We started our collaboration in 1998 at a time when communication and photography was
really going through a complete transformation.
We called it the digital revolution and a renaissance period where things were changing
and the traditional aspect of making images in my eyes was, you know, changing somewhat.
So I went back to London after having spent six months in Cape Town in 1997 making a film
and walking the mountains and I must say that Cape Town is an incredibly special place and
I came up with this concept that the ego was at fault with everything and that collaboration
was the way forward and 18 years later I'm still doing it so there must be something
in it.
Unfortunately he met me, right, so let's show you a bit of our work.
Okay.
I
Must have for next started in the early 90s
probably way before most people got into compusas and
Through the process, you know an image used to take two to three days to even move something around a screen or do something with an image and
myself and Nick decided to kind of
You know join forces because we could see what was coming in terms of the image making process
It was going to get bigger was going to get more complex and the mediums were certainly going to evolve as they are such a rapid pace today
So by joining forces, we kind of started a studio, which was like a big sort of shed for myself and Nick and we'd go down every day
You know traditionally think about images and think about photography
But at the same time we would constantly be thinking about how we could reinvent the language how we could use what was available to us to
Combine craft and the digital and by combining those elements
So our pursuit was always to find the visual emotion within that and to explore
You know the parameters of of of what contemporary image making actually stood for at the beginning
I don't think we really knew what we were doing
But what was important was that we were there every day from 8 in the morning till 10 12 at night
just
looking at stuff and
Making stuff so that we could kind of forge and create and evolve the language
That today has become a very common ground image making is very common today where you know their teams of people and
The process has evolved into that
Within our sort of creative handshake. We've always had a very very deep
Fascination with popular culture and popular cultures always fed back into certain aspects
Whether it was fashion the teams that come in fashion from hair and makeup to styling
To music popular culture, you know
Which really is at the core of what we do it drives a lot of what inspires us to do what we do and
you know these subjects and these fascinations and this and
This this sort of process that we forged and formed ultimately became our language
These are some of our earliest pieces that we made together
And you can see they really are quite experimental in terms of
You know every image actually always began with a photograph and it always began with a
Preoccupation to how we would light that and one of the big things that we were experimenting with at the time we still do but
We sort of got really bored with traditional mediums
So we kind of parked everything aside and said well if we
Use alternative light sources from laser to projection to build in light in the early days
You know LED today you can buy anything off the street, but 18 years ago. We were commissioning
Electricians and technicians to build LED modules for us that we could use as light
That we could explore mediums with that we could create the type of images. You're looking at right now. They were
You know in minor next size
Revolutionary because of their process not only because of the light but because of the teams and because of how we were ultimately
Image processing them or ending up at a fit, you know at an end result
We were quite successful, you know very early on in our career
We had a lot of great breaks and a lot of people
Recognized what we were doing very early on and allowed us to you know
find a very quick
Marriage between art and commerce and I think that's really important
And it's not that we're here today to talk about their relationship because actually I think what's more important for me
And Nick is our process and the collaborations that have come through our process. So
Early on we'd done a whole bunch of work and we got this call
from Paris to go and meet the creative director of isimiyaki
which at the time was still being produced by Irving Penn and
We were like wow, this is a big sort of deal. So we got on a train and went to Paris and
It was monumental. We did three days of meetings with the Japanese
they made us stay two nights in Paris and
Completely dissected our portfolio our language us as characters
I want to know who our wives our girlfriends, you know, it was a complete three-day interrogation and at the end of it
They said we'd love you to start to produce our
campaigns for us
So mr. Irving Penn is no more gonna, you know, he's not gonna make the campaigns anymore
And we'd like you to stop producing their campaigns for for myself personally. That was like one of the biggest
Accolades or achievements that I could ever imagine achieving because growing up and
starting my career as a photographer Irving Penn was an absolute legend and
He was someone I knew the work and I knew the campaigns and I sort of had to pinch myself game
Well, we are working with no Kitaka Zawa who was had taken over from isimiyaki
And we were producing campaigns for them and it and it was a really thorough thoughtful process
It went on for seven seasons. So we could spend all day sort of talking about it, but we'll just move on for it quickly
From Iaki we
We got asked by there's a there's a story in in Paris, which I'm sure you're all aware of called Colette and
Sarah approached us as well. She'd seen the work and she was like
I love what you guys are doing. I'd love you to do something special. It's my fifth birthday and
You could take over the store, you know, I'll fund it. You could make images. You can make a book. You can do whatever you want
so we
again embarked on a
exploration and
Created a bunch of images and you know celebrated
Colette's fifth birthday
off the back of that
The communications director for Cartier came
Contacted us. We were still in Paris with a terrible hangover the day after
This is like hell of a party that Sarah had thrown and we got a call of agents at about 10 a.m.
