Network
The European Network for Contemporary Audiovisual Creation is aimed at boosting innovation by combining the knowledge, experience and resources of its members. The different nature of the members also brings in an interdisciplinary and complementary perspective. Its contribution to the process of the creators, in the different fields covered by the project – research, production, education and dissemination of new audiovisual practices – will foster a more effective advancement in the implementation of innovative solutions that can be exported, that are sustainable and that bring the new audiovisual culture closer to the public and the industry.
THE PARTNERS OF THE NETWORK
LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial
LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial is a multidisciplinary institution founded for the exchange and cooperation between art, science, technology, society and the creative industries.
Inaugurated on March 30, 2007, the Centre is located in the Mile of Knowledge, a perimeter located in the eastern side of Gijón, between the technological campus of the Universidad de Oviedo and the Science and Technology Park of Gijón, where the most advanced firms and technology centres of Asturias live alongside art and culture.
Designed as a singular and unique project amon art centres in Spain, LABoral works as an technological and socio-cultural open lab for research, development and innovation, based on a crosscut approach between different fields, communities and practices. Thus, it presents itself as a node for integrated and distributed research carried out through its various programmes of production, exhibition, education or communication.
www.laboralcentrodearte.org/en
- Member of the curatorial committee: Lucía García Rodríguez. Managing Director
Law graduate from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid with postgraduate studies in European Affairs and Cultural Institutions Management. She trained as broker at Barry Rogliano Salles, Paris and as risk analyst in Barclays Bank’s International Management in London. After Paris and London, she started working as Coordinator of the International Fashion Week in Madrid and the Convention Centre of Madrid Trade Centre. In 1999, she took up the position of Deputy Director of ARCO, the International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid. In August 2006, a year prior to its official opening, she was appointed General Manager and Head of Public Programmes of LABoral to work with the founding management in launching the project. In September 2011 she is appointed Managing Director.
L.E.V. Festival
L.E.V. (Laboratorio de Electrónica Visual) is the International Festival of Audiovisual Creation of Gijon, a project that, since 2007, intends to offer a panoramic view of the electronic sound creation and its relationship with visual arts.
L.E.V. is concerned specifically with the natural synergy between image and sound, the live presentation, the relationship established between audience, artist connection and public space, and the new artistic tendencies that constantly emerge on a global level.
El Laboratorio de Electrónica Visual, whose initials pay tribute to Lev Thermen (Russian scientist father of the present-day synthesisers).
- Members of the curatorial committee: Cristina de Silva y Nacho de la Vega (Fium), DATATRON 03XF
Cristina de Silva Marbán (1972) and Nacho de la Vega (1968) are the two members of Fium, a collective of culture activists focused on video creation, sound and multimedia. They also curate and produce art events like Arenas Movedizas and the LEV festival, both held in Gijón and organised by DATATRON 03XF, a collective of which both are founding members.
INTERVIEW: DATATRON 03XF, representing L.E.V. Festival in ENCAC [+]
Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
Ars, technology, science and society – experienced tags which accompany Ars Electronica since the emergence in 1979. Ars Electronica (AT) has sought out interlinkages and congruities, causes and effects between these realms. The ideas circulating here are innovative, radical, eccentric in the best sense of that term.
The Festival as proving ground, the Prix as competition honoring excellence, the Center as a year-‘round setting for presentation & interaction, and the Futurelab as in-house R&D facility extend their feelers throughout the realms of science and research, art and technology. Ars Electronica’s four divisions inspire one another and put futuristic visions to the test in a unique, creative feedback loop. It’s an integrated organism continuously reinventing itself.
Director: Gerfried Stocker
www.aec.at
- Members of the curatorial committee: Martin Honzik
Artist and director of Ars Electronica’s Festival, Prix and Exhibitions divisions. He studied visual experimental design at Linz Art University (graduated in 2001) and completed the master’s program in culture & media management at the University of Linz and ICCM Salzburg (graduated in 2003). From 1998 to 2001, he was a member of the production team at the OK Center for Contemporary Art. In 2001, he joined the staff of the Ars Electronica Future Lab, where, until 2005, his responsibilities included exhibition design, art in architecture, interface design, event design and project management. Since 2006, Martin Honzik has been director of the Ars Electronica Festival and the Prix Ars Electronica and in charge of exhibitions in the Ars Electronica Center as well as Ars Electronica’s international exhibition projects. His recent achievements, in addition to numerous art projects (e.g. Ganz Linz, Vernichtungsaktion), include cofounding the u19 – CREATE YOUR WORLD festival for young people and serving as head of production and director of the 2012 voestalpine Klangwolke.
