bl8dbook

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Max:
…The thing that is clearly visible is how much the bar of one’s own life has lowered, the imagining of one’s own life in the future. And a decrease in some interest, probably, in it. I feel it in my school friends, for example. We still see each other. And if a year and a half ago my friend, a genius chemist, dreamed about a conference in Canada or Germany, now, despite being invited, he simply doesn’t go…

For the regions, especially the adult generation, this thinking “Where you were born — there you came in handy” has always been common. And now it seems to have spread onto people of my age, who are in their 20s, unfortunately, because somewhere subconsciously there is an “internal setting” that the whole world is against me, which means that I will live in my own hole, in my little sand house, on my little beach, there, I will equip it. I will drink some wine of my own, not Prosecco... I will make my own wine out of what I have...

Bl8d:
“Dandelion wine”**

*From the interview with , creator project for VOL.2
Chapter Two. E la nave va

**Dandelion Wine is a 1957 novel by Ray Bradbury set in the summer of 1928 in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois, based upon Bradbury’s childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois.

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From the interview with , Creator project

Chapter Two. E la nave va
BL8D VOL.2

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Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet...

All you have to do is lie once, violate the simple rules of human coexistence, and a series of events will begin that will inevitably lead to disaster.

The lies with which the annexation of Crimea began in February 2014 ultimately led us to the darkness of today. Millions of people of Ukraine who lost loved ones, thousands of dead, killed and r***d. Kidnaped children, destroyed houses, crippled destinies and endless hatred for those who, with their avarice and greed and cowardice, made this War possible.

This War, in turn, gave a free hand to all the most vile and inhumane things within the Russian system. The use of the most brutal torture against dissidents, huge prison sentences for anti-war posters, separation of children from their parents, punitive psychiatry. It is impossible to remain silent about the events of recent days — the cold-blooded murder of in prison and the absolutely vile, inhumane treatment of his body — the killers still have not given Alexei’s body to his mother and are blackmailing her.

10 years ago, not only Putin, but a huge part of the population of a large state in the very center of Eurasia violated three simple commandments — Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet..., thereby opening the gates to Hell.

And when we say “Stop the War,” we must understand that there is no “THEM” — those who should stop or do something.

There is only “WE”.
EACH OF US. OUR RESPONSIBILITY.
OUR DESIRE TO SEE THE TRUTH.
OUR ABILITY TO HELP AND DO SOMETHING SPECIFIC SO THAT EVIL SIMPLY HAS NO CHANCE TO EXIST.
THERE IS OUR FAITH IN THAT LIGHT WILL DEFEAT DARKNESS.

Credits:
Sculpture-book case for BL8D VOL.1
*50% of the proceeds from the sale will go to the State system of humanitarian aid, Ukraine.

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BL8D Vol.3 OPEN CALL
Plunging into Unity

“...to forget that you are a gram, and to feel like a millionth part of a ton...”
Yevgeny Zamyatin. “We”

If you have at least once experienced a moment of unity with a crowd, then you probably remember this strange mixture of horror and delight, caused by some kind of irreversibility, fatalism of what is happening. The moment when your “I” renounced sole control over the situation and surrendered to the power of “We”. Unity (Oness) is a phenomenon, the interpretation of which we propose to artists to realize in BL8D Vol.3

Is Unity a blessing that helps us share our values, traditions, joys and sorrows, or is it a heavy burden that social institutions hang on us in the form of ideology, national doctrines, and duties to serve the State? Is it THANKS to this or IN SPITE of this do Individuals make breakthroughs in sports, science, art?
Is this a natural human need to be in “one’s pack” or the greatest self-deception, shifting responsibility for one’s life onto the mythical “THEM”?
Unity is the emotional ecstasy experienced from watching football, military battles and mass demonstrations, where many “I”s are united by a common impulse, and which look so mesmerizing on a widescreen screen, or is it the fear of the insignificance of one’s own “I”, a reality where the “WE” mode is permanent , without the ability to turn it on or off using the TV remote control?
Is this the Highest Good for the manifestation of Human abilities or an eternal Dystopia?