In the morning saying that we had to go to a meeting like really urgently with Cartier because they needed to talk to you
About a project. We were like, can't you just delay this? It's like we are completely hungover
Yeah, we felt worse than we do this morning. It was
Yeah
We sort of went to this meeting with sunglasses on and lots of paracetamol and
They again, it was like a dream job given to us. They were they were like we've been searching to make something that defined
The five fragrances for Cartier, but we didn't want to just repeat
Communication where it's traditional
It sort of leans back to the past. We would like to give you guys the project
You've got carte blanche. You can do whatever you want. The only thing we want back from you is magic
Yeah, I think what's important as well is this is pre digital
So what you're seeing right now is exactly what we were getting on the on the negative on the emulsion. It's all in camera. It's you know
We were in a dark studio for five days messing around with just bits and bobs and these images start
And we didn't think we're gonna sell it to them either. We don't sell it as in, you know
So that's sort of straightforward, but it was quite interesting when they think in those days
We didn't really care or think about it
No, there's something to be said about youth or kind of because you you don't really think about what you're doing
You just do it and the older you get the more you process and analyze what you do
So there's a word of advice to any of you out there. Don't overthink it. Just do it
So we just went and did it. We made these images we presented them and they loved it and you know
It's just a testament to kind of I think
When myself and Nick got together and you know, we look at image making in a way where I think, you know
Invention and creating a visual emotion to telling stories through imagery through films through a combination of those things
Are quite important in this day and age
than ever before
In an age when there is so much information
You know, I think it's probably more important than ever ever before to experiment and explore these things
We think we thought it'd be important to share one of our one of our first big films that we got commissioned to do which
was
BMW and had agency WCRS in London came to us and
Said we would like you to write a treatment for the new BMW add and we were like, what's that?
Yeah, but let's backtrack a bit as well. We'd been asked prior to this about 14 times by the agencies to sort of do car campaigns
Yeah, and we never got any car campaigns. So we never trusted the process
So we were shooting a Levi's campaign at the time. We and we said if they really want us to do it
They'll turn up at 8 a.m. In the morning. Won't they before we shoot
So we got them down and then we still further didn't trust the process
So we because when you when you have to write a you know a treatment for a
Commercial you have to if you give all your ideas away basically
So we thought well if we don't write anything down or we don't physically put anything down
So we so we've videoed ourselves because we've put it on a DVD because we thought well
That's harder to copy because most people don't want to do
and and
Yeah, we were completely paranoid at the time like you know our ideas were our magic as such
Which which I think one should still be you know
I think you should still have that approach, but I think the world's changed in that sense
Let's show the BMW film because it's just a quick minute and the thing to mention is that we will be introducing a
Collaborator that we've brought with us. James LeVal has come to Cape Town with us
So James will be coming on towards the end of our speech and he's Ravi's surprise guest at
in Darba
Um
Well, we meant to announce the surprise over. Oh, yeah, okay. Yeah, well, I think I think his names in the above three of these
I've just realized we're giving a whole presentation
Yeah, yeah, okay, better click on it then. Yeah, okay
Anyway enjoy
James scored the soundtrack for this
You
I
So just as that started I was trying to tell you that James actually
took bait and bait ovens fifth and and
Reinterpreted which was quite an amazing process for myself and Nick to go down recorded with a live orchestra
and then James and his team work on it and produce something which was seminal at the time from a visual and a and
a sound point of view
The next collaboration that we want to bring up is I think the late Alexander McQueen
We've done many many collaborations with with Lee over the years
We just want to share a few few of them with him Lee was one of the rare exceptional creative forces that you know
the world was lucky and
appropriate and and and sort of
Yeah
No, it in all seriousness. It always brings a bit of a lump to my throat. Unfortunately because of the tragedy and and sort of
the you know sad death that Lee kind of had
But let's share some of the work that we did with Lee over the years which culminated in us doing a
