Code Inconnu takes the unknown and transforms it into the familiar. Just as in reality the characters exist and their personal story lines remain unfinished. In life we exist without permanent structure and our lives are only completed by death. Michael Haneke is telling us that 117 minutes can never encompass an entire life.

NOIR ARTIST: First off Happy Birthday! If you could have any one thing as a present what would it be? CHONNA: As I get older, I am starting to ponder the difference between wanting something and needing...wait instead of going off the deep end I'll just say a gift card. Gift cards are more fluid and gives a person the flexibility to spend on whatever they want. It takes the guesswork out of gift-giving. NOIR ARTIST: Ok, I'm slightly in mourning while writing this because Temple University made it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 7 years and they lost in the first round. In my grief I have several self-serving questions to ask you. How long have we known each other? CHONNA: I think we have known eachother since 2003. We met in a 2 credit course about international conflict resolution at Temple. NOIR ARTIST: Please ignore my being a totally unexceptional friend for one moment and describe what you would consider an ideal friendship? CHONNA: An ideal friendship? Hmm. I don't think there is any. But here's my ideal friendship: You don't need to talk to that person or see them everyday. But when you do meet up, there should be chemistry. There's acceptance and criticism present but only because a friend should care and want what's best for you even if the opinion is something they don't want to hear. It's important to be able to speak your mind and at the same time not be an ass kisser. NOIR ARTIST: Most people who are reading this, either through luck or design, have never actually met me. In short how would you describe me - minus any four letter words please... CHONNA: You're introverted yet outspoken, a loner, an individual. You are also self-absorbed but I do not consider it a bad thing at all. You know what you like and you go after it sans the company of other people. NOIR ARTIST: Lets turn the focus on you for one moment. I'm really into simple living (talking about myself again), but I'm really curious about your ambitions and thoughts on living. Just a simple question to end things! CHONNA: I would like to live a life where I get paid enough money to cover the bills, living expenses, and have some left over for spending on whatever I like. Also, I would like a job that has benefits (health, dental,vision). These may sound like basic things but it is connected to every day living. I want to be able to take care of myself financially and physically. Without your health you have nothing. Living in a warm environment would also help my mood. I love it when it's sunny outside. I feel more mobile and active. Warm weather motivates me to explore and sometimes be social. Another thing I want to pursue is traveling. But you need some money to do that. I am working on other ways in how I can obtain it.--- NOIR ARTIST: Your opinion on the French music scene? GAUTAM SEN The french music scene is quite interesting in electro music, we have some great artist like justice, daft punk etc. Its caled "the french tuch" but about french rock music it more difficult. NOIR ARTIST: Is Asia or Europe a greater influence on your music? GAUTAM SEN: Its very difficult for me to say wich part could be the greater influence. I'm using indian mood when i play western music end when i 'm trying some western rokc spirit in indian classical music/ NOIR ARTIST: Has European cinema influenced your work in any way? GAUTAM SEN: YEs , i'm found of godard, and all french new wave. Its give me the way for the improvisation and experimantation NOIR ARTIST: What is your opinion of Nicolas Sarkozy? GAUTAM SEN: MR s is the worst thing arrived in france since Napoleon & petain( vichy). I hope he 'll not arrive to change our country as he wants. NOIR ARTIST: Is there any hope for the Left in European politics? We're always hoping , because the folks are still suffering the capital and the inegality of the right power.So it 'll eaisy to keep on the fight . --- NOIR ARTIST: In your opinion what is the current state of German hip-hop? ILLOYAL: I currently have quite mixed feelings on the state of german hiphop: As well as there's a remarkable state of diversification as in lyrical themes and the style of beats, i also feel that these diversifications seem to stagnate at a certain point: You have the dominant US-style of production with modern synth and clap sounds as well as high-pitch vocal samples, lyrically bound of course to the classic representations of (in most german cases, imaginary) wealth, promiscuity and superiority