2005 Boston Cyberarts Festival
Uniting the worlds of art + technology
April 22-May 8, 2005
Festival encompasses more than 70 events at over 50 venues in and around Boston
Feng Mengbo, Scott Snibbe, Bill Seaman, John Klima, Tamiko Thiel, and Mary Ellen Strom are among featured artists
Ideas in Motion conference & event series explores dance + technology
The creative connection between two of Boston’s most vital forces – the arts community and the high-tech industry – is once again in the spotlight at the fourth Boston Cyberarts Festival, featuring more than 70 exhibitions and events at museums, galleries, theatres, and public spaces in and around Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, from April 22 through May 8.
The Boston Cyberarts Festival, a biennial event founded by Director George Fifield and launched in 1999, is the first and largest collaboration of artists working in new technologies in all media in North America. The Festival encompasses a variety of art forms – visual arts, dance, music, film, new media, public art, literature, web art – and represents the efforts of dozens of organizations, all of whom, within their own missions, are producing exhibitions, performances, screenings, or symposia that explore the impact of technology on art.
Among the highlights of the 2005 Festival are:
Ideas in Motion: Innovations in Dance, Movement & Technology – This conference and series of performances, workshops, and symposia explores the use of new technologies in dance, featuring both historical context and exciting new works.
Boston Cyberarts at Kendall Square – “The Thoughtbody Environment,” an installation by artist Bill Seaman and scientist Otto Rssler, is the centerpiece of a series of exhibitions taking place in the Genzyme and Vertex buildings at Kendall Square in Cambridge.
GPS and Satellite Imagery Programs – Artists working with global positioning (GPS) and satellite imagery technology are featured at exhibitions and events at the Photographic Resource Center, 119 Gallery, Emerson College, Judi Rotenberg Gallery, and the Back Bay Fens.
Shadow Play – Art Interactive, the popular Cambridge gallery that also serves as the headquarters for the Festival, exhibits Scott Snibbe’s “Shadow Play,” four interactive wall projections selected from his Screen Series and from a new series based on experimental film.
Other Festival events include exhibitions at major museums such as the DeCordova, Danforth, and MIT Museums; performances at locations including Berklee, the Institute for Contemporary Art, and the Cyclorama; and exhibitions at galleries including Howard Yezerski, Judi Rotenberg, and the Mills Gallery at the BCA. Many local educational institutions are involved, including MIT, MassArt, Boston University, Brown, and the Rhode Island School of Design.
“The presence of so much experimental work in and around Boston might surprise those who view the city as a bastion of cultural conservatism, but it reflects a long local history blending art and science. George Fifield has taken an inclusive approach, hoping in the process to convince us that a joystick can be put to better use than zapping aliens, and that there is poetry in a well-tuned algorithm.” – The New York Times
Festival-goers can obtain printed and CD-ROM catalogs, chat with Festival staffers, and purchase Festival merchandise at CyberArtCentral, located at Art Interactive, 130 Bishop Allen Drive, Cambridge. Festival-goers can also obtain a catalog of all the exhibitions and events in the April 21 issue of The Phoenix and at participating venues.
The Festival’s website at www.bostoncyberarts.org contains a complete database of Festival events, which can be searched by date, venue, location, and art form. The website also contains an online gallery, HyperArtSpace, and APropos, a database and registry for artists’ proposals. For more information, call 617.524.8495 or email info@bostoncyberarts.org.
The Boston Cyberarts Festival is grateful to the many generous individuals and corporations whose support has made the Festival possible, including the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Avid Technology, the Boston Foundation, Bottlecap Studios, Castle Graphics, Hotel @ MIT, LEF Foundation, Lyme Properties, and the Phoenix Media Communications Group.