INTERVIEW: Veronika Liebl, representing Ars Electronica in ENCAC [+]
hTh - CDN, Montpellier, France
Led since 2014 by the author and theatre director Rodrigo García, humain TROP humain (hTh) - CDN Montpellier is a prestigious institution devoted to contemporary creation in Languedoc-Rousillon. In the intersection of various disciplines, the team put together by Rodrigo García is highly and strongly committed to creation socially and ethically. The project revolve around three main aspects: 1) a permanent collaboration group of Spanish and French creators that participate of the conceptualization and production of performances, workshops, ateliers, festivals, etc. 2) a research lab on performing arts and spectacles directed by Laurent Berger, and 3) a Digital arts laboratory which aims to conform an experimental structure for new technologies, sound and video, directed by Daniel Romero.
Director: Rodrigo García
www.humaintrophumain.fr
- Member of the curatorial committee: Daniel Romero
Creator and musician. His career has developed around sound experimentation starting from his deep knowledge based on open source hardware and software. He’s an expert in multimedia creation with free tools, and in programming languages, such as Pure Data, Processing and free hardware platforms, such as Arduino. Since 2008 he has worked as sound designer for theatre companies of such standing as Rodrigo García. He has collaborated and currently collaborates with other art groups taking care of the programming, recording and editing of multimedia installations. As a creator and musician he has got a long and outstanding career and his works have been released by Nature Bliss, in Japan, or the record label Other-Electricities, from Portland, United States, in addition to other record companies in France, Germany or Spain. As an artist and under the pseudonym .tape. / dot tape dot he has carried out audiovisual performances in places, such as Mexico City, Munich, Vienna, London, Copenhagen and Barcelona and he has received many awards and mentions, such as Premio sala4 ABC at ARCO 2011, the International Contemporary Art Fair of Madrid, Spain and Premio VIDA 15.0 Concurso Internacional de Arte y Vida Artificial 2013. He worked as the Head of the Sound LAB at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial for the year 2014 and is still responsible for its programming in 2015. He is currently Director of the Département Numerique at humain TROP humain CDN Montepellier, France.
INTERVIEW: Daniel Romero, representing hTh - CDN in ENCAC [+]
le lieu unique, Nantes, France
January 1st 2000, le lieu unique is inaugurated. Since it has become a utopian living space where conviviality meets the most contemporary forms of creativity, a space of artistic exploration, of cultural effervescence that mixes genres, cultures and people. le lieu unique works in many different domains of art: visual art, theatre, dance, circus, music, but also literature, philosophy, architecture, new media.
Every year, le lieu unique offers over a hundred theatre, dance, and circus performances, as well as concerts, literary gatherings, philosophical debates, etc; over 200 days of exhibitions and residences for visual artists; and major events (festivals, cultural trails, great debates, etc.) as well as conferences.
Director: Patrick Gyger
www.lelieuunique.com
- Member of the curatorial committee: Anaïs Rolez
Holds a PhD in History of Contemporary Art, She has taught at Nantes University and currently teaches History of Media Art and Performance at the Nantes School of Art. Her research topics currently include the question of machinic gestures and contradiction as a generating process. She also serves as theorist for several artistic projects in which networks, on-board computing, electronics and autonomy play a major part.
INTERVIEW: Patrick Gyger, representing Le lieu unique in ENCAC [+]
Resonate, Belgrade, Serbia
Operated by Magnetic Field B, Resonate is a platform for cultural networking, knowledge sharing and education. In cooperation project, it will gather creative entrepreneurs, cultural workers, artists, students and educators to participate in a forward-looking debate on the position of art and culture in new media and technology. Special accent will be put on organizing workshops in the fields of music, visual arts and digital culture. Guest artists, lecturers and other participants are students, but also cutting edge, contemporary creative people in the world.
Director: Maria Jelesijevic
www.resonate.io
- Member of the curatorial committee: Jelena Piljic
Jelena Piljic has finished BA studies on Department for Management and Production in Theatre, Radio and Culture, Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade, Serbia in 2010, and MA Program for Cultural Policy and Management - Interculturalism and Mediation in the Balkans (thought in English and French) at University of Arts in Belgrade in 2012. She is a Producer of Gallery 12 HUB, new media and performance art gallery from 2013 onwards and Executive Producer of Resonate festival, new media festival from 2015 onwards. She has been involved in various international and local projects regarding arts and culture.
