By Donna Deeney

The organisers of CultureTECH have said the four-day festival went far beyond their wildest expectations. The numbers who attended the plethora of events celebrating the best in digital entertainment, art and games reached levels the organisers didn’t dare dream of, creating a huge boost to the tourism economy of Londonderry. The festival culminated in the announcement that a new digital link has been forged between Derry and London which will see the formation of 100 new companies, establishing Derry as Northern Ireland’s technology hub. Duke Special headlined the events organised on Saturday which saw around 10,000 people pass through the Guildhall Square venue over the course of the day, while hundreds more attended events in the Millennium Forum and the Craft Village. Mark Nagurski, from Digital Derry, said next year’s event will be bigger and better. “We have been completely blown away but the success of the festival and we already have an eye on next year,” he said. “There will be things from this year’s festival that we will want to build on and tweak, however, we plan that next year, the festival will be more entertaining, bigger and better. “This was our first year and it was successful beyond our hopes. What was so impressive is the people who turned up were not all computer geeks as some people might imagine. “We had kids of three and four trying out games, we had kids of 11 or 12 wanting to find out about computer programming but we also had people in their 80s coming to events as well. “One of the more bizarre things for me was seeing Sir Nick Kenyon, director of the Barbican dancing to Japanese Pop Stars at the Nerve Centre but the festival was meant to be fun.” Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/culturetech-digital-festival-a-massive-hit-for-derry-16206853.html#ixzz25d9yBK71

For the first time in its 50-year history the New York Film Festival has created a Midnight Movies sidebar that will celebrate genre films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The three chosen films to be screened during the festival, which starts on Sept. 28 and runs through Oct. 14 at Lincoln Center, are “The Bay” by Barry Levinson, about a deadly parasite outbreak; Takeshi Kitano’s yakuza action film “Outrage Beyond” (with Beat Takeshi, above); and Peter Strickland’s film within a film, “Berberian Sound Studio.” The center also said Friday that it would host a two-day conference, “NYFF Convergence,” with panels and workshops devoted to transmedia, a form of storytelling that uses multiple digital platforms. It is to be held Sept. 29 and 30 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.

BRIGHTON DIGITAL FESTIVAL 2012
1 – 30 September 2012

http://2012.brightondigitalfestival.co.uk

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/brighton-digital-festival-2012

“Lighthouse are delighted to be at the heart of Brighton Digital Festival 2012.  The festival is a celebration of digital culture featuring a whole month of exhibitions, performances, meet-ups, workshops and outdoor events that run alongside Brighton’s iconic digital design conferences.  It is run by members of Brighton’s arts and digital communities, and administered by Wired Sussex in association with Lighthouse.

“Marking out Brighton as a major destination for digital culture, the festival this year includes digital visionaries like Matt Webb (Berg), Ben Hammersley, Hannah Donovan (This Is My Jam), and Alice Taylor (Makielab), digital artists such as David Blandy, Luke Jerram, and Seb Lee Delisle, science pioneers such as Kevin Warwick and James Burke, science fiction legends Brian Aldiss, Warren Ellis and Jeff Noon, and cutting edge digital thinkers and makers such as Leila Johnston, Anab Jain (Superflux), and Tom Armitage (Hide & Seek).

“They’re among over 50 well-known names giving talks in the first week alone.  Team that up with over 100 exhibitions, performances, meet-ups, workshops, and the UK’s fastest growing Maker Faire, and you’ve got one of the most intriguing digital festivals in Europe.

“Lighthouse’s own 24 projects for the festival explore where art meets technology. Highlights include:

ODYSSEYS BY DAVID BLANDY
1 – 23 September, Phoenix Brighton

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/david-blandy-odysseys

“David Blandy is a contemporary artist based in Brighton and London who uses video, performance, digital technology, animation and comics to investigate the form and content of the popular culture that surrounds us.  Odysseys is a major exhibition of his work and his largest monographic show to date. It features recent works including, Anjin 1600 (2012) and Child of the Atom (2010), which draw on the visual language of Japanese anime to tell deeply personal cross-cultural stories, plus collection of works which have arisen out of Blandy’s deep interest in game culture, including Duels and Dualities (2011) Soul of the Lakes (2005) and Samurai Story Part 2 (2008).

