ArtFutura 2011
Reviewing the Future
October 21st – 23rd / Alhóndiga, Bilbao
FuturaCircuit: Barcelona, Bilbao, Bogotá, Buenos Aires , Gijón, Madrid, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Santiago de Chile, Segovia, Tenerife, Valladolid, Vigo
Tiffany Shlain . Wolf Lieser . Pau Waelder . Edward A. Shanken . Rosto . Alvaro Rey
The main focus of the 2011 edition moves to Bilbao, where the exhibition “ArtFutura XXI” is presented, a journey through the evolution of digital culture and art and its projection into the 21st century.
The twenty-second edition of the festival has the theme “Reviewing the Future,” and its audiovisual program highlights Tiffany Shlain’s documentary “Connected”, a fascinating documentary about the impact of new technologies on our lives. The film, which premiered at Sundance that same year, is screened at ArtFutura with a video conference from its director in San Francisco.
“Connected” is a personal film with universal resonance. Shlain, founder of the Webby Awards and co-founder of the Academy of Digital Arts, is considered one of the original pioneers of the internet. Part documentary, part memoir, the film unfolds over a year in which technology and science literally became a matter of life or death for its director.
Mixing animation, archival footage, and personal recordings, Shlain reveals the strange ties that bind us all. Not just to the people we love, but to the world at large.
Also presented is “Press, Pause, Play”, a film about the importance of new media in music, art, and design, including interviews with some of the most influential creators of the digital age such as Moby, Sean Parker (Napster), Amy Philips (Pitchfork), Anne Hilde Neset (The Wire magazine), and Christopher Weingarten (Rolling Stone).
The audiovisual program is completed with “Mapping the Mappings” (featuring the best works of Seeper, 1024 Architecture, Urban Screen, and Darkfejzr), “Music Video Showcase by MECAL” (featuring Unkle, Moray McLaren, The Temper Trap, Massive Attack, Björk), and the new work by Rosto “The Monster of Nix” presented by the author himself.
Connected, is a personal film with universal relevance, exploring how, after centuries of declaring our independence, perhaps now is the time to declare our interdependence.
Tiffany Shlain
The challenge lies in creating and maintaining an ecosystem for new media art, fostering its study and understanding, tracing its genealogy, and recognizing the contributions of pioneering artists, whose works can only be appreciated once the context in which they were created is identified. Only then can we ensure a future for the art of the future.
Pau Waelder
