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II Endless Variations

II Multitude & Singularity

II Another perspective

II The Fusion of Possibilities

II Persistence & Exploration

II Image 3.0

II BioMedia

II 59th Venice Biennale

II Decision Making

II Intelligence in art

II Ars Electronica 2021

II Art & NFT

II Metamorphosis

II An atypical year

II Real Feelings

II Signal - Espace(s) Réciproque(s)

II On Combinations at Work

II Human Learning

II Attitudes and forms by women

II Ars Electronica 2019

II 58th Venice Biennale

II Art, Technology and Trends

II Art in Brussels

II Plurality Of Digital Practices

II The Chroniques biennial

II Ars Electronica 2018

II Montreal BIAN 2018

II Art In The Age Of The Internet

II Art Brussels 2018

II At ZKM in Karlsruhe

II Lyon Biennale 2017

II Ars Electronica 2017

II Digital Media at Fresnoy

II Art Basel 2017

II 57th Venice Biennial

II Art Brussels 2017

II Ars Electronica, bits and atoms

II The BIAN Montreal: Automata

II Japan, art and innovation

II Electronic Superhighway

II Lyon Biennale 2015

II Ars Electronica 2015

II Art Basel 2015

II The WRO Biennale

II The 56th Venice Biennale

II TodaysArt, The Hague, 2014

II Ars Electronica 2014

II Basel - Digital in Art

II The BIAN Montreal: Physical/ity

II Berlin, festivals and galleries

II Unpainted Munich

II Lyon biennial and then

II Ars Electronica, Total Recall

II The 55th Venice Biennale

II The Elektra Festival of Montreal

II Digital practices of contemporary art

II Berlin, arts technologies and events

II Sound Art @ ZKM, MAC & 104

II Ars Electronica 2012

II Panorama, the fourteenth

II International Digital Arts Biennial

II ZKM, Transmediale, Ikeda and Bartholl

II The Gaîté Lyrique - a year already

II TodaysArt, Almost Cinema and STRP

II The Ars Electronica Festival in Linz

II 54th Venice Biennial

II Elektra, Montreal, 2011

II Pixelache, Helsinki, 2011

II Transmediale, Berlin, 2011

II The STRP festival of Eindhoven

II Ars Electronica repairs the world

II Festivals in the Île-de-France

II Trends in Art Today

II Emerging artistic practices

II The Angel of History

II The Lyon Biennial

II Ars Electronica, Human Nature

II The Venice Biennial

II Nemo & Co

II From Karlsruhe to Berlin

II Media Art in London

II Youniverse, the Seville Biennial

II Ars Electronica, a new cultural economy

II Social Networks and Sonic Practices

II Skin, Media and Interfaces

II Sparks, Pixels and Festivals

II Digital Art in Belgium

II Image Territories, The Fresnoy

II Ars Electronica, goodbye privacy

II Digital Art in Montreal

II C3, ZKM & V2

II Les arts médiatiques en Allemagne

II Grégory Chatonsky

II Le festival Arborescence 2006

II Sept ans d'Art Outsiders

II Le festival Ars Electronica 2006

II Le festival Sonar 2006

II La performance audiovisuelle

II Le festival Transmediale 2006

II Antoine Schmitt

II Eduardo Kac

II Captations et traitements temps réel

II Maurice Benayoun

II Japon, au pays des médias émergents

II Stéphane Maguet

II Les arts numériques à New York

ENDLESS VARIATIONS

The world accelerated as one industrial revolution after another produced societal and aesthetic changes. It was in the 19th century that the serial treatment of subjects became widespread in painting, as if to better grasp every aspect of them. In an age of unbridled use of artificial intelligence…

Nicolas Sassoon,
The Prophets, 2019.

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MULTITUDE & SINGULARITY

Two notions that gained currency with the start of the new millennium are the multitude – the crowd made up of people connected with each other via networks – and technological singularity – the idea that machines will eventually become superior to human beings.

Jeppe Hein, 360°
Illusion IV, 2008.

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ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

This year, the art [ ] collector prize founded by Evelyne and Jacques Deret was awarded to Thibault Brunet. This gave rise to an exhibition entitled Mondes Persistants & Pratiques Exploratoires at 24 Beaubourg. An opportunity to penetrate the aesthetic of this artist oscillating between the pictorial and the photographic.

Artie Vierkant, Image objects
Friday 7 june 2013 4.23pm, 2013.