IMPROVING REALITY 2012
6 September, Pavilion Theatre

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/improving-reality-2012

“A half-day conference which playfully and critically looks at how designers, artists, and makers are using various technologies to shift our perceptions of reality. It features features graphic novelist, Warren Ellis, art and science luminary, Luke Jerram, digital innovators Usman Haque, Anab Jain and Leila Johnston, We Make Money Not Art’s, Regine Debatty, Rhizome’s Joanne McNeil, Rebekka Kill and more.
Expect presentations of artworks inspired by science, speculative stories, radical designs, unlikely inventions, and a few surprises.
The conference is followed by an evening panel session featuring some of the most prominent names in speculative fiction, including science-fiction legend, Brian Aldiss and Jeff Noon.

ARTIST TALK BY DAVID BLANDY
1 September, Phoenix Brighton

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/artist-talk-david-blandy

“To contextualise his exhibition Odysseys David Blandy will be giving a talk about his practice.   Blandy creates work that can be simultaneously humorous and philosophical, ironic and deeply heartfelt. Both playful and poignant, Blandy’s works ask us to analyse the images and stories that surround us, the games we play, and the films we watch. He has exhibited widely, including shows at The Baltic, Gateshead; the Liverpool Biennial; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Spike Island, Bristol; and Platform China Project Space, Beijing. His work is distributed by LUX, and he is represented by Seventeen Gallery in London.

PIXEL PYROS BY SEB LEE DELISLE
2 September, Jubilee Square

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/pixelpyros-by-seb-lee-delisle

“A stunning outdoor interactive performance by artist and creative coder, Seb Lee Delisle.

WORKSHOPS IN SCHOOLS
18 – 25 September

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/schools-workshop-with-natalia-buckley

“Creative technologist Natalia Buckley will be inspiring the digital artists and designers of the future in a series of coding and hacking workshops at Varndean High School and Brighton Aldridge Community Academy.

“Plus there’s much more from Brighton’s Mini Maker Faire, screenings of much-loved anime classics at the Duke of Yorks cinema, a hackday for young people, a gaming tournament, hands-on workshops in creative coding, and a primer on how streaming media is changing culture.  Our full programme is online here: http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/brighton-digital-festival-2012

“Brighton Digital Festival is a celebration of digital culture. It is run by members of Brighton’s arts and digital communities, administered by Wired Sussex in association with Lighthouse and supported by Arts Council England.”

CONTACT

For more information:
Lighthouse
Address: 28 Kensington Street, Brighton, BN1 4AJ, UK
Tel: +44 1273 647197
Email: info@lighthouse.org.uk

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk

1. Information on prizes and how to enter form part of these conditions of entry.

2. The Promoter is Eeevent Hub Limited

3. The promotion commences at 1pm on Friday 24 August 2012 and entries need to be received by 5pm on Monday 27 August 2012 and posted on the CultureTECH page on Hubb.it.

4. Entrants must be at least 18 years old to enter the promotion. 

5.To enter the promotion, entrants must answer the following question “In 140 characters or less, tell us what you are looking forward to most at CultureTECH”.

6.  Entrants must submit the entry form by Posting their answer on the CultureTECH Page on Hubb.it (hubb.it/events/culturetech)

7. The Comment with the most “likes” on the CultureTECH Page on Hubb.it will receive 1 pass for the CultureTECH Festival. Voting will be open until 12pm on Tuesday 28 August 2012 and the winner will be contacted by 5pm on the same day.

8.  Winner will be required to submit a review of the CultureTECH festival on the Hubb.it Website.

9.  In the event of a tie break the promoters will chose their favourite comment from those with the most votes.

It’s that time of year again, when music concerts swap sticky dive bar floors for well-tramped grass and enormous open-air stages. 2012’s festival season is finally upon us and to get in the mood, here are 10 of the world’s best.

From America to Australia via Europe and Japan, just about every artist you can think of, is bringing their music to the great outdoors this year and the only question is, which one do you go to first?

— Zoë Smith for Viator

Loving the idea of a music festival completely powered by people on bicycles!