Placebo for charity, part 3

Dear friends, today we meet again at the next part of my virtual pilgrimage for events that deepened my love for PLACEBO.

Photo credit: Helena Berg, placeboworld FB, photo edit by Marti

🔸𝗔𝗟𝗣𝗛𝗔, 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟱🔸
My first event today is related to a breathtaking photograph by Brian Molko taken by a prominent British photographer and Brian's friend, Helena Berg. It captures Brian's face under a layer of ice. I admit that I can't get enough of that photo.
It was one of the photographs created for a charity exhibition called 𝗔𝗟𝗣𝗛𝗔, which took place in November 2015.
To find out what actually happened in 2015, I will present an excerpt from an article on the CALMZONE website, where there is an interview with one of the ambassadors of the 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗠 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, with the English actor 𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧:


⭐„It came about after a CALM event I’d organised in Leeds in March. Placebo kindly agreed to dedicate the Leeds show of their tour to help raise awareness of CALM, and I put together a secret after-show party in collaboration with the uni. Both Brian and Stef from the band DJ’d, and have been amazingly supportive. I was so grateful for them getting behind the charity and their continued efforts. Helena [Berg, acclaimed photographer responsible for much of rock band Placebo’s artwork during their 20 year career] had heard all about the event and CALM via Brian, and asked to be put in touch with me to discuss her ideas; she talked about getting a load of photographers together to do something for the charity, as the cause really resonated with her."⭐


◾𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝘼𝙇𝙋𝙃𝘼?
...A culture where the expectation of the stereotypical ALPHA male is relentlessly reinforced...
„The predominant model of the alpha male; strong, stoic and unfeeling, still persists in popular culture and reinforces a concept of masculinity that is pervasive and insidious – one that doesn’t allow for anxiety, vulnerability or dialogue.“
„In 2014, 4,623 men took their own lives in Britain. That works out to more than 12 deaths a day, and accounts for 76% of the total suicides in the UK in 2014. In fact, suicide is the biggest killer for men under 45 in the UK.“◾


Here you can find more photos from the Alpha exhibition.
http://bitly.ws/9FSE


𝘈𝘓𝘗𝘏𝘈 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 - 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘗𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘨, 𝘑𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯, 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘶𝘯𝘻𝘦𝘭 - 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘊𝘈𝘓𝘔.


⭐To photographer and Alpha curator Helena Berg, finding out the disturbingly high rate of male suicides was a call to action.
“I was so shocked and wanted to help,” she says. “I contacted four fellow photographers and we set out to interpret different parts of the male emotional experience. We called the project Alpha to reflect the cultural pressures put upon men to live up to the stereotypical “alpha male” model ... and we concentrated on emotions that would lead a person not to speak, like anxiety, depression and loneliness."
Berg herself concentrated on feelings of isolation, by photographing men under ice and water.
“Not as a reference to drowning,” she swiftly clarifies, “but to illustrate immobilisation and the feeling of ‘being frozen’, which many depressed people experience. I used Perspex on top of the subject [Placebo’s Brian Molko] for the illusion of ice and to create photos that are haunting and tranquil at the same time.
Alpha was timed to open on International Men’s Day, says Berg, “to highlight this gender disparity issue, where three times as many men are taking their lives as women."⭐
𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯.𝘤𝘰𝘮 𝘕𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 2015


Helena's photos, where there is also a picture of Brian
http://www.helenaberg.com/

Photo credit: Joseph Llanes

🔸𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 „𝗥𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻“ 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟳🔸
The Placebo rarities auction was the logical result of many years of consideration by our favorites. During their career, they accumulated a lot of things in various storage spaces, to which they had a very nostalgic relationship. That's why the idea matured in their heads that it would be great to offer these treasures to their fans.
It was an amazing idea to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Placebo.


⭐„There just seemed to be an endless list of stuff we’d gathered since that day it all began in a London tube station two decades ago,” Placebo said in a press statement. “As the big ‘20 Years’ drew nearer, we thought it may be time to sift through it all before the hungry city rats got to it; see what would be worth saving from the proverbial fire. We thought to ourselves that maybe some people would even be interested in owning some of these items. Stranger things have been bought in the past; celebrity locks of hair and royal pairs of underwear have both passed under the auction hammer in recent years.
So we proceeded to scour our own personal wardrobes, our management office and the band’s own dark and dusty storage space to see what was hiding in cobweb covered corners,” the statement continued.
“Guitar pedals that we thought were lost, and posters of gigs that never happened surfaced along with gloriously roughed-up stage gear that we thought had been lost in transit to South America back in 2001. While sifting through the reams of black clothes on the wardrobe rail, out poked little forgotten classics from designers we love and pieces worn during the times we rubbed shoulders with our heroes. The dresses and denim, the leather and PVC. The rare and unseen, the signed and played, the disused pedals and rare releases were all there too. And now they are ready, ready for new homes.”⭐
𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 „𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤.𝘤𝘰𝘮“ 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 2017


⭐“They’re pretty iconic items,” Molko told NME about what’s on offer to their fans in the auction.
“For example, we have the jumper that I wore in the ‘Pure Morning’ video, we have the space suit that I wore in the ‘Special K’ video, clothes from the stage or album artwork. There’s also a lot of rarities in the form of a Japanese mini-album of the ‘Nancy Boy’ single, posters. These are clothes that we don’t wear any more and they’ve just been in a cage where we store our equipment.“


He continued: “The money is going to the Mercy Centre in Bangkok, which is a home for underprivileged children which we’ve supported for a long time. And we’re also giving money to CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably. They’re trying to raise awareness of male suicide among young men in the UK. The rate is really, really quite high. We need to remove the stigma surrounding depression, and one of their goals is to get more men to talk about their feelings instead of keeping it all inside and isolating one’s self – and eventually ending up with quite a tragic outcome.”


“CALM is a charity that’s close to my heart because depression is a condition which I suffer from myself,” Molko told NME.
“There are various forms of help out there.
It’s a disease like any other. Depression and addiction are both recognised by the World Health Organisation as diseases. If someone had MS or cancer, you would listen to them. There’s still a stigma attached to depression, and a lot of men in particular feel that it’s a sign of weakness to talk about it. What we’re trying to do with CALM is remove that stigma in society.”⭐
𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 „𝘕𝘔𝘌.𝘤𝘰𝘮“ 𝘖𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳 2017

Photo credit: Marco Vittur  

“𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘈𝘓𝘔,
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢, 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘈𝘓𝘔 £27,500. 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦!
𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦,
𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯”💗
𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 „𝘕𝘔𝘌.𝘤𝘰𝘮“ March 2018


The auction started on September 29 and ended on October 6, 2017.
Is there anyone among you who managed to get a rare piece from the Placebo collection? You have a unique opportunity to share with us again the pure feeling of joy that flooded you at that moment.😍

A few words in conclusion.
Maybe this post is too long.
Maybe it's hard to read.
There may be too much information in it that doesn't really interest you.

But it was important for me to combine these two events into one post.
Maybe there are people among you who have wondered why Brian cares so much about supporting Calm. Why it is mentioned so often.

Placebo have the ability to change the world around you, and that's what happens.💓💓💓

Post by Marti