(“Free Sunshine!” mini
robots powered by the sun – a project by Miranda Moss (South Africa) Thulile
Gamedze (South Africa) and Oliver Walkhoff (Switzerland)
funded by Pro Helvetia)
ISEA2018 is the 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art which
will come to Durban from June 23 to 30, 2018, creating a city-wide showcase of
dozens of exhibitions, events, installations, walks, festivals and activities,
and a major global conference on new media art, all talking to the theme of Intersections.
ISEA2018 is the first ISEA to be held in the African sub-continent.
Hosted in venues across Durban, this event will incorporate the fifth iteration
of the Durban University of Technology Digital Festival (DigiFest) and Innovate
Durban’s 2018 Innovation Festival (IF Durban) in a strategy to build a local
partnership and legacy.
ISEA2018 is a festival in two parts: an academic symposium at DUT City Campus
(June 25-27) comprising peer-reviewed papers, panels and keynote presentations
for registered delegates travelling from around the world; and then the dozens
of events on the cultural programme (June 23-30) and public workshops (June 22-24).
To the uninitiated, the public cultural component of ISEA2018 is an
intense and lively ten-day festival featuring some of the world’s most
prominent digital artists, comprising a vast array of interesting, brave, fun,
innovative and insightful happenings taking place in various venues across the
city. The works combine existing art forms (such as illustration, design,
dance, fashion, architecture, photography, film and music), re-invented and
re-considered to make them interesting and relevant in a new-media, technologically-savvy
world. In most instances there is a
cross-over with science; sometimes with a research component.
Expect virtual reality-based art viewed only through a tablet or
smart-phone; tiny solar-paneled robots; large-scale building projections;
electronic jazz performed to a silent film about dinosaurs; underwater sound-scapes; imagining the
Zambian space race; digital artworks; app-guided walking tours; video
installations on the beach and animated wire art.
The cultural programme is structured in such a way that visitors can
follow the daily diary and be part of a set schedule – visitors can follow the
ISEA itinerary and move easily from one event to the next.
Partner venues are DUT City Campus; KZNSA Gallery; Durban Art Gallery;
Denis Hurley Centre; Emmanuel Cathedral; BAT Centre; Bond Shed; Green Hub;
Warwick Junction; Treasure Island; uShaka Marine World; KCap; Bulwer Park and
Durban City Hall.
Most events are open to the public, are family-friendly and are free of
charge.
ISEA2018 culminates on Saturday evening, June 30, with the ninth edition
of Interpret Durban taking over the
magnificent Durban City Hall – inside and outside the whole building from 18h00.
The space will be re-imagined by a team of artists from all over the world –
using the spaces in an unusual way, and displaying art in various forms
throughout the building. The center-piece will be the main hall which will
become a dancefloor for the evening.
“ISEA2018 / Digifest05 / IF Durban’s theme, Intersections, brings new audiences, academics, and practitioners
together. It positions creative technological innovation as an activist
engagement into public space and allows for creative collaboration between
artists, artisans, designers, technologists, entrepreneurs, engineers,
scientists and inventors. Intersections
brings together projects networks and programmes that not only push the local
debate on art, science and technology collaboration but builds a national
network of practice and collaboration,” explains ISEA2018 artistic director and
The Trinity Session director, Marcus Neustetter.
“The city-wide cultural programme will host local and international
projects and presentations in public spaces across Durban and surrounding
areas. These will include artist interventions and performances, site-specific
workshops, talks in alternative spaces, thematic exhibitions and activation
tours. This will culminate in a series of public engagements through the
Technology, Innovation and Design Expo (TIDE) and Interpret Durban,” he said.
Local ISEA2018 / Digifest05 / IF Durban partners are Durban University
of Technology’s Faculty of Arts and Design, Innovate Durban, eThekwini
Municipality, Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau and The Trinity Session.
To find out more:
Facebook: @intersectionsdurban
Instagram: @intersectionsdurban
The detailed programme can be found on the ISEA2018 website at http://www.isea-web.org/2016/02/isea2018/
ISEA symposia are
coordinated by ISEA International. Founded in the Netherlands in 1990, ISEA
International (formerly Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts) is an
international non-profit organization fostering interdisciplinary academic
discourse and exchange among culturally diverse organizations and individuals
working with art, science and technology. ISEA International Headquarters is
supported by the University of Brighton (UK).
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