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THE FUSION OF POSSIBILITIES

Michele Spanghero,
Double Negative, 2020.

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PERSISTANCE & EXPLORATION

Mondes Persistants & Pratiques Exploratoires,
24Beaubourg, 2022.

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IMAGE 3.0

The IMAGE 3.0 exhibition at the Cellier in Reims, organised by the curators Quentin Bajac and Pascal Beausse, is the result of a joint photographic commission from the Centre national des arts plastiques and the Jeu de Paume. The practices brought together here question representation as much as gaze in this digital age.

Donatien Auber, La Cybernétique,
le vivant et la ville, 2021.

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BIOMEDIA

The imposing BioMedia exhibition at the ZKM in Karlsruhe, directed by Peter Weibel, questions “Media with Life-like Behavior”. The installations of some fifteen artists exhibited in Germany are also presented at the Centre des Arts in Enghien-les-Bains.

Jake Elwes,
CUSP, 2019.

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59TH VENICE BIENNALE

It is difficult to have a clear-cut opinion of the Biennale because the artistic proposal in Venice is so abundant. In the national pavilions, from the gardens to the Arsenale halls, to the city's palaces and other collateral events, thousands of artworks are on display.

Elisa Giardina Papa, “U Scantu”:
A Disorderly Tale, 2022.

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DECISION MAKING

Decisions are the result of complex cognitive processes. Considering them collectively, as they involve our shared futures, makes them nothing less than crucial. But, more and more often, we include machines in such processes through decisional algorithms.

Adam Basanta, All We'd Ever Need
Is One Another (Trio), 2019.

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INTELLIGENCE IN ART

Digital artistic practices are decidedly plural and their trends follow one another at the pace of technological innovations, currently with a strong enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and its “neural networks”.

Anna Ridler, Myriad (Tulips), 2018,
source Raimund Zakowski.

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ARS ELECTRONICA 2021

The Ars Electronica in Linz is both a centre and a festival that extends to various locations in the Austrian city, including the Johannes Kepler University and the Offenes Kulturhaus. Its artistic director, Gerfried Stocker, questions our digital world to better understand its transformations, wherein, we discover creations articulated around the notion of measurement.

Disnovation.org, Life
Support System, 2020.

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ART & NFT

While there has been technology in art since the late 1960s and artworks on the Internet since the mid-1990s, it was not until 2021 that the art market took notice following a few record NFT sales. Or how digital artists approach this new territory.

Jonas Lund , "Smart Contracts",
Jonas Lund Tokens sales office, 2019.

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METAMORPHOSIS

The hybrid exhibition Metamorphosis Vol.2 at the Hyundai Motorstudio in Seoul is particularly well documented. To such an extent that it can be experienced via a virtual 3D tour, i.e. without having to travel to Korea. This is very much appreciated in these times of strict travel constraints.

Metamorphosis Vol.2,
Seoul, 2020.

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AN ATYPICAL YEAR

In 2020 everything stopped, or almost, though artists continued to create, confined to their studios, sometimes limited to the surface of their screens. Their works emerged online or in exhibitions, between two lockdowns. A look back at a particular year.

Baron Lanteigne,
Tangible Data, 2020.

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REAL FEELINGS

The exhibition Real Feelings - Emotions and Technology at the Haus der elektronischen Künste (HeK) in Basel brings together installations of around twenty artists. The idea: to reconsider the notion of feeling in this ‘technological’ society of the spectacle.

Troika, Terminal
Beach, 2020.

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SIGNAL - ESPACE(S) RECIPROQUE(S)

The European itinerant biennial Manifesta passes through Marseille for its 13th edition. In its wake, many artistic events are taking place, such as the exhibition Signal - Espace(s) Réciproque(s), which is being held at the Friche la Belle de Mai from a proposal by the Centre Wallonie-BruxellesMai.

Claire Williams, Zoryas,
electronic activity of the sun, 2019.

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ON COMBINATIONS AT WORK

Artworks by the French artist Pascal Dombis are the results of myriads of lines, texts and images combined together, and the variability inherent in the different elements combined is taken care of by the computation of algorithms that he controls through machines.

Pascal Dombis,
Mixed_Grill(e), 2015.

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HUMAN LEARNING

We have taught everything to machines and continue to supply them so that they pursue the 'desire' for autonomy we would like to grant them. Isn’t it time that we started thinking that we, too, learn from them by observing their specificities or qualities? Answer at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.