to other rappers as well as one's personal struggle to make it in the "game" (which, again seems to be an unsuitable term in comparison to the gigantic US market). It is interesting to see the gap between representation and artistic reality here, as most of the self-proclaimed game-overtakers such as Sentino, Kid Kobra, Robird Styles (to name a few) , and, in consequence, their adoring fans,see themselves confronted with a serious lack of success. Still, some have established themselves, being able to live off it. The second and, undoubtably most successful thing is the German brand Gangstarap, influenced and executed amostly by Germans of foreign descent. Production style is quite similar to the above, lyrical content ranges narrowly from themes like brotherhood to violence, crime, drug money etc., often with a rather sloppy use of the German language. In the vicinity of these rappers, other US-brands like the Memphis horrorcore and Miami Bass are assimilated are also present in German language. There is a variety of rappers trying to set themselves apart from the above, either in a melancholic, lyrical ["conscious"] fashion, relying mostly on J Dilla/Madlib-style production, a psych/battle rap fraction severely influecned by the Ill Bill/Necro school and a very little community following the ideas of American labels Anticon, Def Jux and Mush. [all just a very small try to define it] So in my opinion, there's quite a variety of styles, the only problem I see is German rap's constant self-reference or its reference on its American predecessors: Only very few rap acts try to broaden their musical spectrum by incorporating other influences, most stay with the classic boomtchac or boomclap. Apart from that, what bothers me most, there's a strong standardisation of listening tastes: At it's best, a rap song seemingly has to be a) consumable without having to pay too much attention and b) keep in standard flow/syllable meters. NOIR ARTIST Does hip-hop play a great role in the German music scene? ILLOYAL: Germany has the 3rd biggest rap market in the world, I think. Rap in its allegedly negative forms is omnipresent in media and political debates. These debates obviously focus on obscenity and copycat charges against gangster rap. Albeit the obviously supercharged emotions in these debates, they only show how present rap is in Germany's music market. Top acts like Bushido sell multi-platinum, so there's definitely a musical relevance of rap in Germany. NOIR ARTIST: I really enjoy your lyrical flow even though I do not speak any German. What subject matter do you rap about? ILLOYAL Thanks! That's a hard one. I initially got started with battle rap in my early days, kept that thing going for a few years and expanded it into a bit more psych direction, which was one of my, well, trademark things...I tried out some storytelling stuff and some quite melancholy, apocalyptic themes about two years ago, many of these tries can be heard on my very first album effort "Vollbeschriebene Blätter" with my former partner Me$$age. So basically, most of my earlier stuff is dominated by these two complexes, battle and kind of apocalyptic themes. Trying to move ahead a little, I started incorporating rather absurd, fun phrases into my battle raps, which again came to dominate the EP with Holgerrr, "Falsche Freunde" (false friends). Having been interested with assymetrical or missing rhymes and kind of offbeat passages since my first album, I also incorporated these elements into the lyrics for Falsche Freunde. Still not really satisfied with my stuff on traditional beats, I started some more radical changes in my writing throughout last winter, certainly influenced by expanding my listening to more abstract rap and instrumentals. The solo album I'm working on now will have some brand new flows and quite a lot of acoustic instrument work on it (piano, drums and more obscure stuff), hopefully being able to abolish most of my clichés. Subject matters will be kinda hard to describe. an apt description would be a mix of estrangement, shame, anger, armageddon, and dreamstories :D NOIR ARTIST: What countries would you like to visit? To preform a show or otherwise... ILLOYAL: Dunno if anyone would want to see me there, but I'm planning to visit Scandinavia or Ireland this summer. Eastern Europe is another aim. I'll probably be visiting Japan next year. I'd be happy if I had at least some opportunities to play any kinds of shows here in Germany to an interested audience. NOIR ARTIST: Are you interested in crossing over into the North American market? ILLOYAL: As far as I am not really present on any German market right now, there can be no talking of "crossing over" to another one. I'd certainly be interested in collaborating with some of America's excellent MCs, although their fame status is , of course, an obstacle.