The call out has today been made for creative types around Australia to design a work inspired by the thought of living a life less plastic, in a new environmental art & design competition called Message in a Bottle.

Artists & designers can submit their creative response to the plastic pandemic until November 16, culminating in a finalist’s exhibition with winning artworks to be printed on bar coasters and beer labels throughout Australia.

Environmental activist and writer Amy Kyriacou http://miab.net.au/?portfolios=inpiration has teamed up with creative collective Create or Die along with a host of Sydney’s leading bars, cafes, restaurants and brewers to take the competition to the streets, rallying artists to make a creative response to plastic pollution.

“Message in a Bottle is a call to arms for every creative who wants to make a statement on a serious issue which is taking an irreparable toll on our environment – our needy obsession with single use, throwaway plastics. And our appetites are growing.

“I became fixated on the scores of people purchasing plastic bottle after plastic bottle and the Baristas churning through coffee cup lids by the thousand. Every piece of plastic ever created still exists today – how can that not be a problem.

“When we draw so much inspiration from the environment, it made perfect sense to see how artists respond to the issue and challenge them to think ‘outside the bottle’ “, said Amy Kyriacou.

Create or Die founder Deb Morgan said the partnership was a natural one for the online collective which aims to support creatives who don’t make their primary living from their art.

“It’s an opportunity to make art for art’s sake with the additional value of being about something starkly important – the health of the environment.

“With all the buzz and pressures of modern life, people tending to demanding clients rarely get the chance to make their own art – and a competition like this gives Creatives a chance to consider an issue, hopefully get a little bit outraged, and make something in response.

Follow the bottle on Facebook and Twitter/ Visit www.miab.net.au for information on how to get involved.

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More information & interviews

Ed Shiell 0402 254 968/shiell.edwyn@gmail.com

Deb Morgan 0414 412 797/ deb@createordie.com.au

Watch campaign video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSwWDqurbQI&feature=plcp

Exhibition opening night diary details
When: 25th January 2013
Where: Create or Die Gallery. Commune, 1/160 Rochford Street Erskineville
Time: 6-9 pm
RSVP: info@miab.net.au

Artwork Specs

There are no limitations on the entries – all forms of print-able visual art forms including photography, graphic design and fine arts are encouraged. Art will need to be set up at 300dpi, 500mm diameter round canvas with 10mm bleed.

Artists & designers are encouraged to submit in low res, but to design the work in high-res so if selected to feature on opening night at Create or Die gallery in Erskineville, it can be produced and displayed.

This year, VIVID extended it’s reach down into Walsh Bay for the very time with over 11 lighting, projection, sound-scape, sculptural and performance installations curated by Peter Grieg of Sunny Side Up Studios and with the help of production company The Acorn Collective it has been an amazing first year.

The empty shopfront provided a canvas for a series of digital artworks by members of the Create or Die community which played every night from sundown until midnight for the last few weeks. A late edition to the exhibition was an amazing sculpture by Louis Pratt.

On Saturday 10th June a special live acoustic performance by Steve Saunders, Ben Stiel and Deb Morgan had the shopfront crammed with a captive audience. After the live gig finished up, the team from the Rebel Videobooth opened their doors to the public for a night of mad dance moves, wicked beats and jiving

Sydney Vivid 2012 – Closing Night from Rebel Videobooth on Vimeo.

The project aimed to boost awareness of the precinct and it’s offerings and extend this world class event to Sydney’s Arts Precinct.

Vivid Sydney is the largest light and music festival in the Southern Hemisphere and a major celebration of the creative industries.

Vivid Sydney is a forum for the creative industries to collaborate, foster business connections and showcase new ideas.

In 2011 Vivid Sydney attracted more than 400,000 unique attendees and generated around $10 million in new money for the State, 500,000 are anticipated in 2012.

Now in its fourth year, Vivid has become Sydney’s major festival in winter, transforming the city after dark into a spectacular canvas of light, music and ideas

Vivid Sydney was recently ranked as one of the world’s top ten ideas festivals by the influential Guardian newspaper in the UK.

BREAKING NEWS: Vivid Walsh Bay has been approved for 2013, so keep in touch for announcements in the lead up to next years festival.

Big thanks to all the contributors, special thanks to Russell Moverly and Natalie Abdullah, Belle Howie, Dan Marshall, Terry Chisholm.

You can check out the projection video’s at our You Tube channel here http://www.youtube.com/user/CreateorDieVideo

Create or Die is putting together a submission for an installation that will be showing in Walsh Bay throughout the festival.

