Dear VAD friends,

The sentence “New paradigms of network civic participation”, subheading of the seminar that organizes this year LABFàbrica within the VAD festival activities, could be changed for “New paradigms of construction of images in art” to define the contents of this 9th edition of the annual festival of video and digital arts.

In a society that uses and consumes a great number of images, and within the context of an online network almost collapsed by thousands of pictures and all kind of videos, professional, domestic, advertising ones… where does the artist fit and which role does he or she play? How can we distinguish and estimate some creative works amongst the others? How do we get to the decision of showing the 50 pieces that this year make up the exhibition?

In this edition of the festival, back to the international call for entries, these 50 works are only a 10% of the amount of pieces that entered the competition, and we have probably left behind some interesting films. But the criteria that we finally took has to do with the aim to perceive and to challenge the change of paradigm that we are living, today, regarding the forms and the concepts that articulate artistic expression. This way, we decided to choose, from a subjective perspective, those works that showed, in different directions and through various audiovisual techniques, these transformations in the models of artistic representation of a new sensitivity. And we have put the pieces together according to 4 main cores, in order to emphasize certain elements and in order to guide the viewer’s look. Under titles that remain quite open, VAD suggests 4 main subjects: Me and the environment, which involves those pieces created from intimate stimulus that explore the relationship between the subject and the outside world. Social portraits, where the artist becomes the observer and the harvester of realities of our times, often little human experiences that nevertheless become spaces of criticism towards a society unfortunately quite convulsed. Ideas and Thinking, where the videos are thoughts turned into images, visual essays, performed concepts. And, finally, Shape and Movement, which takes some of those pieces that use body, objects, light and sound to build up aestethic tendencies and emotions. These are not times for drawing borders between genres and ways, all these works could be organized differently… let’s just understand it as a subjective suggestion and take your own decisions by looking those films that call you to share a moment of your time.

Besides the videoshow, you can find 7 interactive pieces, or works that need a different format other than screening. They are pieces that invite to physically occupy the place, to participate with your gestures and to reorganize your perspective.

Next to the exhibition VAD festival designs several activities in which digital arts become a bridge, a space of collaboration with other disciplines such as dance, music and show. They are live activities: a direct pleasure, brief and unique. For the opening event we have designed a part of the show Pirouette en re menor and, for the day after, in the evening, a documentary created in Camallera, a look at the rythm of the earth by a foreign author. On Friday evening we suggest a big-size screening on a building front –Mapping– using the wonderful city landscape by the rivershore of the Onyar, at the point where it crosses Girona. On Saturday, after a session of debate and discussion (the meeting I was talking about at the beginnig of this text) we will show the music and interactive dance performance Stocos, in collaboration with Temporada Alta.

Enjoy, it’s only three days!

SELECTED WORKS FOR COMPETITION - VAD 2011

Single channel videos:

(4) - Aburres Team; ...niland 2 - Leneweit & Rodriguez; À l'érrance - Jacynthe Carrier; Ámár - Isabel Herguera; Animalisme - Joanot Cortès & Mireia Fort; Artalde - Asier Altuna; Attack on the Chinese Pavilion at Biennale 2011 - KilMor. Prod.; Back - Vicent Gisbert; Bailar la imagen; la danza virtual - Silvia Cuenca Sanz & Belén Zahera; Body Snatchers - Manel Bayo; Canción del antes de morir – laboratorium; Capital - Gaizka Urresti; Casa Tomada - Manel Bayo; Cinética - Ana Cembrero Coca; Cords - Laura Celada; Drive-thru - Christian Bermudez; El encuentro - Julián Andrés Doniz; El principio del fin – Fiumfoto; Facial Perception - Tahir Un; Falling - Adriano Cirulli; Fluo - Étienne de Massy; Glásnost - Daniel Silvo; Glimpses -Luka Kito & Megan Boyd; Hope - Pedro Sena Nunes; Horror Vacui - Andrea Robles Jiménez; I am looking at you looking at me looking - Remu Iwai; Ich Allein Auf Fremde Wegen - Félix Fernández; La Broma Infinita - David Muñoz; La cambra fosca - Deborah Chacón & Cristiana Pecci; La Danza De La Codorniz. Primer Movimiento - Elena Córdoba & Chus Dominguez; La llet sigmoide - Pau Pascual Galbis; Las Horas Contadas - Iñigo Salaberria; Le Rocher - Étienne de Massy; Les barbares - Jean-Gabriel Périot; Looking for a snowstorm - Mia Degner; Odysseus' Gambit - Àlex Lora; Opo - Carlus Camps i Torner; Quiero ser una obra de arte - Jhon Aguasaco; Rewind - Paulo Fernandez; Señora del señorío - Arantxa Boyero; Somnio - Paulo Fernandez; The inevitable human stupidity - Oscar Santamaria Rojo; The Unnamed - Huang Ya-Li; Tjukurrpa - Felip Prunyonosa; To the moon - Yunji Park; Tron (versión 15M) - Felipe G. Gil; Us - Àlex Lora; Woppow - Being Political Is Such A Huge Trend - Ubermorgen.com; Yo me conformo, tu te conformas, el se conforma, nosotros nos conformamos, ellos se conforman - Begonya Garcia Garcia

Instalations:

Insurance.AES256 - Michael Takeo Magruder; La Escucha - Felipe G. Gil; Mientras Caminan - Christian Parsons; Sonosphore - Signal to Noise: Oliver Wilshen & Niall Quinn; The Rhythm of City - Varvara Guljajeva & Mar Canet Sola; This Is Not A Poem - Alan Bigelow; Unseen movie - Ricardo O'Nascimento;

Live shows:

Pirouette en Re Menor - Bàcum/Irina Martínez i Joan Laporta (Premi F. Fita)

VAD 2010