--- NOIR ARTIST: What role does independent media has in reporting on the various arts? DAWN WIRTH: The independent media is good if you have an publicist to get the word out about your work. I do not have one and I rely on myspace to get the word out about my shows. I did when I had my gallery show last year, an independent magazine, they put an small paragraph and 2 photos from opening night. NOIR ARTIST: Talk about your interaction with independent media and culture. DAWN WIRTH: I use myspace to my advantage. IT is the only place you can get the word out about your work, meet other people that are artists. Network, ect. The publicist for the gallery that had my first show got the word out into a lot of publications. NOIR ARTIST: Are there some musicians that you feel haven't received their just due? DAWN WIRTH: Alice Bag, put after May 17th, I think a lot more people will find out who she is. Patti Smith, I don't think gets as much attention as she should. NOIR ARTIST: What are your opinions on pop culture? DAWN WIRTH: I like the pop culture, but is it still around? Pop Culture, that is? NOIR ARTIST: Can popular culture be a repressive force in our society? DAWN WIRTH: yes, it can, it can make people jump on an band wagon, not knowing why...but are doing it so they stay cool.--- NOIR ARTIST: I've gone vegetarian from time to time, but I'm embarrassed to say that I've lacked the discipline to maintain vegetarian for more than a few months. I'm really interested in learning how being vegetarian has influenced your lifestyle? JIM: Being vegetarian has profoundly affected my lifestyle. I first consciously met a vegetarian at age 18, a Quaker workcamp leader from Maine. He made the simple argument that cats, cows, frogs, pigs all breathe just like humans, see and hear like humans, that killing one of them was in some ways all too similar to killing a person and developed in us a state of mind that made killing a person seem more acceptable. He rescued a fly from the spaghetti-sauce one day and while the fly was drying itself on a towel, he got me to look carefully at the little creature, to see how it struggled to live, to breathe by moving its wings, how incredibly beautiful it was, when preconceptions were removed. I also remember resisting him, arguing, sometimes flippantly. Reflecting on my own insensitivity, I felt his sincerity penetrate deeper into my consciousness, a challenge to develop my own sincerity. I remembered how, as a child, I had been in charge of a small flock of chickens, feeding them, collecting the eggs, shoveling the manure. When my family had to leave the farm to move to Rhode Island, my father had me bring the chickens to him, cut off their heads with an axe, slice them open and pull out their internal organs. I then took these to the dog. I was crying; the chickens had been my friends. My mother was an early proponent of organic gardening and made wonderful home-cooked meals from food raised on our small farm. Some ingredients were store-bought and non-organic, but the flavors and textures were always interesting: tamale pie and meatloaf were favorites. A can of reused bacon grease was always on the sideboard of the stove. She subscribed to the Bulgarian Yogurt Culture, which was shipped monthly from Canada, and she made huge containers of yogurt, which was also a staple of our diet. Brewer's Yeast and cod-liver oil were also ever-present. My uncle Artie, whom I admired greatly, had a large family and believed in simplicity. He would have barrels of nonfat milk powder, peanut butter, margarine and flour in his inner-city Philadelphia apartment. The only meat his family ate was chicken, because it was cheapest. I found the food at his house unpleasant, but I absorbed the rationale behind it subconsciously. This was the diet of the selfless American do-gooder. When I arrived at college in Wisconsin, I fell under the spell of a beautiful sophmore woman who was leading yoga classes; I still see her in my mind's eye with a radiant aura around her head. She recommended the book "Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation", and it was this book that opened my eyes to that incredibly powerful web of reasons (health, self-discipline, morality, simplicity) to stop eating meat. I began to do Sun Salutations every morning and tried to cut out all meat. I had no trouble giving up beef, ham and chicken (it was such a relief to be able to give up chicken, because these were the animals that I could not dissociate from the meat they became). It took me longest to give up sausage, which I did not associate with meat, but with happy times spent in Denmark. I was helped greatly in becoming a lacto-vegetarian by the fact that the college