"->forside

In late fall 2013 seven students of the German Ernst-Litfaß-Schule collaborated with Prague's only media school Strední Skola Polygrafická Praha as a part of the EU project Leonardo Da Vinci Prague in order to learn about and work with the legend of Prague's Golem.

The students were assigned a task to read about the Golem's mythology, to understand it, and to illustrate the legend in a creative way. They were allowed to give their fancy full scope and create photographic works as well as handicrafts and digital paintings.

Within three weeks there wasn't only sightseeing, but they also managed to create a set of postcards of 21 cards which came with a documentation booklet and a specially designed cardboard box. The students also documented their trip in a blog that was set up to fit the Golum design.

Taurus Gilgamesh, who also goes by the real name of Sascha Schulze, makes his project work available for "Golem and the Mechanical Man of the Future" which is this year's main theme of Cafe Neu Romance. Here he presents the Golem as one of the first robots ever mentioned in legends, portrayed in digital paintings to communicate his interpretation.

ROBOT OF CLAY
Thorough research and the many versions of the myth describing the golem and his creator, Rabbi Jehuda Löw tell us that similar to other myths, the Golem's legend, too, has never been defined very narrowly thus leaving lots of room for interpretation. This allowed for the Golem's character design which had been a part of the students' blog and posters to be used again.

Three digital paintings - two of which had been designed as comic strips - were conceived and finished to tell about the creation of the clay creature and its destructive frenzy, as well as Rabbi Löw finally soothing the Golem after its fit of raving madness. Making use of the myth's lack of details the golem's design has been duly appropriated to communicate the topic of magic and combine it with a huge and fearsome monster of clay. According to a greater part of legend versions the golem's devastating moment of madness happend in the afternoon. Thanks to that the scene could be illustrated using the  sunset's lighting for an apocalyptic touch.

The Golem's eye is presented as the source of its power. The eye's yellow color indicates that the tasks assigned to the Golem suffice to keep its power at bay rendering the creature benign. A lack of duties however will force it to bottle up its magical power which eventually causes the ancient robot to go berserk. It is then that the golem's eye will turn red and its power ruptures the lithic head.

The third postcard illustrates the Golem magic being controlled by human commands. The illustrations aim to contrast strongly with artistic realism and may be ascribed to the genre of fantasy.

Link:
Taurus Gilgamesh

[image source: Taurus Gilgamesh]
[source: Vive Les Robots!]