Creatively directing and doing his show for him in 2008. Yeah the year after we did the story. We've just shown and
And Lee came down to our studio and was like well you guys are the kings of light
You experiment with light and I've got this really great idea
I want to do like studio 54 hedonism with this like huge party. We're like, oh my god
We don't this was the day before we were going on holiday as well
So he completely ruined both our holidays
Because it's sort of yeah, it was just like a creative bomb going off in our head
And we were like, well, we don't actually know what to do. So we spent the entire holiday thinking about
studio 54 hedonism and
How we could visually bring that to life. I'd come up with this idea that some sort of disco ball soft opens up and
Segments
Bloody awful
Anyway, we even made a scale model and we were quite prepared to even risk showing Lee the model and then he turns down as
As Lee did he always changed his mind at the 11th hour and he rocked up at the studio after our holidays
And he was like right changed my mind about studio 54. We're gonna make a bird
So can you just do that out of light and we were like absolutely was like great
And that was it from there on we you know, we went into production design
We worked with a fantastic guy called Joseph Bennett
Who we do a lot of work with now one of the great production designers and we came up with this concept of
a bird of light and
Using versitube which we were using a lot at the time in our photography and our filmmaking as
Light sources which today again is very common practice, but at the time at the time no one had done anyone was really doing that so
It took us about six months to conceive this work out where we were going to put the light
We're to build a 14 minute film that ran through the whole thing as well because the whole thing turned from a bird into a
Butterfly into a skull wrote through the 14 minutes. So it was kind of working through these animations production design
getting it to Paris trying to do the animations and kind of
Hoping and praying it would all come out at the end which it did
The next collaboration we want to share with you is massive attack
Now I think Robin and D-Wing kept I was a two years ago. Oh, really? Yeah, so
Again massive attack or one of the you know, one of the all-time greats in terms of music culture in terms of what they've produced
And in terms of what they stand for we've done many collaborations with them again over the years where we've
You know from press to album work to to kind of more art-based collaborations
We'll share a film that we made in it was either 2005 or 2006 for the ICA
What's interesting about this film was that we at the time we're experimenting with scanning which was still very
New and basic it was very complicated. It was very slow
But we just had this idea where we would kind of get in with scanners
Get the information and then again find a way to
Reappropriate the information and make something beautiful and you'll see a direct link from the early graphic work
To what we ended up creating here, but again, it was a you know, it was an organic project
The guys gave us carte blanche and I think the results are just around 30 seconds. Yeah
You
You
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So we're just going to show you a small clip because it goes on for ages
And hopefully by sharing some of this stuff if anybody's into it. They can go and check it out or we'll show them ourselves
We then got approached by Thames and Hudson to collaborate with a
With a future is the fashion future is called Suzanne Lee. It was pretty remarkable
Designer in her own rights, but she decided to kind of become a research fellow and
Was really at the forefront of many many many technologies that are now only starting to surface like growing clothes and
You know the micro aspect of where fashion was heading etc. And etc
She approached us and and she had this book that she was going to publish that she'd been working on for
God knows how many years ten years. I think in developments and research and
we
Collaborated with her made all the images that you see now and they illustrated different subjects within the book
Depicting the future of fashion. It's just a few images, but through the book. I think we made 50 pictures. Yeah
I'm now gonna go to one of our most
Prolific collaborations and it continues today just before we came last week we
shot BX new video in London and
We can't unfortunately show you much from that because it's it's all top-secret and there's if we showed it
We just let the cat out the bag, but
We'd like to just share some of the some of the moments of our elaborations with Björk. Yeah, we've been working with B for
12 years now
I'm six collaboration that's longer than that. Yeah, like 14 years. Yeah. Yeah 14
It's making me feel old
Well, we've been collaborating for 18. I think that's yeah
18 years like an old married couple, but hey, that's what makes it work. Yeah
We live around the corner from each other our studio is just down their road. It's yeah