Justine Emard, Soul Shift, 2018
(Ishiguro lab & Ikegami Lab).

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ATTITUDES AND FORMS BY WOMEN

The exhibition of 1969, When attitudes become form, curated by Harald Szeemann, brought together many artists but very few women. Mentalities are evolving because 50 years later the Haro sur les héros exhibition of the Wallonie-Bruxelles Centre on attitudes and forms presents only women artists.

Cinzia Campolese, Frame of Reference,
2018 (photo Perte de signal).

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ARS ELECTRONICA 2019

The Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, was created in 1979. With this time frame in mind, Christine Schöpf and Gerfried Stocker, the two artistic directors of this year’s festival, have taken stock of the societal changes that digital technology is provoking and that art is amplifying. Because it is also by observing the past that we project ourselves into the future.

Dmitry Morozov / ::vtol::, Last Breath, 2019
(Source Anna Kortyukova).

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58TH VENICE BIENNALE

The main theme of this 58th Venice Biennale was entrusted to the American curator Ralph Rugoff. Its title, May you live in interesting times, appears to us as an injunction to appreciate the world as it is in observing it. Then the question of points of view arises!

Alex Da Corte,
Rubber Pencil Devil, 2019.

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ART, TECHNOLOGY AND TRENDS

The major art schools participate in initiating trends. The Art and Technology Studies department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a leading example. By analyzing significant works by several artists who have carried out studies there, we can begin to understand the range and impact of the practices under consideration and to affirm the excellence of its teaching.

John Gerrard, Western Flag
(Spindletop, Texas), 2017.

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ART IN BRUSSELS

Art Brussels is one of the most important international spring fairs. It is an opportunity for discovering the new Kanal Centre Pompidou and for venturing into places that, like Senne, Société and IMAL, are participating in the artistic expansion of Brussels.

Molly Soda,
All I have is my phone, 2016.

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PLURALITY OF DIGITAL PRACTICES

Never has a technique or technology so intensified artistic practices in a way that is as dazzling as it is long-lasting, beginning with the fields of sound and image, which have been revolutionized profoundly; to the point that there is not a single work today without some digital component, as small as that may be.

Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, Lightning Ride, 2017, vidéo UHD, 7'40'', courtesy Galerie 22,48 m².

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THE CHRONIQUES BIENNIAL

The Second Nature festival became the Chroniques biennial that takes place in various spots between Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. This first edition, artistically directed by Mathieu Vabre, welcomed Québec as guest of honor.

Alain Josseau,
Automatic War, 2018.

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ARS ELECTRONICA 2018

The beginning of September, for those who scrutinize societal evolutions that researchers or artists reveal in the analysis or the use of emerging technology occurs in Linz at Ars Electronica. This year, the Austrian festival focuses on error in order to consider an Art of Imperfection.

LarbitsSisters, BitSoil Popup Tax
& Hack Campaign, 2018.

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MONTREAL BIAN 2018

Created in 2012 by Alain Thibault, the International Digital Art Biennial (BIAN) assures the continuity of the Elektra festival initiated in 1999. It takes place in various venues, including the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) and the Arsenal Contemporary Art. At the same time, there is also an exhibition of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) of Montreal.

Cod.Ac, πTon,
2017.

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ART IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET

Eva Respini, accompanied by Jeffrey De Blois, is the curator of the “Art In The Age Of The Internet, 1989 To Today” exhibition, at the Boston ICA, where the works are based on five sections questioning the relations that artists have with the Internet, to interrogate societal mutations.

Frank Benson, “Juliana”,
2014-2015.

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ART BRUSSELS 2018

Art Brussels, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, acts as a catalyst as it is followed by institutions, galleries and collectors who take advantage of the opportunity to organize leading events there. In April, exhibitions took place at the same time, from the Wiels to the Centrale or the Raffinerie, or even the Société d’électricité or Senne.

Paul Pfeiffer, “Self portrait
as a fountain”, 2000.

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AT ZKM IN KARLSRUHE

Exhibitions follow one another at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie under the goodwill of Peter Weibel, its director, who is collaborating with intern or extern curators to set up exhibitions, such as Radical Software, Datumsoria, Open Codes and Hybrid Layers.

Frank Gillette, “Track/
Trace”, 1972/2017.

