Karlotta Freier
●●International Conference on
Character Creativity
Berlin
7–10 May 2●26
In its 22nd edition, the world’s leading conference on contemporary character-driven creativity sets its focus on story: How can characters act as narrative devices that shape emotion, identity, and meaning – beyond affect, empathy, or cuteness?
Over four bustling days, Pictoplasma investigates the art and impact of adventurous figurative representation across creative genres and cultures. The conference welcomes artists and producers to a transdisciplinary exchange of strategies and ideas, bridging illustration, animation, art, games, story-telling, branded worlds and social media personas. The stage is open to every practice that gives characters agency.
20+ featured lectures and artist talks explore the edges of contemporary creative practice
Vibrant discussion and networking spaces connect creative and commercial contributors
Daily workshops, jam sessions and demos await all to get hands-on with new mediums
Cutting-edge animation screenings dive deep into next-level world building
CONFERENCE
Conference Artist Talks
The central Conference presents lectures, panels and talks
by a hand-picked line-up of the world’s most adventurous artists,
avant-garde filmmakers, upcoming talents, cutting-edge illustrators, innovative designers,
and creative thinkers.
Contributing Artists, Speakers and Presenters:
Amedeo Capelli
IT
Italian artist bridging the realms of art, craftsmanship, and mechanics, specialized in automata – mechanical sculptures animated by intricate, non-electronic mechanisms
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Caroline Attia
FR
French animation filmmaker, writer, and illustrator, combining a strong graphic sensibility and visual poetry with an attention to atmosphere and emotion
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Christoph Niemann
DE
Artist, author and animator, whose work has been shown in numerous museum retrospectives and frequently featured on the covers of The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine
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Conor Kehelly
IE
Animator, illustrator & music producer from Ireland, creating playful, dark, textural scattershot portraits of a society in crisis
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Form Play
UK
Duo known for their hand-drawn character animation and playful storytelling, that have collaborated with brands such as Google, Sephora and IKEA to find humour in the everyday
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Frode Bolhuis
NL
Dutch artist working on The Daily Sculptures, a personal project rooted in ritual and spontaneity, to create a daily figure using materials such as polymer clay, textiles, wood, wire, and found objects
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Gemma Correll
UK/US
British illustrator and cartoonist imbuing her simple line drawings with narrative and humour, creating illustrations that catch the eye and tell a story
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Helga Stentzel
UK
Multidisciplinary artist sculpting intricate narratives from everyday elements that unveil messages hidden within the seemingly mundane tapestry of life
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Jack Sachs
UK
Visual artist bridging the gap between graphics and the real world by combining video, animation, photogrammetry, sculpture and more
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Jun Ioneda
BR
Brazilian multidisciplinary graphic artist blending science fiction, fantasy, queerness, and Japanese influences to create visuals ranging from whimsical to introspective
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Kaho Yoshida
JP
Japanese director and animator, with a special passion for stop motion and mixed media, fresh aesthetics and sharp sense of humour
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Karlotta Freier
US
Award winning artist recognized for her distinctive approach to illustration and detailed, atmospheric style, working for clients such as Hermès, Dior, Coldplay or The Balvenie
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Magnus Møller
DK
Co-founder of Tumblehead Animation Studio in Viborg, Denmark, with a love for quirky, cartoony characters in an existential crisis, and Houdini as his tool of choice
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Marylou Faure
FR
French artist and illustrator known for her distinctive character design, bold use of colour, and striking graphic compositions
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Melissa Mathieson
US
Californian artist bringing her bright and bubbly world of quirky characters from the screen to large-scale, immersive and interactive installations
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Murat Palta
TR
Istanbul-based artist creating miniatures that resemble pages from an Ottoman-era manuscript, yet incorporate elements of contemporary pop culture to explore the relevance of mythology, philosophy, and historical events in today’s world
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Stephan Dybus
DE
German Visual Artist and Illustrator creating 3D miniature escapist worlds as coping mechanism with childhood trauma and existential dread
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Zohar Dvir
IL
Award-winning animation director blending two and three-dimensional elements with a healthy dose of surrealism, inspired by some of the bigger questions of philosophy and psychology
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Symposium, Panels & Professional Exchange
The accompanying Symposium track explores the genealogies of characterism, peeling back multiple layers of influences, trends and contexts, to expose implications in today’s visual vocabulary; and the dedicated Attendee Stage gives Picto-participants a podium, mic and opportunity to share their projects and character-driven creation.
