Mon 26th Dec: Alex Noble's art direction for the EMA afterparty

All photography behind the scenes c/o Alex.

One of the standout fun things to happen this year was pairing up with Alex Noble to guest edit the Swatch MTV Playground blog. This role took on many different facets with us being followed by a film crew for mini fly-on-the-wall documentaries and individually conducting interviews with musicians. Alex travelled to LA to talk to his muse Juliette Lewis which is a series of clips you have to check out if you missed it first time round on Talk@.

Later in the year he flew to Belfast with the team to take on the challenge of art directing the after party for the EMA's. This final exercise for the project was a neat conclusion to the multi layered task, with Batty Bass hosting the space - the record label he had featured in his earlier diary content. Alex made mannequins to replicate the replicants from his Batty Bass artwork illustrations and painted mural backgrounds like a trippy neon day-glo Moloko bar. The black and white Lewis Carroll checker board floor was an extension from his own studio decoration which made the environment his dream world:

"I didn't want to leave, I wanted to live in the space forever!"

To read more background on the outer space concept and fellow artists that Alex brought on board the Martian mission, head over to his own blog. There you will also find a sketch for his newest venture - Cirque Du Soleil............. and if you want to experience the world of Batty Bass for yourself, book a ticket for the New Year's Day London celebrations with Hannah Holland and Josh Caffe on the decks.

See my first studio visit and interview with Alex from July 2010 here

See my re-visit when we shot our MTV feature from March 2011 here.

Playground 2011 - Guest Editor - Alex Noble - 5 Minutes - ENG from Swatch MTV Playground on Vimeo.