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LYON BIENNALE 2017

This year, the curation of the 14th Lyon Biennale, cofounded in 1991 by Thierry Raspail (director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon) was handed over to the art historian and director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz Emma Lavigne. Second episode of a trilogy articulated around the “modern” word, it is dedicated to the “Floating Worlds”.

Doug Aitken, “Sonic
Fountain II”,2013-2017.

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ARS ELECTRONICA 2017

Ars Electronica is one of the most inspiring festivals. Going to Linz in Austria year after year, it is good to discover the trends: the ones that emerge from the use or hack of the technologies of our time by artists having innovative practices.

Jonathan Monaghan,
“Disco Beast ”, 2016.

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DIGITAL MEDIA AT FRESNOY

Le Fresnoy, France's international institution for the teaching, production and promotion of new media art, is a site for the digital contamination of images and sound. This is evident in the work of ten artists, some students and other teachers, who have been part of this school over the last decade.

Sébastien Hildebrand,
“Run Baby Run” , 2010.

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ART BASEL 2017

Mid-June, the principal players of the contemporary art world gather for Basel's fair and other events in as well as off or even out. Pulling out of the market allows us to walk around a few institutions such as the Haus der Elektronischen Künste.

Doug Aitken, “Mirage”, 2017,
courtesy 303 Gallery, New York.

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57TH VENICE BIENNIAL

The 57th Venice Biennial is running until November. With, this year, a French principal curator, Christine Macel, and Golden Lions for Anne Imhof at the German Pavilion of the Giardini and Franz Erhard Walther at the Arsenale Corderie. Among the multiple exhibitions, here is a selection.

Julien Prévieux, “What Shall We Do Next?
(Sequence #2)”, 2014.

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ART BRUSSELS 2017

Each year, in April, Brussels hosts the many actors of the art world during its fair, which is one of the most important internationally. It is also the opportunity to explore its contemporary art centers, such as the Wiels or Centrale, as well as its exhibition platforms, including Société, and its art offices like White Circle.

Thomas Hirschhorn, “Pixel-Collage”, 2015,
courtesy Chantal Crousel.

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ARS ELECTRONICA, BITS AND ATOMS

The Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria has already enjoyed a long history and is once again open this September. For this 2016 edition, Artistic Director Gerfried Stocker has organized it around what he considers a sort of alchemy of our time, interconnecting bits to atoms, and hence the immaterial to the material.

Nelo Akamatsu,
“Chozumaki ”, 2016.

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THE BIAN MONTREAL: AUTOMATA

For its third edition, the International Biennial of Digital Art of Montreal set up at the Arsenal. Initiated by Alain Thibault, who is also the Artistic Director, it again this year brings together a plethora of events prompting us to reconsider an art ‘made by machines’ and / or ‘for machines’ with its theme: Automata.

Julien Maire,
“Man at Work”, 2014.

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JAPAN, ART AND INNOVATION

This year, the Japanese House of Culture in Paris has initiated a series of exhibitions titled Transphere. Named Fertile Landscapes, the first is dedicated to artists Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi who often work together in the company they run, Rhizomatiks Research.

Daito Manabe & Motoi Ishibashi,
“Rate-Shadow”, 2016.

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ELECTRONIC SUPERHIGHWAY

Electronic Superhighway is the name of a historical video installation by Nam June Paik. But it is also the title of a contemporary exhibition organised by Omar Kholeif at Whitechapel in London. An inventory of rare relevance that goes back in time to the evocation of Experiments in Art and Technology whose mission, from 1966, was to get artists and engineers to work together.

Olia Lialina, “Best
Effort Network”, 2015.

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LYON BIENNALE 2015

The artistic director, Thierry Raspail, entrusted the role of curator for this Lyon Biennale to Ralph Rugoff. The title, Modern Life that emerged from their exchanges for this thirteenth edition, brings together a number of venues including the Contemporary Art Museum, the Confluences and the Sucrière, where one finds, as every year, exceptional works.

Julien Prévieux, “Petite
anthologie de la triche”, 2015.

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ARS ELECTRONICA 2015

The Ars Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, has been focusing on the relationship between the arts and technology since 1979. For this 2015 edition, researchers have devised together tomorrow's housing while artists, like every year, presented works that are rooted in our contemporary societies.

::Vtol::
“Oil”, 2014.

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ART BASEL 2015

Returning from Art Basel, depending of one’s fortune, one comes back with works of art or figures, while others retain a reading of the trends in contemporary art. All practices, or almost all, are represented. So in order not to be too dispersed it is best to focus on a theme, support, or a medium, such as moving images for example.