cafeteria allowed us to have unlimited quantities of milk, cottage cheese, apples, peanut butter, bread and maple syrup. It was at college that I first experimented with fasting. My reading was leading me to connect Gandhian activism with fasting in prison as well as with vegetarianism and simple, local diet. The Vietnam war was forcing me to decide how to deal with the fact that I could not enter the military. Prison or Canadian exile seemed to be my most likely destination, though I ultimately won conscientious objector status. Contemplation of how to survive five years in prison filled my thoughts a lot of the time. I resolved that, if imprisoned, I would remain a vegetarian. The brief periods I have so far spent in jail cells have proven much easier than my imagination. I have had no trouble fasting while in jail, but the resolve I developed in those early years has helped me stick with vegetarianism for over forty years. These days, it is simply part of me. It has determined where I have eaten and shopped, and indirectly, who I have ended up meeting, marrying and living with. I am impressed with young people who are now foregoing dairy products as well. I confess that I still don't look at a piece of cheese and think of the cow whose life has been warped to make it. I don't drink milk and I try to avoid egg products as much as I can. I am acutely aware of the burden cattle-raising places on the planet as human and cattle populations increase and petroleum inputs in agriculture increase. I understand what you mean about the difficulty of sticking with a dietary discipline. At various periods in my life I adhered to more strict vegetarian diets: macrobiotic, raw food, and vegan, for short periods, but I have always reverted to the more comfortable lacto-vegetarian pattern when external factors made it harder... Some kinds of mental and emotional experience make it easier to keep a "resolution" (I hate that word, but I can't think of a better one), and for me, the mental exercise of preparing for prison proved to be the key. There's lots more to say about this subject, but I've probably already gone on too long.--- NOIR ARTIST: How would you describe yourself? LEA: Friendly, open minded but with a tendency to rant if I feel strongly enough about something. NOIR ARTIST: Are you where you thought you would be at this time within your life? LEA: No, definately not but that is due to myself really, not working towards it soon enough. After leaving school I felt compelled to get a 9-5 job rather than further my education. I think the pressure we all feel to earn money to survive often leads us to forgetting who we are & what we originally wanted out of life. Money is most definately a form of control over society, I know it is nothing new but it still makes me slightly mad. NOIR ARTIST: What is the best we can get out of social networking sites such as myspace? LEA: Sharing important information which we would not necessarily get from mainstream media & seeing different points of view -I find it both interesting and informative. Also musicians who would not necessarily get the chance to show their talent to the world sharing their art through the internet and being recognised that way - not through record companies who never have their best interests at heart. NOIR ARTIST: What is the least enjoyable aspect of the social networking site? LEA: SPAM e-mails!! NOIR ARTIST: Does the internet make you feel more connected to the widerworld? LEA: that would be a yes.--- NOIR ARTIST What is the role of art today? SURREALIST GESTURE To stand against conformity, slavery, oppression and ignorance of the self. To remind people they possess the power to change not only their world, but all the world. NOIR ARTIST: What forms of art do you feel is most affective in reaching the public? SURREALIST GESTURE: Who is the public? Perhaps television for one, perhaps a book for another... perhaps chancing upon the sight of a burning piano for yet another. NOIR ARTIST: How would you describe surrealism? SURREALIST GESTURE: Complete freedom of the mind. NOIR ARTIST: Are you familiar with surrealist artistic techniques, and do you make use of any of them? SURREALIST GESTURE: There is only one Surrealistic art technique; honesty. Yes, I’m quite fond of using it. NOIR ARTIST: Is the surrealist tradition still significant? SURREALIST GESTURE: More so than ever! Although regrettably, it has almost been entirely forgotten. The myth has been perpetuated that it is simply an aesthetic, a style. Untrue. Not only can any style or aesthetic be considered Surrealistic, one must also always remember Surrealism was conceived just as much as a social, political movement as much as an ‘artistic’ one. They are inexorably linked and that link should never be broken.---