We live actually in an orphan as we live either side of a park just put a bit of distance
I think I
Think the thing that's you know, I I'm sure you'd find interesting about Björk is that she's she's an incredible character and
You know, I'd say my myself and make a really privileged and fortunate to have met someone so wonderful
and so colorful and so trusting within a creative process because
She's always she she always astounds in terms of, you know, her energy, her commitment
her vision and how much she gives in terms of, you know, her creative process and then how much she allows in terms of freedom to
to explore and create
something for interesting for us as well because
Warren's always touched on it. It's
We're always sort of looking at new things and and you know, every every time you think you've done it all or you've done, you know
Have sort of like writer's block or image makers block. I don't know what it is, but sort of
for Björk, we've done something which is
Is messing with our head a bit and work
But the video is not only going to be a film in some sense
But it's equally we've shot it in in full VR. So the whole piece is going to be in full virtual reality and I
Was quite dubious to be honest
on the whole VR thing, you know
And and all that and I don't think
They're I don't think until you actually enter into the fully immersive VR you
See or you get a feeling of how how incredible it actually is and actually maybe how dangerous it is as well
So so it's sort of for how it's perceived because it's it's quite addictive. So on some levels
It's this is something this just show you well, let me just say I mean
It's it's live-action 2d 3d and VR
So we've I think it's quite important because the process evolved so much and we had really we almost I think
Now at the second renaissance we we've sort of you know
The mid 90s was the complete digital revolution and now I think we we sort of going through another revolution right now
as we kind of fully embrace the third dimension and
This is a clip so it doesn't really give anything away, but it shows the kinetic capture and
One of the aspects or the assets that we need for part of the process of making all the different elements that we're gonna combine
Yeah, cuz we not only did it in a filmic sense
We've also used photogrammetry as well, which is a scanning process. We'll get on to a bit later Stop it there
Yeah
No, well, it's it's it's highly sensitive
but I think it was just important to share with you guys because you can see the process and and
See a little bit of what we're talking about
Right
This is a collaboration that was originally
commissioned by the British Arts Council and
The resident choreographer for the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London was Russell Malefant and he approached us to
collaborate with him on his then current
Rodin project we
like most of our projects submerged fully into it and
it became a very very big sort of thing that we entered into and
and
Explored subject matter that was appropriate to kind of our vision, but it really went on a journey again with
James Lavelle doing the music and which is a very very special soundtrack
So we'll show a small piece from the film
But you should go and check it out if you want to see the you know the entire piece because it's a very special score
And it's a great film
It ended up we ended up showing the film in freeze London
two years ago and
We took over London Newcastle gallery and we had a installation called the gates of hell on the outside
And then we had the film and a bunch of artwork that you've just seen just show you a few clips from it. Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
I
Can't show it all but it's
It's actually six different chapters over 14 minutes and as you get deeper into it
It's that if we were heavily influenced by the work of Rodin and the psychological approach that he had to his work and
I suppose in a way it's sort of a response to that
Iris is probably the leading
Conceptual fashion designer after the late Alexander McQueen to show in Paris fashion week now
and we've been collaborating with Iris for the last three years on her campaigns and
We've made a film with her and we leave
From South Africa we go straight to Paris and we work on her next collection. She shows on Wednesday next week
Iris is an incredibly inspirational designer because she's at the forefront of all technologies
Collaborating very closely with a great artist called Philip Beasley who we gonna do a collaboration with
Later on in the year as well a
Lot of 3d printing
You know a lot of immersive new technology is going into Iris's vision and she's an absolute sweetheart and
An amazing amazing designer
You
You
We then I saw Rachel last night if she's in the audience
Which is the features writer for creative review and wonderful person. We did a did a project with creative review
Paul Benson
Who's the art director commissioned us to do the cover story for the last annual?
