Titles created for the 2022 BBC series using a hand-made setup of physically dropping printed paper (mostly name idents and dates) into shot — which was then digitally enhanced to reference a split-screen feel, generally sampling colours found in the images to form the backgrounds. The idea of chunky idents using 1/3 of the screen area was employed initially as a creative way of making use of the added screen width in modern television when working with a lot of 4:3 archive footage.
The clip also includes a shot of the record turning round on the cover of Stones album ‘Let it Bleed’, which was created using a comp’d in record on a turntable under a Lightbox.
Visuals created for the Cineramageddon field of Glastonbury ‘22 (curated by Julien Temple), for projection during DJ sets.
Using a combination of Situationist quotes with a few of Behrens’ own, the concepts behind the Society of the Spectacle are imposed on the digital age via footage of Instagram filters / animal reels, big tech, surveillance and retro technology… There is a guest appearance in the visuals by Ugandan producer Chrisman…
‘I paint like I write, but instead of words I use gestural marks to create a series of spontaneously occurring ideograms…
I make a number of journeys across the picture plane, always on the watch for splendid accidents.’ – John Fitzmaurice
Exhibition catalogue for Fitzmaurice’s bold solo show at London’s Fitzrovia Gallery.
Cover: Silver litho ink on 270 gsm Colorplan black, type foiled in Foilco, ota bound
Inner pages : Indigo printing throughout on mixed uncoated / satin paperstocks.
Wall vinyls designed for the marketing suite of state of the art high rise 100 Bishopsgate in October 2019.
This Julien Temple documentary chronicles around 3000 years of Ibizan history.
Ironically titled owing to it’s pounding rave soundtrack selected by Fatboy Slim, the story is told entirely without dialogue. True to the traditional silent movie technique, the graphics team led by Jonny Halifax played an integral role in weaving the film's narrative since the whole story is told by animated intertitles which change thematically throughout the film.
Through a playfully critical lens, the film charts multiple swathes of visitations to the island — from Phoenicians to ravers via hippies and beatniks.
A BBC Films / Silver Reel production in association with Cornerstone Films.
Graphics / Art Direction: Jonny Halifax
Additional Graphics: Charlie Behrens, Martin Kingdom, Justin Taylor, Robert Greene
Editor: Caroline Richards
Colourist: Gwyn Evans
Cinematography: Violetta D'Agata, Steve Organ
Producers: Richard Conway, Andrew J. Curtis
Director: Julien Temple
‘Everything is Happening Everywhere all the Time’ installations at Glastonbury and Absorb Arts, 2019.
Using old technology to critique the new, the piece uses a variety of typographic slogans in super-saturated colours to reflect on our digital world on the eve of climate collapse. As governments veer further to the right, global protest movements are also on the increase as seemingly everything comes to the surface.
Via a camera fed through an analogue video synthesiser, the audience can see themselves as an integral part of this landscape... Around 80% of people took a photo once they saw themselves.
Poster options for Verité’s recent album campaign… Charlie created this repeat version of the logo for the pitch….
80 page exhibition catalogue packed with essays and reflections, turned around from initial meeting to signoff in six days for Gavin’s November 2017 Milan exhibition.
The works on show are all appropriated responses to iconic works of art by modern masters. As a playful quirk, the catalogue — which in design terms plays it straight — would sometimes show's an original work (such as Yves's Klein's Blue Monochrome) while in the show there would Turk's version response to the piece.
As testament to this appropriation the cover plays on the cover of the second edition of the classic text on semiotics ‘Ways of Seeing’.
Animated version of curator and graphic designer Mark Noad's deconstructable identity for his Rock Paper Pixel exhibition at the Lettering Arts Centre.
The mixed media exhibition focuses on the interactive and the need for ‘play’ when it comes to considering lettering and type.
It was used mainly to promote the show, but was also included in the exhibition as a standalone artwork with the title Rock Paper Waveform.
Designed for The Cob Gallery who had an excellent exhibition at the beginning of 2019 showcasing miniature works by a fantastic range of artists — From Turk to Picasso via Nina Mae Fowler, Tristan Pigott and Idris Khan.
In keeping with the miniature concept, the 10 x 15cm catalogue is supplied with a magnifying glass to aid the reading of the 6pt type.
Collaboration with NY-based fashion photographer Cameron McNee for the bi-annual print edition of Highsnobiety magazine — which ran with the concept Old and New. Charlie used his authentic VHS print-lab to process images from his own Magnetic Memories project with Cameron's images for the publication. These were layered with Cameron's digital photography.
The web version of the article can be found here
Images towards the bottom are outtakes from the project
Analogue Projects 2017-2019
Music: 'Cecilia's Fruit' by Praveen. © Neo Ouija
Select personal projects from 2017-2019. Full details can be found on my arts website.
Future Proofing (2018 – Ongoing)
The terms and conditions of Facebook and Instagram are displayed as scrolling loops on a series of CRT monitors. Here, old technology critiques the new. The Instagram ts&cs are overlaid with questions around whether the user is attaining their goals or the quality of their mental health. The Facebook terms are overlaid with quotes from their campaigns, which use amicably familiar language to create a sense of empowerment in the user.
Collaborator: Tomas Jefanovas
Leave (2018):
Three screen installation piece submitted to the Whitechapel London Open. The piece reflects on how social media echo chambers and the dark ads of the Leave campaign contributed to the 2016 referendum result. In the centre screen, distorted typography from the Vote Leave logo comments on the scarcity of truth in the campaign.
DoP: Dougal Wallace
Actors: Stephane Magloire, Chris Hamilton
Are you the Product? (2019)
Extracts from the pitch video for a forthcoming installation at Shangri-La, Glastonbury. It runs super-saturated typographic loops and a night-vision enabled Hi8 camcorder which is fed through an analog video synthesiser. If users are tempted to take selfies during the process, the content of the surrounding screens will highlight the irony of how we often wilfully give up our data to faceless internet behemoths.
Collaborator: Dave Stitch
Magnetic Memories (2017):
In 2016 Behrens offered to digitise publicly submitted camcorder footage for free — in exchange for the rights to use the images to create new artworks. Through a combination of screen prints and short films, Behrens sought to explore the gulf between the original authors' recollections of their content with the realities of their footage.
Footage in extract submitted by: Danielle Otnes
Twin exhibition catalogues for two shows commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall — the arts centre founded by Benjamin Britten.
Both shows — funded by The Lettering Arts Trust and curated by Mark Frith — were themed around lettering and music.
As well as designing the catalogues Charlie art directed the calligraphic identities designed by Rosella Garavaglia.
7" vinyl sized publication & front-mounted badge to coincide with Mick Jones' (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite) extraordinary memorabilia exhibition at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Edition of 600.
Cover: Colorplan 350 gsm
Text: Horizon offset 140 gsm
Print: Full colour non-soya vegetable based litho inks.
A carbon neutral product
A way of dealing with the shame surrounding my nationality in the wake of the EU referendum vote... Placards made using an A3 printer, fluoro and metallic cardstocks and healthy dose of anger.