Symposium 1: Authorship and Its Discontinuities
From Image Agency to Reception in Contemporary Storytelling:
Since poststructuralist thought unsettled the idea of the singular, authoritative author, storytelling has increasingly been understood as a distributed process rather than an individual act. More recently, the image has emerged as an active narrative force – no longer illustrating text but generating meaning and shaping how stories are constructed and experienced. In this expanded field, narratives do not reside solely with their makers, but unfold between authors, systems, and audiences. This session brings together three contemporary configurations in which these relations are redefined in practice: collaborative authorship between word and image, generative systems that fragment or displace authorial control, and rule-based structures in which stories emerge through spatial logic and user engagement
Symposium 2: Characters in Practice
How Figurative Strategies Succeed or Fail in Branding and Campaigns:
Figurative elements, from mascots to character-led approaches, remain a recurring proposition in branding and campaigns. As highly distinctive positioning tools, they promise clarity and recognition, but also introduce risk: fixing a brand to a specific figure, limiting flexibility and at times appearing too narrow or one-dimensional. This session looks at what actually happens when such approaches enter client processes: how they are proposed, received, and ultimately accepted, reshaped, or rejected. Bringing together perspectives from strategy, production, and agency practice, it follows how these ideas move through pitches, development, and execution, showing where they gain traction and where they are weakened or dropped.
Panel:
Who owns the Character
How Artistic Voices Move Across Illustration, Production, and Commissioned Work:
Artistic voices rarely remain unchanged once they move beyond individual practice. As work shifts between self-initiated projects, commissioned briefs, and production contexts, it is translated, adapted, and at times redefined. This panel brings together perspectives from artists, representation, and production to examine how a recognisable visual language is shaped through use: how it is developed, positioned, and mediated, and how it changes as it moves across contexts. It addresses the tensions between continuity and adaptation, and where a practice holds or begins to shift.
Attendee Stage: Characters for Change
How artists respond to turbulent times through creative ideas and practice:
Selected from prior applications, attendees take the stage to present their work and motivations in a concise, fast-paced format. Following a PechaKucha structure, each presentation runs to 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each – 6 minutes and 40 seconds to introduce an approach, a perspective, or a proposal. The contributions span illustration, animation, new media, and the arts, offering a compact series of positions on how creative work engages with current conditions.
Contributing Artists, Speakers and Presenters:
Fabian Mosele
IT
Artist exploring generative media within themes of identity, known as one of the creators behind the Italian Brainrot meme that gave birth to a new kind of characters with no ownership and infused in slop
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Heike Faller & Valerio Vidali
DE, IT
Award-winning journalist and internationally acclaimed illustrator collaborating on picture books for all ages that merge text and image into a continuous narrative flow
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Johannes Sich
DE
Author of MicroMacro: Crime City, an award-winning cooperative detective game series in which players follow the movements of minimal characters across a large-scale, complex ‘busy picture’ city map
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andstudio
LT
Branding studio turning strategy into expressive visual worlds – building identities that are not only seen, but also tested, challenged, and measured in real contexts
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Philippe Stalla
DE
Partner and Head of Animation at Parasol Island, developing character-driven brand assets, mascots and animated identities to solve the challenging communication needs of the digital age
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and more …
… to be announced soon!
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ANIMATION FEST
85+ Short Films Debuted in 6 Curated Programmes
The official 2026 animation selection presents hand-picked short films on three screens in six programmes, featuring the latest and freshest generation of characters in motion, from narrative shorts and music visuals to experimental animation and anything in between – with many of the creators present to discuss their work in Q&A sessions.
INDUSTRY FORUM
Portfolio Reviews, Industry Sessions, Networking Hour
Pictoplasma 2026 enables new connections between creative talent and the industries shaping tomorrow’s visual culture — from branding and advertising to animation, streaming, games, emerging media, licensing and publishing.
Portfolio Reviews & Meetings
Concentrated one-on-one encounters between selected creatives and representatives from leading studios, agencies and production companies. In addition to the scheduled review sessions, a digital matchmaking tool enables attendees to connect and arrange meetings throughout the conference.
Industry Session
A focused block of peer presentations from across the commercial spectrum — sharing approaches, case studies and production insights from within the industry itself.
Industry Networking Hour
An industry-focused gathering with drinks, designed for conversations, reconnection and cross-disciplinary exchange in a relaxed setting.
Participating companies include:
CHARACTER LAB
Workshops, Media Demos, Art-Jams, Round Tables, Parties
In addition to hands-on workshops, art happenings and after hour jams, Pictoplasma provides a plethora of possibilities for attendees and featured artists to mix, mingle and meet – from spontaneous sticker swaps and speed meeting sessions to intimate round table talks and all night parties.
