MANILA, Philippines - The country’s most exciting annual arts event is going to be held tomorrow, Aug. 7, 2010 as the young and creative head to the The SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex. Graphika Manila International Multimedia Design Conference is the premier multimedia and graphic design event in the Philippines. Since 2006, Graphika Manila has attracted over 5,000 design students and professionals and is now hailed as one of the most influential multimedia art events in the country. Simply put, it is a creative symposium with speakers from different fields of the creative arts, all saluting the creative side of design, rather than technology.
Past speakers have been both decorated and diverse: Team Manila (2007), Pixar and tokidoki (2008), and last year’s brain-picking with Stefan Sagmeister and Industrial Light & Magic, among other luminaries.
Stirring creative juices this year is New York-based artist Tara McPherson, who was named the crown princess of poster art by Elle magazine. Those doodles for the film Juno? They were hers. And apart from painting comics for DC Vertigo, creating toys for Kidrobot, and illustrating gig posters for bands like Beck and Modest Mouse, this design dynamo teaches a class at Parsons. (Read more about McPherson on the next page).
On the local front, Graphika’s got Arnold and Cynthia Arre, a husband-and-wife art and design team probably best known for individual works such as graphic novel Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat and music packaging designs for the Eraserheads.
Also speaking are Danny Yount, a self-taught designer, who’s won an Emmy for his concept, design and direction of HBO’s Six Feet Under, considered by many to have “television’s most gorgeous opening sequence.” His most recent sequences for feature film Iron Man were profiled in Creativity magazine’s Top 5. Phunk is a contemporary art and design collective based in Singapore, described as “The Champion of Singapore’s Graphic Scene” (Creative Review, UK) and has worked with international brands such as MTV, Comme des Garcons, and Tiger Beer. Underground logic is one of the leading creative design and editorial houses in the region. And then there’s Rocketsheep Post spearheaded by visual artiste extraordinaire Avid Liongoren, who’ll be talking about their film project: Saving Sally. It’s an Independent film project described as a typical teen film about love, monsters and gadgets.
Graphika Manila will be happening on Aug. 7 at The SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex. For more info, Please visit www.graphikamanila.com.