DISK -INITIATIVE BILD UND TON EV, Germany
DISK is a non-profit organization that aims to support and promote the production and diffusion of experimental sound art, innovative music, and visual arts. Three major issues on the DISK agenda are: projects and research about the correlation of sound and other forms of art, fostering international exchange between artists, initiatives and organisations, and supporting independent, experimental musicmaking that is situated between avant pop music and the circles and traditions of academic music. In addition to producing the annual CTM Festival, DISK is a co-founder of Inn.to, a cooperatively run building in downtown Berlin that houses artist studios and offices for cultural projects, and also hosts General Public, a non-profit project space located on the building's ground floor. DISK was founded in fall 2006. DISK is a member of Initiative Neue Musik Berlin, and the Dach/Musik network, and is a founding member of the ICAS- network (International Cities of Advanced Sound).
Director: Oliver Baurhenn
www.diskberlin.de
- Member of the curatorial committee: Jan Rohlf
Founder and one of the artistic directors of the annual CTM – Festival for Adventurous Music and Arts, Berlin’s foremost experimental music festival, which runs since 1999. He is also one of the directors of DISK Berlin, the umbrella organisation that comprises CTM Festival; DISK – Initiative Bild & Ton e.V., a Berlin-based organisation to promote experimental music and visual arts; and the DISK Agency. In 2008 through DISK Berlin, he co-founded the international network ICAS – International Cities of Advanced Sound.
Between 2004 and 2014, Jan was one of the coordinators of the studio house Inn.to in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg and the project space General Public, while also being a member of Berlin’s Rat für die Künste (Berlin Council for the Arts) from 2009 – 2011. In 2014 he was the editor and producer for the weekly Klangkunst (sound Art) broadcast at Deutschlandradio Kultur/Klangkunst, Germany’s prime national public culture radio, where he now continues to work as a freelance programmer.
Born 1975 in Tübingen, Germany, Jan Rohlf lives and works in Berlin since 1994. He studied Experimental Media Design with Prof. Joachim Sauter at the Berlin University of Arts (UdK).
INTERVIEW: Jan Rohlf, representing DISK in ENCAC [+]
NON-EUROPEAN PARTNERS
Mapping Festival, Switzerland
The Mapping Festival, dedicated to audiovisual art and digital culture, is now a major event in the fields of the image generation, creation and technological exploration, attracting both professional and mainstream audience. Considered as a unique platform of production and diffusion in Switzerland, it also enjoys an international reputation thanks to the quality of its programming and diversity, which aims to encourage emerging artists of the field. Working with several venues and open spaces in the city, it alternates audio-visual performances, installations, clubbing, architectural mapping, as well as workshops and conferences. The Mapping Festival is also a meeting point, a creative and collaborative platform with innovative spirit. Over the course of nine editions the Mapping Festival has grown steadily and emerged as one the most important events of its kind in Europe.
Curators 2015: Ana Ascencio, Justine Beaujouan, Boris Edelstein
http://2015.mappingfestival.com
- Member of the curatorial committee: Ana Ascencio
Ana Ascencio started her strong interest in electronic art back in the late 90s while collaborating within Weetamix, an organization with the aim of promoting electronic music and cultures in Switzerland. She then moved to Montreal, Canada, where she joined the team of Elektra, international digital arts festival, as administrative director and project manager for the International Marketplace for Digital Arts. During those four rich years, one of her main roles within the organization was to develop a network of producers, curators and journalists and to promote Canadian digital artists outside of Canada, which also largely contributed to the growth of Elektra and its international reputation.
Now back in Europe, Ana Ascencio has been curating for the visual arts department of lille3000, a strong French cultural institution active in the field of contemporary art and created after the success of Lille2004, European Capital of Culture. She had the opportunity to curate and produce artworks of artists such as Ross Lovegrove, Electronic Shadow, Thierry Fournier.
In December 2011, Ana Ascencio joined the team of the Mapping Festival in Geneva, Switzerland, for which she’s in charge of the artistic programme and production of the event.
INTERVIEW: Justine Beaujouan, representing Mapping Festival in ENCAC [+]
Avatar, Québec, Canada
Avatar is a self-run artist centre specialized in researching, creating, disseminating, publishing, and distributing audio and electronic art. The centre is a non-profit organization and, in its 20 years of existence, has initiated activities to promote production, discussion, and collaboration amongprofessional artists at every level through local, national, and international networks. Its facilities are located in Quebec City in the Coopérative Méduse building and include research and recording studios, a multi-purpose room, a computer laboratory, and an electronics lab containing cutting-edge audio and electronic equipment. Avatar’s primary mission is to promote the research, creation, and dissemination of audio and electronic art in all its current and future forms to continually revitalize artists and their discipline.
