Once again this year, the Toca Me Design Conference brought internationally renowned creatives to the stage of the Alte Kongresshalle in Munich. Toca Me sees itself as a source of inspiration and offers the opportunity to experience and get to know the artists behind the works live. It’s about art and design. About memorable projects that touch and move people. Live and Uncut, indeed.
‘If technology is the story, then you’re starting in the wrong place.’ (Florian Schmitt)
Right at the beginning, my highlight of the conference: Florian Schmitt. founder of the award-winning agency Hi-Res!, spoke about the art of storytelling: ‘The audience loves to work – we are born problem solvers.’ Storytelling – a buzzword of our time and perhaps a bit overused already. So, what captures attention? A good story needs a good storyteller who creates images in the minds of the audience and stimulates their imagination. ‘What happens in the mind is much stronger,’ as Florian Schmitt puts it. Everyone wants to be a ‘storyteller,’ according to Stefan Sagmeister, but they are not. Whether you agree or not, we all want good stories. Florian Schmitt has a simple tip: ‘People love to tell stories. Help them.’
Rob Chiu impressed as a filmmaker with his powerful visual compositions. Even his commissioned work is strongly influenced by his characteristic visual style: among others, for Wieden + Kennedy / Nike (Own The Night), for M&C Saatchi / EDF (Center Parcs – Just do it) and for Tisch 13 / Audi E-Tron.
But it all starts with an idea and the challenge of something new: ‘It’s difficult to make people understand in the conceptual phase what doesn’t exist yet.’
His passion is storytelling. And creating music videos – among others for Jan Hopins | We Disappear (feat. Lulu James), Craig Armstrong feat. Brett Anderson | Crash and for Douglas Dare | Nile.
‘The Devision Of Gravity’ – his touching short film is about love, loss, and freedom. Goosebumps at the end of the lecture.
‘We build prototypes to understand.’ (Stuart Wood)
Stuart Wood, as founder and artistic director of the artist group Random International, enthusiastically dedicates himself to his projects and installations, the ‘Social Experiments.’ This explores human behavior, reactions, and empathy in relation to natural phenomena. Like in the lovely installation „Audience”. Or, what if we could influence the weather? In Random International’s ‘Rain Room,’ exhibited at MoMa | Museum of Modern Art among others in 2013, you can definitely stay dry in the rain.
Sculpture, installation, performance, music, still life, drawing, …: Sougwen Chung is a versatile visual artist from New York. In her multifaceted works, she explores opposites, such as between humans and machines or technology and emotion.
Mirko Borsche – typographer and graphic designer, is one of Germany’s most creative minds and founded the graphic design studio Bureau Mirko Borsche in Munich in 2007. His posters for the Bavarian State Opera are legendary. He and his staff attach great importance to ‘Free Drawing.’ Analog graphic design – how beautiful.
At the end of the conference, Mr Bingo provided good humor. The rapping illustrator with a wicked sense of humor from London. A entertaining and very enjoyable conclusion. But it’s better not to get on his bad side because he holds grudges. For example, Martin Olly: Mr. Bingo calls him a giant idiot. He now integrates this information into all of his artworks – from beer cans to illustrations in the Financial Times. Without exception, everywhere.
Collecting passion, postcards, and an alcohol-soaked evening led to his extremely popular project „Hate Mails”. These less than flattering greeting cards are now also available in book form. As crazy as it sounds, people love being hated by Mr. Bingo.
But a Toca Me Design Conference always ends well. It promotes new ideas, inspiration, and good stories. All’s well that ends well..
never stop evolving.
stay human.
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Claudia Gilhofer:
Creative Planner, Communication Psychologist in Training, Systemic Business Coach, Facilitator, Mentor, Sparring Partner, VR Expert (XR-C)