If you are interested in the topic of the future issue, please contact us to clarify all the details about organizing an art residency and sending a portfolio to participate in the OPEN CALL.

[email protected]

Illustration by

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A series of works by Andrey Berger created in the art residence in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture, Japan.
2022.

«…During my seven-week stay, I fell in love with the Japanese way of life and local culture. For the first time in a year of war, I was able to focus on a different context and get a new and vivid experience.

Everything around seemed completely different, the symbols and signs were unreadable through the lens of a foreigner`s logic. Together with the goodwill of the Japanese people and general security, the impression of an unknown fairy-tale world is created. However, the general novelty of the surrounding world creates dissonance when the models of expectations meet the objective situation.

To organize order in a cloud of disparate impressions I started collecting things that triggered my keen interest. I collected everything I could get my hands on: samples of Traditional Materials, 3D scans of objects, photos on the film camera, pieces of video documentation on my phone, found objects on the street. These artifacts became important bookmarks of impressions and helped me assemble my experiences into a completed picture. What to others seemed to be trash, to me became important pieces of the puzzle.»(с)

BL8D VOL.2
Chapter One. Island

Photo by

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for BL8D VOL.2
Model

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«…At some point, I caught myself thinking that, well, that’s our stop... The future, over which the “representatives of the white bone” pored over and fought for so long, has come.
The future, as conceived by, for example, American futurists with perfectly coiffed robotic housewives, vacations on Mars, ideal cars, and so on — all these ideas were supposed to bring us exactly to this point where we are now?
When comfort is put above all else, when there is always something missing, it turns out that the future is always about some plus, but never a minus. Never “let’s give up this, and this, and this, and this”. But always “Let’s just give more!”. New homes, new food, new planet, new...»(с)

BL8D VOL.2
Chapter Five. Anna

Photographer
Model

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They say that creative individuals have a presentiment of tomorrow, and who now wouldn’t want to look into the Future, when real sh.. is happening in the Present, and the Past is being rewritten every second.

However, the more we tried to collect “beautiful pictures” for the second issue, the stronger the feeling was that the Future is not just vague, it simply cannot and does not want to be invented.
The dreams of a huge number of people on the planet are now connected not with humanoids or the conquest of Mars, but with the desire to return to the illusion of a calm past, with the desire for “all of this to finally end.”

At some point we had to admit that we were somehow tightly stuck in some bad dream about Timelessness, just like in the magic wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia*. And what prevents us from getting out of this damned closet, like a lost key, is the answer to the question “Who am I?”

Photo by

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BL8D VOL.2

6 COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAYS (SCENARIOS) OF LIVING THE EXPERIENCE OF SELF-IDENTIFICATION IN AN ERA OF TOTAL TURBULENCE.
6 chapters, 6 dialogues with 6 different artists, each of whom was once born in the epicenter of an “Empire”, and then found themselves “on the other side”, literally outside, out of the system.

STOCKISTS:

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«…The future is feelings. Some time ago, I came across research data that said that in terms of calculations, computing power, it is already useless to compete with a machine completely. But in terms of emotional intelligence, we humans are still more advanced. Due to complex chemical processes, neural connections, etc.
Human emotional intelligence is something that algorithms lack and dream about very much. Why? Imagine what will happen if a refrigerator that understands what you want can communicate with you so neatly that it will push you milk or any other product.

So in the study, they were talking about the fact that the more a Human being becomes more and more digital with his gadgets, the more algorithms and machines strive to be human, because this is a very important factor for algorithms — to have empathy.» (с)

From the interview with
Chapter Four. Brave New World

Artwork by Berk Gun-turk

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“…After the first obsidian edition themed ‘Old Scary Tale’ — comes an effervescent sophomore edition which literally glistens with high production, with a beautiful cover and intricate page cut-outs throughout.
Again it’s hardback, and his time even chunkier than before. Inside, themes of future, identity and creativity are explored through six different dream-like chapters – ‘six dialogues with six different artists’.” (c)

, London

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Every time we don’t shoot reels, but proofread new articles for the next issues, conduct artist research, or simply allow ourselves to zone out at home, we know one important thing: even if we haven’t made a post or another story today, some wonderful person in London, Florence, Paris or Amsterdam has come out of their house to look into one of those incredible bookstores where we are lucky enough to sell:

, Amsterdam
, London
, London
, Paris
, Florence
, Florence

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Chapter Seven collection
AW 23/24

The “nonexistent” final chapter of the second issue of BL8D, embodied in a series of handmade knitted sweaters, created in collaboration with the artist Yana Pirozhok.

