the fifth of may is a japanese holiday called ‘kodomo no hi‘ (children’s day). the holiday used to be called ‘boy’s day’, but the government decided to rename it children’s day to celebrate the happiness of all children. we still celebrate boys on this day since there is a girl’s day on the third of march.

for boy’s day, we raise a carp flag (koi nobori) and display dolls in samurai armor. one of the dolls represent ‘kintaro‘. kintaro was raised in the mountains by his mother. kintaro rides a bear instead of a horse. the animals of the forest became his friends due to his gentle nature. eventually kintaro joins up with a Samurai clan and helps to defeat a gang of demons. kintaro is a symbol of a healthy and strong boy.

i don’t have carp flags or the dolls yet, so i made an origami kabuto and jinbei kimono for elijah. i happened to have a kintaro bib. i tried to put a paper origami kabuto on his head, but he ate it. here he is on his rocking moose.

i hope he had fun on his first boy’s day. or maybe he’s sick of being a model…

i’m inspired by the ugly patterns on the textiles for baby clothes at the fabric store. happy clowns and baseball patterns and weird pastel-coloured bears with eyes too close together.  they are so ugly i’m having nightmares.

i’ve been invited to show my drawings at the cracow screen festival in poland. the festival is taking place in the centre of cracow. there will be 2 music stages and video and art slideshows on a large screen and on 12 projections on the sides of buildings. it’s a 3 day music festival, may 2-4 2008.

the festival website is here.

16 performers, 3 days, 2 stages, visual art screened on buildings, houses and screens - all this can be expected during first cracow screen festival which will be held in cracow from 2nd to 4th of may, 2008. the event will start the festival season in poland, as well as the tourist season in cracow. in the long run the csf is designed to become one of the largest live music events in the country and the biggest annual video art presentation in poland.

over the three may days (the traditional polish ‘long weekend’) the historic cracow squares (jan nowak-jezioranski square and szezepaniski square) will witness live performances of well established bands and shows of visual art, created by artists specializing in video art and artistic film.

visual art will be ubiquitous: films will be shown in most public spaces, esp. on ATM screens, video screens, tv sets in shopping malls, etc.

the festival will host two distinctive visual artists: floria sigismondi - italian born photographer and director, known for working with bjork, white stripes, marlyn manson, david bowie, the cure, muse, interpol. and maria mochnacz, known for her unique portraits and videoclips of pj harvey.

the three days will turn cracow into one gigantic music screen.

two main stages will host seven bands daily. the audience can move about freely from one square to another, thus creating a festival programme of their own.

the first cracow screen festival will host many international artists, who haven’t made it to poland before, such as cirKus feat. neneh cherry (sweden), slut (germany), the raveonettes (denmark), bryan ferry (uk) and some, like mattafix (uk), who turn each visit to poland into immediate success.

some, like underworld, with their amazing light show, will satisfy both visual art and music fans. the festival auduence will have a chance to confront thir shows with concerts of the most interesting polish acts, such as wilki, smolik, cool kids of death, pustki and others!

i wish i could be there in person. i’m a big fan of underworld, especially. maybe i can see photos from the festival and some video clips on youtube.

here is my favorite youtube video using underworld’s music and film from koyaanisqatsi: