The W-files took place on Saturday 14th June 2008, the first sunny day in Madrid after a month of intense rain. The location was Studio Banana (www.studiobanana.org), a multidisciplinary creativity platform created by Key Portilla-Kawamura and Ali Ganjavian (kawamura-ganjavian), long-time friends of Paulo.
The presentations were divided into two blocks. Benedikt Partenheimer, a photographer from Berlin, showed us his series Turnaround and Falling in which he challenges the conventions of portraiture, and the series Point of View, depicting staged bizarre situations. The Colombian architects Husos (Diego Barajas and Camilo García) presented a few projects located in their country, amongst them the intriguing piece-meal construction of the Hospice-Garden for butterflies in Cali. German architect Anna Partenheimer, whose office is in Berlin, shared an array of projects under different categories like Houses (intervention in a farm house in Tuscany), Interiors (several projects in Berlin), Objects (Furniture) and Colours(photographic project in the streets of Oaxaca, Mexico). Miguel Olivares, director of the publicity agency La Despensa showed with a twist of humour several of their campaigns where politics, mass media, advertising and communication mix seamlessly (yosoydelosreyesmagos, jorgejuanalcalde).
After the pause, Tavo Ponce mesmerized the audience with his rhythmic hypnotic motion graphics for several companies (MTv, MADinSpain, SerialCut). The young collective Zoohaus, composed by architects, engineers, mathematicians and other people, explained the complex network they have created to enable long-distance internet-based project collaborations. Ciro, from mmmm... showed us several of their engaging projects which they have developed over the years (telemadre, Amazonas virus, Kiss invasion, Action in a Skip). Finally, Anne Bürger, a German film director, presented the trailer of her recent documentary Mambo and the first footage of a Europe-wide long-feature movie she is filming about the young creative breed.
After the presentations Ramiro Losada invited all participants and guests to participate in an improvised brunch at the pimped-up Moquetas23, an abandoned building that he tuned up together with the students of the Self Design master course. At 18:00 Studio Banana projected live the high-profile high-pressure football game Spain-Sweden, which Spain won thanks to a goal in the very last minute of the match.
Key Portilla-Kawamura and Ali Ganjavian