We’re doing a call out for anyone that wants to have their art/design included in this projection installation.

All you need to do is send through artwork that you think would look great projected onto a wall! It can be landscape or portrait (or outside the square!)

Create or Die will be hosting the installation and editing together the final installation piece. All the artists will be given mentions in press releases we do and a dedicated webpage will list your contribution and short bio on createordie.com.au

We need your submissions by 8pm Wednesday 18th April.

Your submissions don’t need to be created especially for VIVID and can be something you’ve used previously, but all work must be in the spirit of Create or Die – i.e. personal work, not client work and full time artists cannot apply (i.e. people who make a full-time living off their own art.)

We’re also asking for written content around “Create or Die” and what it means to you, these words/content will be projected onto a wall and spliced throughout the visual imagery.

For more information please email Deb – hello@createordie.com.au

http://www.vividsydney.com/

Terry was one of the winners of our 2011 Drink Outside the Square Competition, we took some time out to find out how Terry got to be where he is today and why he would rather Create or Die!

Name: Terry Chisholm or Meny Miny Mo (depending on what medium I am using).

What’s your day job? Where to start, in my current job I was originally contracted as a Typographer, 3 years later I am still doing a lot of Typography but I’m also a designer and in-house photographer for anything that needs shooting around the studio. Currently I work for an advertising agency called The Monkeys (Formally Three Drunk Monkeys) in Sydney. I am also an artist who exhibits frequently.

How did you get into your profession or the position you are currently in? Well I used to work as a boat builder for Americas Cup. One day I fell down a set of stairs and out a window and broke my neck, consequently I had about 6 months paid leave off work to heal… well 6 months is quite a long time and it was great doing nothing but stuff my face with food and watch day time soap’s for the first month, but I soon became extremely bored -  then I discovered computers and the internet!

I have always been quite creative and painted from an early age so I ended up teaching myself design. I had a few junior roles in the beginning ranging from making flash banners to video editing, 3D & design at a number of studios around Auckland New Zealand.  Before moving to Sydney to work at The Monkeys, I worked in account service and as a designer at Ogilvy – since then I have stayed in advertising.

How did you find out about Drink Outside the Square? My usual routine in the morning before I start work is drink coffee and check out design & advertising websites. I saw this competition on a number of them so I entered it. I also had shown work at the Showcase Gallery launch and I knew it was close to where I lived so if I made the shortlist I would be able to go to the exhibition and drink all the free beer – which i did!!

What’s your favorite place to grab a glass of wine or an ice cold beer in Sydney during summer? The London,  4 In Hand & The Hideout, all are in Paddington.

What does “create or die” mean to you?  I guess it is something I really try to live by, whilst my official job title on paper is a designer, I do not limit myself to just design.

I try to create products, photograph, sculptures and I paint – anything I can get my hands on that involves me creating something really. I’m not saying I am any good at any of these things but I give it a go! Some work out, some don’t… I actually get quite weird & irritable if I have not created anything for a few days, imagine a 5 year old drinking 4 litres of soft drink, I am not much fun to be around when I am like that.

Some of Terry’s personal work…

HUGE thanks to everyone who was involved in the
2011 Drink Outside the Square Design Competition!

We’ve ALMOST recovered from the huge weekend (no-one told us it was Wednesday already!) so we thought it was time to update you on everything that’s happened in the past week.

Firstly, a big thanks to everyone who entered the competition-there are some seriously talented creators out there!

Thanks to everyone who came along to the exhibition event on Friday, there was a great turn out and it was a lot of fun.

For all of you who missed out on the event, here’s a quick overview of the evening:

The judges; Andrew of Design is Kinky & Semi-Permanent, Theo Pettaras of Digitalpress, Tanya Ruxton of Shillington College and guest judge Jay Morgan of Amnesia Razorfish trickled into Showcase Gallery from 5pm and were blown away when they saw the top 24 designs printed HUGE at 1mx1m by Digitalpress!

A secret ballot was taken and there were a few too close to call, so a re-vote took place (special mention to Luke Day, Orly Snir and Brendan Seery who were all very close contenders!)

Public started arriving at 6pm as a chef from Zushi prepared Sushi Ginza fresh on the spot (which everyone gobbled down almost quicker than he could make it!), Tyrrell’s wine was flowing and a special performance by Anthony Singer (Singer Song-Writer – no pun intended!) made the evening complete.