Executive Director: Mériol Lehman
http://avatarquebec.org/en
- Member of the curatorial committee: Caroline Gagné
Since beginning her research in 1998, Caroline Gagné has developped a process based on the sites she explores. Public art, drawing, media arts, installation and audio art meet on her multiform artistic path. Active in her field, she has been an artistic director at artist-run center Avatar since September 2013.
She has taken part in events such as Phénomena, (Montreal, 2014), Tissus urbains (Montreal, 2001), Périphéries Québec-Zagreb-Sarajevo (Zagreb, 2002), Manif d'art 3 (Quebec City, 2005), Cités invisibles (Montreal, 2006), Cʼest arrivé près de chez vous (Quebec City, 2008-2009), Mois Multi 12 (Quebec City, 2011) and Temps dʼimages (Montreal, 2012). In 2009, she was chosen to benefit from the residence-studio of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec in Montreal.
Since 2013, Caroline Gagné’s solo work has been in synch with her numerous collaborations within the Avatar collective (Grand Happening d’Avatar – 20 ans, Pif Paf), with fellow artist François Lamontagne (Fonte de glace, Contretypes) and as part of the Projet Phyla collective (Les Altitudes). She has also teamed up with audio artist Patrice Coulombe for the computer design of media projects (...les sentiers battus, Les erres) and to create works in duet (Ligne de flottaison, Écluse).
INTERVIEW: Mériol Lehman, representing Avatar in ENCAC [+]
ELEKTRA, Montreal, Canada
ELEKTRA is an international digital arts festival founded in 1999 by Alain Thibault. Among the activities initiated by ELEKTRA are the International Digital Arts Biennial (BIAN) with its first edition in 2012, the International Sound Art Biennial (BIAS), the first edition inaugurated in 2015, and of course the International Marketplace for Digital Arts (IMDA) which occurs annually since 2007 in addition to the Festival. While ELEKTRA showcases each year a selection of performances, the BIAN and the BIAS are events which highlight an important installation/exhibition program. Since 2011, the organization has also produced international events, such as "Québec numérique"; unique showcases of local and national creation in the digital arts.
General and Artistic Director: Alain Thibault
http://elektramontreal.ca
- Member of the curatorial committee: Alain Thibault
Curator and artistic director in the fields of digital arts, electronic music and sound art, Alain Thibault is also the founder of two major events in Montreal, ELEKTRA - an annual festival showcasing performances in the digital arts, and the BIAN, International Digital Arts Biennial, oriented towards exhibitions, installations and public art. Also an electronic music composer, his work is largely disseminated throughout the local and international scene.
Mutek, México
MUTEK is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination and development of digital creativity in sound, music, and audio-visual art. Its mandate is to provide a platform for the most original and visionary artists currently working in their fields, with the intent of providing an outlet of initiation and discovery for the audiences we seek to develop. In terms of content, the festival’s range strives to be diverse, with interests in both the experimental and the playful sides of digital creativity. MUTEK’s programming intends to create a sonic space that can support innovation in new electronic music and digital art. This is a world of constant evolution and incessant refinement – the “MU” in MUTEK refers consciously to the notion of “mutation”. A MUTEK network exists today, with ramifications in North America, South America, and Europe.
General and Artistic Director Mutek México: Damián Romero
http://mutek.mx/2014/
- Member of the curatorial committee: Damián Romero
Having been compromised with the introduction and promotion of Avant-Garde music and digital arts in Mexico for over a decade, Damián Romero has made a journey through an important lapse in time, leaving footprints on every step of his way.
Not only has he given life to the International Festival for Cultural Creativity, MUTEK México since 2003, showcasing for the first time in the country an international artistic event of great scales and proportions. It has exhibited some of the most relevant and outstanding proposals in digital creativity worldwide. Presently, it’s one of the very few independent Mexican festivals of its kind, lasting for over a decade. Mutek Mexico has been positioned as a unique platform in our country; the objective is focused in cultural innovation. It has also been persistent and compromised with creativity and local digital art and projects of artistic exportation in different places, such as: Beijing and Shanghai (China), Tokyo and Nagoya (Japan), Montreal (Canada), New York (USA), Cologne and Berlin (Germany), Argentina and Chile.
Currently he heads his own label: IMECA (International platform for collective creativity). It’s conformed by Directors form Canada, France and Mexico involved in various disciplines that share a point of junction: Technological Arts, graphic universe, sound and the infinite realm of innovation.
