Subotron – Jogi Neufeld

July 11, 2011

tags: Art, Austria, Digital, Electronics, Shop, Vienna

As a kid that grew up in the 80s I was a proud owner of some handheld games. You can’t describe the pleasure I felt, when I entered the subotron shop in Vienna’s Museumsquartier for the first time a couple of years ago. Jogi Neufeld created a little time warp into the 80s that makes my digital heart beat faster. „It’s about the thing, not about me.” with this statement Jogi refuses to appear without mask on the picutures. Some call it shy, I call it real.

Back in his childhood Jogi was amazed by navigating two lines on a two-colored screen in order to hunt a flying dot. Years later he found the legendary Nintendo handheld “Donkey Kong” on a flea market. With interest in history and design as well as some retro-passion coming up Jogi started to buy any piece he could find: “My ruin was when ebay arrived”. Soon his apartment became to small for his treasures.

Without any kind of business plan, Jogi talked to the curator of the Quartier 21 and made a proposal. The curator liked it and that was the start of the subotron shop in 2004. “I had to get some other stuff like literature and t-shirts, because in the beginning I didn’t want to sell any part of my collection. But I had to learn it in order to pay the rent.” Besides the consoles the shop offers textiles, literature, music, street art, and gadgets from around the world.

Jogi sees his shop as a kind of public office. Subotron is much more than just a second hand shop for handhelds. It’s a movement for establishing the cultural value of digital games. Jogi organizes lectures, workshops, exhibitions and concerts. One famous example: street artist “Invader” (you should know him from Banksy’s film Exit Through the Gift Shop) was invited as artist in residence in 2006 and distributed his artwork all over Vienna. One of his pieces is placed just beside the shop. Also he designed the bridge that leads from the Museumsquartier into the Breite Gasse.