CARDBOARD CRANK CREATURES
Workshop with Amedeo Capelli
Bring your characters to life through basic moving machines – no batteries required! Work with automata master Amedeo Capelli to turn simple materials into hand-operated mechanical animations that jump, wiggle, wave, and frolic.
POLYMER CLAY MINI MASKS
Workshop with Frode Bolhuis
For those seeking a crash-course in detail and texture, join sculptor Frode Bolhuis and his fleet of pasta machines to turn colourful clay into expressive flat faces. Play freely with form and features, then finish strong with a trip to the oven to permanently preserve your polymer personality.
LIVING LAUNDRY
Workshop with Helga Stentzel
Ready to see faces in unexpected places? Take inspiration from visual artist Helga Stentzel and turn an everyday object into creative creatures! Pull from a mountain of (clean) clothes and clothespins to arrange and activate a temporary anthropomorphic entities – or hang your creation on a jungle of clotheslines stretching across the majestic cupola hall.
ZINE ZONE
Zine Zone
Analog, baby! Take a break from screens and experiment in black and white with classic technologies like copy machines, typewriters, overhead projectors, and a risograph machine (courtesy of DRUCKEN3000 and Adobe). If you’ve got a story to tell, cut, copy, paste, and publish a zine to add to the growing community library. (Keep an eye out for special sessions here by speakers Gemma Correll and Jack Sachs!)
MEDIA DEMOS
Give in to 2D/3D/VR software ASMR at our Media Lab – with live, relaxing, tingling audio and visual edutainment stimuli, triggered by hands-on demos, hacks and how-to’s by the masters of Blender, Houdini, Procreate Dreams and more – all destined to spark your creativity and send dopamine down your spine, + a VR playground, catapulting you to the 3rd dimension.
AFTER HOURS
At the end of the first conference day, come drink, draw, and digest at a cosy After Hours in the Cupola Hall. Featured speaking artists await you with chill mini activities at small group tables: make buttons with Gemma Correll, sculpt fluffy foods with Melissa Mathieson, draw 3-panel comics with Conor Kehelly, doodle pencil portraits with Karlotta Freier, and many more.
ROUND TABLES
It’s time to talk character. Two community discussion salons invite all to weigh in on personal practices and professional livelihoods: Where does work come from today – and how do you make it last? And as technology blurs the line between human-made and computer-generated, how are artists keeping themselves visible in the process?
Sticker Swap
Stickers as more than just gluey decorations: they signal identity, become loved collectibles, and act as proud badges of belonging. Bring yours along to add to the communal slap and swap spot – and maybe make a sticky new friend in the dedicated sticker lounge.
Character Camp
Located at the heart of this year’s edition is a cosy Character Camp on the green for finding friends old and new. Grab some food and drink, host your own mini meetup, share stories with strangers, or sit and sketch in the shade. (Keen to start strong? Put your extrovert hat on and join the kickoff Speed Meeting on Thursday at noon.)
OPEN HOUSE
Character Market, Exhibitions, Animation Screenings, Art Activities
Wednesday evening, May 6, Pictoplasma kicks off it’s 22nd Berlin Conference – by celebrating the enduring capacity of characters to communicate quickly, collectively, and with striking clarity. Join us at the opening of this year’s main exhibition at neurotitan, presenting StickyCharacters – 100 Bumper Stickers with a Snappy Statement.
On May 10 Pictoplasma welcomes all to its legendary Sunday Open House at silent green: a bustling market, packed with original works, quality prints, toys, zines, clothing and more – and meet their international makers. Additionally, the complete animation programme is offered in full for one last viewing, a gallery showcases of the event’s featured speakers, and all are invited to get hands on with playful art-making spaces and workshops.
BERLIN VENUE
silent green
Gerichtstr. 35
13347 Berlin
Pictoplasma Berlin 2026 takes place at the extensive premises of a former crematorium, the silent green, now a vibrant cultural venue that has already hosted several memorable Pictoplasma events. The location houses all activities at one lively venue, with conference talks, panels, animation screenings, workshops and exhibitions happening inside and out in the open air. Further satellite events await attendees at partnering galleries, clubs and cinemas throughout Berlin.
SCHEDULE*
MAY 6
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18:00 – 23:00
May 7–9
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10:30 – far too late
Animation Screenings
Conference Talks, Symposium & Panels, Attendee Stage
Industry Speed Dating, Workshops & Art Jams
Networking Events, Portfolio Reviews
After Hour Surprises, Psychedelic Midnight Mix, Parties
May 10
13:00 – 19:00
* subject to change
KUDOS
HOSTED BY
silent green
Gerichtstr. 35
13347 Berlin
FUNDED BY
SUPPORTED BY
Presented By