The collection is an appeal to that cosmic undifferentiated world in which beasts, people, animals, and gods were once united. When the human and the inhuman, the visible and the invisible, were intertwined and embodied in a consciousness capable of revealing both the past of humanity and its possible future.

Hand-knitted textures reminiscent of roots or fungi are chaotically woven to form diverse images. Through the thinnest, seemingly decayed fragments of knitted fabric, multi-colored threads break through - the sprouts of a new world, but still imprisoned inside the dying old one.

Credits:
Model, style
Photographer
Light assistant

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CHAPTER SEVEN
AW 23/24

The “nonexistent” final chapter of the second issue of BL8D, embodied in a series of handmade knitted sweaters, created in collaboration with the artist .

Credits:
Photographer:
Lights assistant:
Style: from ,
Models: ,

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We can pray for peace this Christmas, just as we did last year. But if people do not have the intelligence to recognize that human life is the highest value, above any religion, government guidelines, simply because it is an incredible treasure, then nothing will be able to support this world, and wars will be started again and again.

Therefore, the miracle we ask for this Christmas is an opportunity for everyone to remember that Human life is priceless.

Thou shalt not kill.

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CHAPTER SEVEN
AW 23/24

The “nonexistent” final chapter of the second issue of BL8D, embodied in a series of handmade knitted sweaters, created in collaboration with the artist .

The soil of the Old World swells and collapses, revealing not only all the signs of dying, but also the signs of a new birth. Can fading and decay become a fertilizer for something new? And if so, what would it be exactly?

Chapter Seven is an appeal to that cosmic undifferentiated world in which beasts, people, animals, and gods were once united. When the human and the inhuman, the visible and the invisible, were intertwined and embodied in a consciousness capable of revealing both the past of humanity and its possible future.

Credits:
Photographer
Lights assistant

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“I love everything that flows, everything that has time in it and becoming, that brings us back to the beginning where there is never end: the violence of the prophets, the obscenity that is ecstasy, the wisdom of the fanatic, the priest with his rubber litany, the foul words of the w***e, the spittle that floats away in the gutter, the milk of the breast and the bitter honey that pours from the womb, all that is fluid, melting, dissolute and dissolvent, all the pus and dirt that in flowing is purified, that loses its sense of origin, that makes the great circuit toward death and dissolution.

The great incestuous wish is to flow on, one with time, to merge the great image of the beyond with the here and now. A fatuous, suicidal wish that is constipated by words and paralyzed by thought.”(c)

Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer

Credits:
Photographer
Lights assistant

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“The human body is mostly blood and mystery and sadness.”(c)

Charles Bukowski

Credits:
Photographer
Lights assistant
Model

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CHAPTER SEVEN
AW 23/24

The “nonexistent” final chapter of the second issue of BL8D, embodied in a series of handmade knitted sweaters, created in collaboration with the artist .

The soil of the Old World swells and collapses, revealing not only all the signs of dying, but also the signs of a new birth. Can fading and decay become a fertilizer for something new? And if so, what would it be exactly?

Chapter Seven is an appeal to that cosmic undifferentiated world in which beasts, people, animals, and gods were once united. When the human and the inhuman, the visible and the invisible, were intertwined and embodied in a consciousness capable of revealing both the past of humanity and its possible future.

Hand-knitted textures reminiscent of roots or fungi are chaotically woven to form diverse images. Through the thinnest, seemingly decayed fragments of knitted fabric, multi-colored threads break through - the sprouts of a new world, but still imprisoned inside the dying old one.