The winners will each receive a prize pack that includes:

A ticket to Semi-Permanent in Sydney 2012 valued at $310 // A Robio prize pack to the value of $150 // A Development Program with Create or Die worth over $2,000 // Digitalpress printing voucher worth over $250 // A mixed pack of Thirst Impressions coasters containing all 12 designs valued at $14.95 // A bottle of Tyrrell’s Old Winery Sparkling Brut NV valued at $20 // Your design on Thirst Impressions coasters distributed in stores throughout Australia & online!
And the winners were…

Gabe Cameron for Ocean:

Russell Moverly for Bunnies (affectionately known as Winston!):

& Terry Chishom for Jessica Hart Cube:

The exhibition will be on until Saturday 3^rd December at Showcase Gallery and the 24 finalist prints are on sale for $200 unframed & $600 framed. www.showcasegallery.com.au

For all of the 24 finalists, we have a print for each of you of your own design! You can pick yours up on Saturday at 2pm from Showcase Gallery.

An artist range of coasters will be released this week and available at Showcase Gallery and online at www.robio.com.au and www.thirstimpressions.com.au

Thanks again to everyone who got involved. We can barely wait until the next one!!

Deb & Belle
~Create or Die & Thirst Impressions by Creative Resauce~
www.createordie.com.au

SHOWCASE GALLERY
Level 3
85 William Street
Darlinghurst

RSVP HERE

What an amazing competition Drink Outside the Square has been so far!

Join us this Friday as we present the top 24 finalist design entries. The artworks are HOT off the press and have been printed by Digitalpress on beautiful stock, (100cm x 100cm) and shall be available for purchase throughout the exhibition period. The opening night will see a panel of judges choose the winners of the comp from these 24 finalists and will announce on the night!

Yummy food provided by Sushi Ginza by Zushi and Wine from Tyrrells wine will be flowing-so make sure you get to the opening to be a part of the celebrations!

~ Deb & Belle ~

Create or Die & Thirst Impressions

Visit Create or Die’s Facebook page and show your support for your favourite design simply by “LIKING” the design you love the most!

The design with the most likes is guaranteed a spot in the TOP 20 finalists who go on to be exhibited at Showcase Gallery & in the running for 1 of 3 major prizes!

VOTE NOW!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.197906163617884.47700.145824885492679&type=1

You can still enter the competition here until the 15th November  // no more extensions people!!//

New Judge for Drink Outside the Square

Theo Pettaras, founder of Digitalpress,  has come on board to help select the winning designs ~ Thanks Theo!

Thanks to Digitalpress the top 20 designs will be printed on beautiful stock and yours to purchase at the exhibition on Friday 25th November at Showcase Gallery: http://www.showcasegallery.com.au/

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About Digitalpress

Digitalpress are a team of digital print experts who use ground-breaking techniques to help clients find better printing solutions. While specialising in variable data, direct marketing and large print runs, we also offer many unique finishes to enhance your marketing material; such as raised and spot varnishes that are engaging to the eye and also to touch.

Check out their website: http://www.digitalpress.com.au/home/

We helped bring their vinyl decal dreams come true and interviewed Joel on his thoughts about leaving the Commercial Space and entering the world of freelance & full time artistry…

Create OR DIE.
What does “create or die” mean to you?
I guess it describes what i do day to day – weather from designing identities and websites to creating artworks or doing commercial illustration. Everyday i have to wake up and create to eat really.

What do you do for a ‘day job’?
Recently I’ve move from working in commercial web design to concentrate on art projects and illustration. I loved working in the digital space; I was able to work on a huge variety of clients and learn a bunch of skills including; video, character design, and commercial illustration. My day to now consists of spending half the week working in freelance design, with a few days dedicated to picking up some cans of paint, or attacking a huge drawing, to even cutting a little film project. I also love my coffee and work at a cafe few days a week to make sure the rent gets taken care of. I’m mostly just a bit obsessed with making coffee and haven’t been able to stop since i picked the craft during uni.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Modern Day savour of the art world – continue Salvidor Dali’s work or arrogance. Haven’t quite worked out which it was he did yet. I think both – mostly due to his films, artworks, studies in surrealism which i think has been some of the most important visual studies in history. When i first watch his 1929 short film – Un chien andalou, it literally blew me away. It was the first time i saw art that revolved around an audience’s perception of a certain reality. Also loved the surreal formula – establish the viewer with a familiar reality, then twist it or make it strange. So yeah not really sure what that looks like yet – i guess that is the journey.

VIDEO : Joel Spraying the decals
Check out more of Joel’s work here: http://joelsammut.com/