Mystery Island
[ 10.03 – 10.05 / 2016 ]
SPRMRKT
For MOJOKO’s immersive exhibit, SPRMRKT was transmogrified into a vessel of blue & white — taking us where palm oil plantations abound and curious customs are set beside the onslaught of modern culture. We talk shop with the man who conceptualised Mystery Island and a little more…
You share the same name as a British house music DJ — how has that been?
We know each other for many years as I own www.stevelawler.com. It was an old flash website and if you go there, it uses a pack of Marlboro Lights as an interface. And when you rollover, it becomes an Asthma Puffer. He is asthmatic and smoked Marlboro lights, so he thought I was some freaky stalker. But no, it’s just a small world.
To be inspired by B-movies and trash TV, you had to start somewhere. Which show was it that got you hooked and when did it begin?
Alternative culture has always appealed to me, it was not one specific film, but the whole aesthetic of trash cinema. The stuff my mum wouldn’t let me rent out from the VHS store. They had an air of mystery about them and such incredible graphics that were hard to shake out of your head.
MOJOKO (Steve Lawler)
Born in Iran, raised in Hong kong and educated in Europe. Mojoko (aka Steve Lawler) attended the prestigious FABRICA art residency in Treviso, Northern Italy in 2001. Launching his interactive design career at Diesel HQ, he quickly climbed through the creative industry as an artist, designer, art director and Creative Director.
Creator of the Kult Magazine, Gallery & Studio. His work has expanded into curation, installation, interactive design and fine art. Having worked some of the most exciting artists, designers and animators around the world, he now operates within a network of over 600 artists under the label Kult.
His artistic work is an exploration of Trash Pop culture colliding with the Old & historical, mixing media such as computer programming, digital sculpture, painting and printmaking. His works have regularly been showcased around the world at International Institutions and independent galleries.
