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1. Stell dich bitte kurz vor.

Anna Hellsgård and Christian »Meeloo« Gfeller, Swedish-French visual artist duo, based in Berlin. We have been working together since 2001, creating paintings, prints, artists’ books and gigposters.

2. Wie kamst du dazu Poster zu gestalten und warum hauptsächlich mittels Siebdruck?

Christian: I started to design & print gigposters in 1995. I had my own silkscreen atelier in a huge alternative warehouse project that was hosting rehearsal spaces, recording studios, raves and concerts in Strassburg. Some of my friends started small garage punk & noise labels, and I would design and print the record covers. Meanwhile we organised concerts and parties, so naturally, I was in charge of doing the design and print to advertise those events. When I met Anna in 2001, we moved to Bordeaux, which had a huge music scene at the time, so the gigposter activity came about very naturally.

3. Bist du Autodidakt oder hast du eine einschlägige Ausbildung / Background?

Anna: I grew up in Sweden and studied photography at the Stockholm Art Academy (Konstskolan i Stockholm), and started working as a graphic designer while still in school.

Christian: I attended the Master class in Graphic Design at Ecole des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg, in France. I was already active working on my own projects during that time, so I quit the art school in the middle of the 5th year… just before graduating.

Kannst du vom Postermachen / Drucken leben oder was sichert deinen Lebensunterhalt?

At some point, from 2002 to 2006, the gigposter business was certainly our greatest income. Back then, we were not so many »gigposter artists« around, specially not in Europe, and this whole scene was very new and exciting for the public too. But our income always came form the different activities we have…. we wouldn’t want to do gigposters as a full time job… it would be quiet tense to just focus on this practice. We love to create and produce paintings, artist’s books, zines, art prints. We also run a shop / gallery in the front room of our studio space in the Torstrasse in Mitte. We present our own productions, as well as a selection of prints, books, zines from artists we like. And we host exhibitions from time to time.

4. Wie sieht dein Arbeitsablauf in Kurzform aus? Welche Werkzeuge und Hilfsmittel verwendest Du?

Except for our one-hand press (which is a used one), it’s all DIY material. Visitors are often stocked that we can produce high quality prints & books with such rudimentary set up. We have the minimum and it works fine…. we don’t need more.

5. Wer sind Deine Vorbilder, wer hat Dich beeinflusst, wen siehst Du als wegweisenden Poster-Artist an und von wem bist Du einfach Fan?

We try to keep it as open as possible. Our influences range from contemporary art to underground comics, as well as experimental films, music, science, outsider art… In the field of graphic design, we especially like Japanese, Polish and Cuban posters from the 70s – our favorite graphic designers are Roman Cieslewicz and Tadanori Yokoo. Regarding the gigposter scene, we are fan of Art Chantry, Seripop, Dan MacAdam, Sonnenzimmer, Keith Herzig… Great ideas only happen when you think creatively across different mediums.

6. Wie siehst Du das Rockposter heute: Merchandise, Kunstdruck oder nach wie vor Ankündigungsmedium?

Since I’ve seen more gigposters on merch table then in galleries or museums, I would say merchandise. No need to be pretentious or snob about it, Gigposter is a creative mix of illustration, graphic design, art and crafts and fan art. It is not fine art. It is popular culture and it is perfect like this.

7. Wo kann man deine Sachen bekommen?

If you are in Berlin, just drop by our shop in the Torstrasse 110. or www.resurgo-berlin.com The shipping is for free in Europe.