We again embarked on a process which took about nine months with conversations between myself and Nick and Paul and a process
where we use photogrammetry to
Take Daria Warbury who's probably at that stage in her career is the biggest supermodel in the world
I'm sure you all familiar who she is
we asked Daria if she'd come to London and shoot this project with us what she did and
Worked with an incredibly good animator
called Matt at a very very small company called analog which have just started up in London and
we yeah, we made a piece called a laugh and again, this was all about the process and
Challenging the boundaries of how you make images and films and you know combining different elements for an end result
Oh
reason we're here. Yeah, yeah, so
So we we sort of been getting quite bored of late and our editorial contributions have been kind of we sort of been waning off with certain
Aspects of the traditional sort of media that we were contributing. So myself and Nick just decided to launch our own publication and
That's going to be published the full volume will be published in April 2016
We're going to show you spoke to Ravi. Let me just just we spoke to Ravi about this and through our own
apologize
That's the tamer version
So we so we spoke to Ravi and for whatever reason we were actually going to get the whole thing printed and published now, but we
Through other commitments and commercial sort of stuff that we would do and we've lagged behind by a couple of months. So
I think it's Friday. Am I correct Ravi? We have
a surprise published it a teaser which is I'd say a third of the publication that's going to come out and Ravi very kindly has
Printed that for us, and we'll be given away on Friday. Yes, thank you, Ravi.
But it was also it was quite interesting because when Ravi came over to see us
It was like it was a kickstart, you know
We had all these ideas for such a long time and sometimes you need a deadline deadline forces the issue and I think it's
by part of
Doing what we're doing right now today. It's it's actually it really opened us up to a whole new body of and way of working and
Okay, let's take it through the public cash. Yeah, during James on talk about
Pixel's helping on this. Okay. Yes a big massive. Thank you to Craig vessels who is wicked pixels Cape Town
Incredibly incredibly talented man and his team that have worked on producing these images with us. So homegrown completely
Big up to Craig
I'm just going to flick through them guys because we're serious that this says not not not
And what we've done through the process of is just we've worked with various collaborators from from
Rebecca Louise Law the installation flower artist to
The stylist who worked with us on these pitches and a Trevelyan who's insane as a stylist
Real sort of again homegrown sort of London talent moved to New York doing really well
Worked on this piece with us. I was questioned about this piece by my mother last week
She'd why the octopus son
Ah, my dad just smiled no comments
Huh, but we know we love
De-familiarization we love shape form the way things can be abstracted new pieces that we've been doing with New York
Another great stylist we're working with called Karen Clarkson
So this is all very very new work that you are seen for the first time. No one else has seen this and incredible concept artists called
Alex Noble who sketched the whole vision and then came to us and then we brought it to life in photography
So with no further ado, I'd like to welcome one of our longest standing collaborators James the Val
To come and join us on stage
Sorry James
Time's up supposedly some very quick special guest the last of the dysfunctional family. Yeah, exactly. We are the
For those who don't know much about James. He's an extraordinary
curator and collaborator he
started Mo Waxman and you know when he was 16
he has
created some of the greatest music and music videos of our time and
recently curated meltdown
which is a heritage of Yoko and David Bowie and the law and is in the process of
curating the
We're working on something interesting. The secret could not be unveiled yet, but
Again Ravi was was was very kind and very
Sort of helpful in bringing part of these collaborations to life and and it was like guys
You know, let's make a poster. Let's release a piece of music and
You know go in and and create some magic in the name of of design in Darba and I have to again say
Thank you so much for
Supporting the vision and the talent and making stuff happen Ravi
So we've started working on a new series of pictures with James
And in a weird situation to have again, it's quite free to
To response to to him his music and I suppose what we're all feeling at the moment
Well, we've worked on I mean we started working together a long time ago. I've known Warren for nearly 20 years and
We originally started working with Warren and Nick in the early days with Mo Wax and then
throughout the
the project that I do called uncle and from the second album we started doing photography and
and building on those ideas until the last album that came out about five years ago where Warren Nick actually did the
Entire artwork of the record
but
We always sort of have these moments where we kind of go off do all things come back together and we start trying sort of a bit
