - Piece by Thiruda

Thanks Ambika Muttoo for having trust in our writing skills again :-) So we wrote this piece for the first half of January 2010 issue of Time Out Delhi, on pyschedelic experiences in the City. Check it out and tell us what you think.

PRESS // BLOT does Time-Out

So we were commissioned to design the cover of the January 2010 issue of Time-Out Delhi titeld 'Pyschedelhi' We chose to make a blotter sheet with frames from our music video on Old Delhi - just goes to show the myriad visual content you can stumble on within 3 hours in the city. We also got to write an article in the issue on pychedelic experiences in Delhi. Coming up on the next post...

FRIENDS // Pixel Art Series of Retro Bollywood Posters

Check out this first set of retro Bollywood posters immortalized in 100px X 100px Pixel Art stamps..you can see the entire set and other works in progress on our partner Abhishek Ghate's flickr page > http://www.flickr.com/photos/abhishekghate

PRESS // BLOT in Resident Advisor / Clubbing in India

So we got featured in Resident Advisor aka RA on an article on Clubbing in India >> you can read the whole post right here > http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1141

ARTWORK // Sabu Sabu

ARTWORK // What happens in Ballard Estate Stays in Ballard Estate (or so you think)

We visited Ballard Estate in Mumbai with the 'curatorial brief' of connecting it with the works of late Shri J G Ballard. Why? because the curator chose so - 'Just!' as they say. Anyways to cut a long story short - we are mighty pleased to have discovered and experienced Ballard in this past week, not just within his works and the estate, but within our experiences in this time - of the city, of stuck up people, of art in galleries and strange curators and even stranger artists. Its all pretty surreal and strange...dystopian if you may. So there - we have a connection. We just made art. (Did I mention the curator thinks this doesnt work and should not be put up on the wall?)
Artwork Credit > Rajesh Dahiya
Anti-Establishment Rattle Credit > Thiruda

ARTWORK // Ballard Estate Exhibition First Ideas

Just some starting off concepts for our first little art showing at the group show titled 'Ballard Estate', curated by Gitanjali Dang, and starting at the awesome Religare Arts I Gallery in Delhi. We are also putting up some ambient mooving image works. The show attempts to connect the work of J.G. Ballard to a place called Ballard Estate in Mumbai. We are trying to build a little dystopian story around which a set of 6-7 visuals and the space are created.

ARTWORK // Document Your Life

ARTWORK // Stag Girl

ARTWORK // The StagBeatles

GIGS // BLOT @ FUGA / Dec 27,2009

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

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

Artwork // Folie A Deux Pt4

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

ARTWORK // Getting started again

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

FRIENDS // Audio Reactive LED Unit

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

PiXELS // BLOT + Anil Chawla @ Wave Festival

Thanks Santosh for these pictures!

Gigs // @ Pebbles, Bangalore / 13 Dec 09

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

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

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

Curated by BLOT @ Mocha Arthouse

GIGS // BLOT @ Zenzi / 07 Nov 09

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks Pramod for the up on this one >>

PROJECTS // Pop Pop Goes the Arthouse

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

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

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

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

Remember >> Say No To Art Snobs.
Thiruda

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

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

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

PROJECTS // POP-UP-ART-HOUSE

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

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

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

GIG VIDEOS // Nathan Flutebox Lee Part 1

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

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

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

MIXES // Rumpelstilzchen | BLOT DJ Set | Sep 09

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

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

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

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

And oh! I am glad that nobody knew

That the name I am called is Rumpelstiltskin!"

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

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

Listen to the Mix right here >>

Rumpelstilzchen | BLOT Dj Set | Sept 09 | by blot

ARTWORK // At the Bone Setting Clinic

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

ARTWORK // ChickenFeed

STREET ART // VINCENT B. VS. BLOT

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

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

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

RANDOM // 3000 on the facebook page

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

GIGS // Parallel Dimensions Chapter 02 / 12 Sep 09

GIGS // BLOT @ Manre / 11 September 09

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

Misadventures of Pushpa & Praveen : BLOT. by blot

PIXELS // Parallel Dimensions Chapter 1

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

PROJECTS // BLOTSQUAT PREVIEW 1

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

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

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

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

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

GIGS // Back to Kolkata / 4 Sep 09

ARTWORK // SweatShopMan 01 / This is not my story

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