ArtFutura 2003
The Painted Word
October 9 – 12 / CCCB, Barcelona
Futura Circuit: Granada, Madrid, Valladolid, Vigo, Vitoria
John Gaeta . Lev Manovich . Steve Sacks . Roberta Bosco . Xeni Jardin . Meg Hourighan . Anil Dash . Jeremy Boxer / Resfest . Lynn Fox . Michele Marino . Hans Hoogerbrugge . Sam Chen
Digital technology acts like a chainsaw through the old paradigm of art. Where are the boundaries? Contemporary art, digital art, or design? Originals or millions of copies? Virtual museums? Painted words, feelings, or gadgets?
ArtFutura 2003 addresses all these questions by presenting the most extensive and international section of conferences and debates in the event’s history up to that point.
More than forty talks featured, including notable names like Lev Manovich, author of The Language of New Media, one of the foundational theoretical texts on technology and creation. In his book Manovich analyzes the foundational principles of digital media, arguing that it operates as a hybrid of cinema and computation, reshaping cultural production through new forms of interaction, modularity, and variability.
The festival dedicates a special section of its programming to the world of blogs. An Afternoon in the Blogosphere brings together pioneers such as Xeni Jardin (journalist for Wired and editor of Boing Boing), Meg Hourihan, co-creator of Blogger, and Anil Dash, author of one of the most-read blogs on the web; along with them, a wide representation of the Spanish blogosphere.
Notable is the participation of John Gaeta, special effects director for The Matrix, Matrix Reloaded, and Matrix Revolutions. The special effects in the Matrix series revolutionized filmmaking with pioneering techniques like “bullet time,” blending live-action and CGI in ways that reshaped action sequences and set new standards for visual storytelling in cinema.
At the opposite end, American artist Sam Chen presents his work Eternal Gaze in a session dedicated to independent artists’ projects. Under the title “After 3D,” the festival also includes presentations by Johnny Hardstaff and the Lynn Fox collective.
Under the title PixelCity, the afternoon dedicated to video games features presentations and debates around the city as a video game setting. Among the guests are video game companies like the Portuguese Ydreams, artists like Blast Theory, and the Australians Select Parks.
ArtFutura also ventures into the field of Internet creation and web design by showcasing the work of creators like the enigmatic Hoogerbrugge. Finally, ArtFutura participates in Barcelona’s 2003 Year of Design by co-producing the exhibition Crossings: New Territories of Avant-Garde Design.
“I’ve suddenly regained my full vision. It’s not about seeing to believe. Foolish me! Believing is seeing. Because Modern Art has become completely literary: the paintings only exist to illustrate a text.”
Tom Wolfe “The Painted Word”
In the 70s, in his work “The Painted Word”, Tom Wolfe described the art world as a village. And thirty years later, it seems that everything and nothing has changed.
Everything, because there is a new technology that has radically transformed the way we communicate and inhabit the world. Nothing, because our archaic habits remain part of the ritual.
And in this situation, marked by the widespread use of the Internet, what is the new center of art? Where is the “cénacle des cénacles”? Where are the new beaux mondes? And the culturati?
In Paris, New York, Berlin…? Perhaps on the way to Linz?… or on the web itself?
Montxo Algora
