With art direction by Capsule Projects, PUMA South Africa unveiled Rudolf Dassler by PUMA MUSIC MACHINE, a multimedia project that saw the sports lifestyle brand collaborating with exciting young South African illustrators at Whatiftheworld art gallery in Cape Town and at the project space CO-OP in Johannesburg.
This well-timed project (the title MUSIC MACHINE referenced M-Machine, from the 1927 Fritz Lang film, Metropolis, which had inspired the collection) aimed to reveal the importance of illustration as a medium of expression in contemporary electronic music and dance culture, demonstrated at the time by current club flyers, posters and record sleeve designs. It was thus logical that the brief to the illustrators was musically inspired: to draw the pioneering electronic music instruments such as synthesizers, samplers, sequencers and drum machines that shared the qualities apparent in Rudolf Dassler by PUMA itself, namely authentic heritage, revolutionary spirit and inspiring innovation and self expression.
The illustrators that presented work included One Horse Town, Adam Hill, Ian Jepson, Jordan Metcalf, Black Koki, 351073, Meghan Judge, Bruce Mackay, Lauren Fowler, Bison, Haasbroek, Marc Barnard and Clinton Jordaan.
The works were presented as part of an installation that also included a display of Rudolf Dassler by PUMA apparel, multiple projections, an exhibition of images that showcased the legacy of the Rudolf Dassler by PUMA range (which takes its name from the founder of PUMA) and an electro music soundtrack provided in Cape Town by live act P.H.Fat, DJs Richard the Third, Adventures in Space, Kid 84, Remy Gold, enxo, Airstrike, and in Johannesburg by live acts Mtkidu and João Orecchia, DJs Richard the Third, Casioheart and Sassquatch.
The project proved to be a thought-provoking encounter between sport fashion and contemporary art and music.