Of a think tank. We'll sit down. We'll talk about what we're into what we're doing
I come from a sort of culture of collaging originally being a DJ
Having a record label and from that we sort of built, you know, you built a culture of working with musicians artists
Coming from hip-hop. It was very much about the whole identity the language the visual identity, etc
And and so we'll you know, we taking that
Way of working into our process. We sit down. We talk about what we're inspired by and for instance with something like this
I've just started working on my new record
So we're talking about that trying to find a new identity the fact that on this record
It's it's me as a I've always partnered with people in the past. This is a record that I'm making
On my own in that way
And so wanted to try and kind of find a new identity for what what I was doing and this record
But again to the work in progress. So that's the imagery that we are
Giving on Friday and someone was showing this imagery that you're seeing was for the last record
and a lot of you know records to me are like diary, so it's about how you feel at the time and
The last record was very much coming out of an era where I'd worked with Futura 2000 coming from street art
I'd worked with 3d for massive attack again who'd come out of street hot street art the whole kind of more coming from the hip-hop side of things
I wanted to create something which wasn't so much the sort of boys with toys something where it the record was the records were more
Live there was a more rock and roll element to what was going on mixed with electronica and so the images you just saw we're trying to kind of
Was a reaction to what one had done in the past and it's sort of always like that you kind of react to you know
Where you're going where you see yourself, you know
So this is the record where we've created new work is sort of about you know where one's going and again
It's a sort of diary of your feeling experience and emotion, you know
We've we've done quite a few quite a few music videos with James, so let's show you a clip from the runaway
I
Mean that was an amazing kind of
It came out of a shoot that we did for a for a for a single of the record and it was part of the same shoot
But it was one of those amazing moments where we shot something it didn't quite fit for what we were doing in the
Main body of work and suddenly we had a new piece of work
And that's what's always great when you're working with people like we're on a knick is you start with something
You have an idea and then how that grows and where that goes is always
Quite amazing and you tend to come out with quite a lot of different
Things out of that process and I think the thing that what's important about the relationship to me is the fact that you know
Music is to me is always essential about identity and I think when you when you see the work that Warren and Nick have done
They've worked with some of the best artists in that way when you talk about bands like massive attack or Bjork
We all came from a culture in the 90s where you know video
photography and and music coming together, but in a kind of lunatics running the asylum way we kind of got to take over
We were young it was we were a generation growing up on Star Wars on you know
Hip-hop on all of these things and it was we were kind of given the freedom to be creative and and and you know it was it
That to me is the sort of what we one strives for now is to be able to constantly search and create a
Unique individual identity to be able to create your own universe is what?
Inspires me inspires us and I think it's very important in a world. We live in now where
Especially in the music business everything is thrown at you. It's very cheap image, especially video video has really
Gone down, you know the way that people the attention to detail on video and things that are made so you know
It's we do this in a very personal but DIY way
But it's very much about creating something which is ours and how we you know see the world and how we how we look at both
You know the politics of making things with the technology and how we put that all together
Yeah, and so we I think what so we so we don't become disconnected. I think that's a really important thing. I think more than ever before I think you have to
Strive to go back into the craft make things tangible cross-pollinate the mediums
Because you know the uncanny valley is there, you know repulsion towards man and machine is starting to happen
You know there's so much that is written and theorized about that at the minute
But in reality it is starting to happen. You see a massive trend coming back to vinyl. Yeah, etc. etc
So, you know, it's it's really important that you you know
You have a process and that there's a human aspect to that process as much as there is the wonderful
Opportunities that technology and the digital domain can offer up. So we'll go out on a piece that we did for James
For the opening of meltdown. It's called worship
It's a
Yeah, it's a lovely balance of technology and emotion
We wanted to create a a universe as a master painting. Come on. You can geek out now. Tell them how many
It's the biggest. It's the biggest particle render ever made in London and it took months
It's so painful
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