It's that time of the year again, where we nervously sit on our packed Hello-Kitty-suitcases, tickets to NY in hand, ready to catch our flight.

Straight upon arrival on the 31st of October, we'll be rushing over to the opening of Scarygirl's 10 year anniversary exhibition by Nathan Jurevicus, featuring endless exquisite artwork by many current and previous Pictoplasma speakers, including Aaron Stewart, Motomichi Nakamura, Akinori Oishi, Ben Newman, Craig Redman, Hyein Lee, Jon Burgerman, Joshua Ben Longo, Jeremyville, Raymond Lemstra, Rilla Alexander, Tokyoplastic, and many more…
All of the this and more awaits you from 7 to 10pm, at the TTUnderground of Toy Tokyo. We'd be thankful for any sort of support, so we hope to see you there, as we fight off the first effects of incoming jet-lag.

The next evening, on the 1st of November, we officially kick off the 2012 Pictoplasma NYC edition with the opening of the accompanying group show exhibition at Cappellini Soho, 152 Wooster Street. Starting from 6pm, please join us as we await all friendly passer-byes and curious attendees, for a fine selection of original paintings, limited prints and sculptures by this year's conference speakers such as Andy Rementer, Anna Hrachovec, Sonni Adrian, Mark Gmehling and Julia Pott. Drinks will be served, and by then our jet-lag should no longer be too much of an issue.

Friday and Saturday, the 2nd + 3rd of November are reserved for lectures, presentations and screenings, all taking place at the Pictoplasma NYC Conference, Tishman Auditorium of Parsons The New School For Design. This is your unique chance to mix, mingle, network, exchange and get inspired by some of the most outstanding artists currently pushing the boundaries of today's visual production, all neatly piled up in a dense, two-day chunk!
And with Olimpia Zagnoli, David OReilly, Mark Newgarden, Buff Monster, Gemma Correll, Jason Freeny, Ryan Quincy, Taylor McKimens, ... - it's quite an eclectic line-up this year!

But beware: While we still have a reasonable amount of conference passes left for those willing to act fast, online registration will soon come to an end! Secure your full character escapism before Wednesday, the 31st!
Otherwise - only upon availability - the risky "first come, first served" alternative is to try and grab one of the last conference passes directly at the Tishman Auditorium during the conference. Not advisable.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, after the glorious opening reception during which we managed to work our way through 15 cradles of beer in less than 2 hours (the pumpkin pie only surviving several minutes), our current exhibition of other-worldly paintings by the gifted Low Bros continues to welcome you every Friday and Saturday in our Kitchen, Berlin's new showroom for all things character and art. Speaking of which, Low Bros also happen to be among the speakers of the upcoming, big, Uber-Festival of contemporary character culture in Berlin!

Yes, it's official, mark your calendars:

PICTOPLASMA BERLIN 2013
FESTIVAL AND CONFERENCE
10 - 14 APRIL

This is THE annual event you are not allowed to miss: Expect an all new, dense, full week program of awe inducing artist presentations, back-to-back conference lectures, fresh animation screenings, hands-on workshops, installations, endless exhibitions, performances and of course, a multitude of character! We're still holding back details on the juicy conference line-up for a few days, but starting NOW a first, growing festival-page is online to feed your curiosity and make you aware of 2 pending deadlines / calls for entries!

In cooperation with our friends at DISK/CTM we renew our Pictoplasma Residency program and have reserved one of the most beautiful Berlin Character Walk exhibition stations for you. If you want to jump at the opportunity to present your character driven work to a wide, international and interested audience, we are open to your wildest, most daring, stylistically sure-footed character exhibition proposals.

The awarded artist receives up to 10 days of accommodation in Berlin, a grant of 500,- Euros to help realize the submitted proposal, all our support to set up the exhibition, as well as free entry to all of the Pictoplasma Berlin Festival and Conference events. The deadline for your proposals to reach us is the 25th of January 2013, all information and requirements here!

As another open call for entries, we are once more on the hunt for outstanding, character-driven animation, to be considered for the official upcoming Pictoplasma Festival 2013 screening programs. The deadline is the 1st of February 2013, all details and the downloadable entry form here! If you happen to be responsible for high-grade Characters in motion, animation, narration, music visuals or experimental work, please don't hesitate to share them with us...

OK, as every year, just to be an the safe side:

peter? check√
lars? check√

Off to the airport,
Peter and Lars