Credits:
Style from
Photographer
Light assistant
Model

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From the interview with
Chapter Six. Flights in Dreams and Reality

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The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale
And men looked up with faces pale;
Then dragon’s ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall, to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day,
To find our long-forgotten gold. (C)

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From the poem Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold.
The Hobbit

Credits:
for BL8D AW 23/24
Capsule collection in collaboration with

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“American singer Taylor Swift became the Person of the Year 2023 according to Time magazine. Besides her, this list included: Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and others. Last year, Vladimir Zelensky became the Person of the Year 2022.”
Not news, but simply an illustration of the tragicomic insanity in which we all find ourselves at the end of 2023.

When in the spring of 2023 we filmed in his “bunker” in Poitiers and he swore at all politicians without exception, at that time we considered it something infantile and even funny. But today, the interview with Danya, from the third chapter of VOL.2, is the closest emotion possible in relation to what is happening with us now.

«The Third World War! Well, what the hell is this! Dudes, for f**k’s sake, learn from your mistakes at least a little bit.…Just, well, stop being fu***ng as****es. I do not understand why?

It’s so fu***ng simple. Politicians complicate everything… It just seems to me like we live, as if, maybe, in a bubble? I don’t understand...

As if, you know, only fu***ng morons go to power. I do not know why. I don’t know a single person from politics who’s a humanist. I mean,I’m glad to meet such a person, of course, but I haven’t met anyone so far.»

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We want to leave this overexposed photo with a suitcase filled with our first knitted merch here as a memory.

Initially, we decided that we would make several “couture” prototypes, on the basis of which we would create something simpler to sell en masse as our own merch.
But after we and all our friends tried on these 8 masterpieces hand-knitted by , it became clear that we didn’t want any other “simpler” sweaters, and it was not possible to make them in large quantities.

It was then, in October, when this photo was taken, that we decided that we would simply try to use them correctly, that is, give sweaters to those of our colleagues, thanks to whose support and energy we received a huge amount of joy and inspiration this year.

Before the sweaters went to their new owners in Paris and Milan, , along with and , filmed an overnight story with our knitted capsule in Paris, which we will share soon!

Photo by

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Dear Reader,

At the end of the year, BL8D finally made it to France!
Now, in addition to London, Amsterdam, and Florence, you can buy VOL.2 in Paris from our colleagues and friends in .

You should know that there is an insanely high risk that when you bring your clutched euros into this treasure trove of Japanese vintage to buy our magazine, the temptation to buy magnificent archival objects from Issey Miyake or Rei Kawakubo will prevail and you will completely forget what you came for.

So remember, first grab the shimmering Vol.2 and only then rush into the abyss of crazy shopping. Careful, don’t get those mixed! 🙈😂

In the photo - from and wearing sweaters from BL8D’s knitted capsule, created in collaboration with

Photographer

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Letters to the Editor.
Today one is from Greece:

“…Look how are things with me. I read in the Washington Post the two pieces about why Ukraine is losing the war. And I just wanted to cry. And then I did exactly what you propose in the “Letter to the reader”: I took the issue in bed and I started reading, and I thought that, despite all the evil around us, there are people like you and your friends who are producing such miracles!

But please, please, take care. Because this bastard will conquer half Ukraine and then he will proceed to fulfill his imperialist dream seizing whatever he can. So protect the most valuable thing you have: democracy.

I am grateful to you for everything, your kindness, your generosity, your existence.”

M.

Photo by

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…In cinema they speak about pain and hatred a lot... But in fashion these things are not talked about.

McQueen was probably the one who discovered this new direction but couldn’t develop it to the full. He didn’t have any internal resources to go on. And in fact, after his death the fashion industry continued to be a commercialized caprice.
This hurts because fashion is the main area of my work. It’s interesting that a hundred years ago all these things were almost the same.

In modern art a great number of artists have their own communities, and nobody accepted expressionists, nobody wanted to see something different, to speak about pain in general.
Today’s fashion looks like being stuck in the previous century and, for some reason, many institutions encourage a certain conventional image of a romantic character like the only one possible…(c)

*From the interview with , founder for VOL.2

Credits:
Photographer:
Model: Alexandra Barinova
Division collection by 2020