kultureflash

Issue no. 90

MTV New, 2003 (TV still)

There is art, literature, music, film and even these days television and pop, but the space and name for what wife and husband team Alexandra Jugovic and Florian Schmitt (and their multi-cultural team of eight!) -- more publicly known as Hi-ReS! -- have created falls unfortunately into that weird space of "digital media" or "interactive" graphics. Their art, however, sits sublimely in the ether somewhere, constantly ducking and being disguised behind product information. Starting out with a little online banner mini-museum, followed by awards for the websites of Requiem For A Dream then Donnie Darko, they are the digital world's Oscar Goldman; bring them an idea for a website and they can build it... Better yet, just turn 'em loose. Following the success of their film sites, they have worked with musicians, products, even been asked to create installations for art exhibitions. Currently they've been given a mini-retrospective by onedotzero8 at the ICA in London. They're a font of inspiration despite having been around only since 1999. They say that what they do is "create experience" but perhaps the pitch for The Third Place -- Sony's PlayStation 2 site -- describes their place best: "...about exploration, discovery and adrenaline. Neither inside nor outside, not waking nor sleeping, here not there..." It actually happens in a quiet place, in front of a screen, where an intellectual-visual adventure begins, sort of like looking for the Mountains of the Moon.

Alexandra Jugovic (bn. 1968) and Florian Schmitt (bn. 1971) live and work in London.

KultureFlash Related Links:
MTV new TV stills
Elevation (The Third Place) CG studies
Brazil Inspired studies
Neotropic studies
Inbox | Outbox

Miscellaneous Links:
Profile (digitalcraft)
Profile (Shift)
Soulbath press release
Soulbath article (Salon)
Soulbath essay
Requiem article (ign.com)
Macromedia Flash article (Guardian)

Interviews:
Jugovic interview (digitalcraft)
Schmitt interview (Ideas Factory)
Schmitt interview (Ventilate)
Schmitt interview (Surfstation)
Schmitt interview (Shift)

Selected Exhibitions:
Communicate, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK (2004-05)
OFFF04, Valencia, Spain (2004)
onedotzero8, ICA, London, UK (2004)

Selected Awards:
Prix Ars Electronica award (2002)
LIAA award (2002)
FlashForward award (2002)

Selected Hi-ReS! Sites:
Soulbath (1999)
DJ Vadim (1999)
Amon Tobin (2000)
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
The Beatles "Get Back" (2000)
Playgroup (2001)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Elevation (2002)
Diesel Stylelab (2002)
Lexus (2002)
The Third Place (2002)
Massive Attack (2003)
LFO (2003)
The Punisher (2004)
Miles Aldridge (2004)