Robert Wilson “Lady Gaga:
The Death of Marat”, 2013.

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THE WRO BIENNALE

Initiated in 1989 and dedicated to media art, the WRO Biennial is one of the cultural consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A strong French representation may be noticed this year due to the fact that Klio Krajewska, associated curator of the event, lives and works between Paris and Wroclaw in Poland.

Bertrand Planes & Arnauld Colcomb,
“Modulateur-Démodulateur”, 2014.

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THE 56TH VENICE BIENNALE

The current president of the Venice Biennale, Paolo Baratta asked Okwui Enwezor to orchestrate the 2015 edition with an exhibition between the Arsenal and the Giardini, entitled "All the World’s Futures." A total of 89 countries were represented through their national pavilions, without omitting the 44 collateral events scattered throughout the city.

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, “Révolutions”, 2015,
Courtesy Xippas Gallery, Source Laurent Lecat.

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TODAYSART, THE HAGUE, 2014

TodaysArt festival dedicated to visual arts, audio-visual performances, and electronic cultures founded by Olof van Winden is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. After residing in the city centre of The Hague for nine years it has now moved closer to the edge of the North Sea, notably with an exhibition entitled "The Fluidity Aspect".

Oliver Laric,
“Lincoln 3D Scans”, 2013.

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ARS ELECTRONICA 2014

The artistic directors of the Ars Electronica Festival, Christine Schöpf and Gerfried Stocker opted this year for change, by investing Linz differently and in terms of theme. Regarding art as a catalyst, they invite us again to reconsider the world, this time to better foresee the future.

Universal Everything,
“Walking City”, 2014.

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BASEL - DIGITAL IN ART

Each year artists, gallery owners, collectors, curators and critics from around the world gather in Basel on the occasion of the contemporary art fairs. The most important of them undoubtedly being Art Basel, there were however a few satellite fairs such as Design Miami, Liste, Scope, The Solo Show and Volta worth seeing.

Harun Farocki, “ Parallele”, 2012-2014,
courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac.

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THE BIAN MONTREAL: PHYSICAL/ITY

In winter in Berlin, two complementary events share the same public: Transmediale is dedicated to digital arts and cultures and the CTM Festival focuses on sonic practices and electronic music, not to mention partner events and other galleries in the centre of Berlin worth visiting.

LAb[au], “Signal to
noise”, 2012.

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BERLIN, FESTIVALS AND GALLERIES

John Einar Sandvand,
“Cambodia Tales”, 2009.

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UNPAINTED MUNICH

Unpainted, directed by Annette Doms, is the first German fair dedicated to media art -including international galleries supporting artists using the technologies of their time.

Addie Wagenknecht, Asymmetric Love,
2013, Courtesy XPO Gallery.

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LYON BIENNIAL AND THEN

The Artistic Director of the Lyon Biennial, Thierry Raspail, entrusted the organisation of this twelfth edition to the curator Gunnar B. Kvaran. Extending across multiple sites, such as the MAC, La Sucrerie, and fairs and exhibitions, the Docks Art Fair and the Rendezvous IAC in Villeurbanne also participate in the event.

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ARS ELECTRONICA, TOTAL RECALL

Gerfried Stocker and Christine Schöpf, who artistically co-directed the Ars Electronica festival this year opted for a title borrowed from director Paul Verhoeven: Total Recall. Memory, its storage or loss, is at the center of the issues discussed during the symposium. But it is also the common thread among the works in the exhibition at the Brucknerhaus.

Daniel Rozin, “Angles Mirror”, 2013,
Courtesy Bitforms Gallery.

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THE 55TH VENICE BIENNALE

Though the historical pavilions of the Venice Biennale are concentrated around the Giardini, some countries take over the palaces of the City and it is Massimiliano Gioni who is responsible for the exhibition at the Arsenal. The Venice Biennale is also nearly fifty collateral events and two “Lions”: the gold was awarded to Tino Sehgal and the silver to Camille Henrot.

ORLAN, “La liberté et deux
ORLAN corps écorchés”, 2013.

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THE ELEKTRA FESTIVAL OF MONTREAL

The Montreal Elektra Festival is recognised around the world for the quality of its audiovisual performances given for the most part, at the Usine C. The IDAM (International Digital Arts Market) meanwhile, allows producers and curators from the broadest geographical spectrum to discover artists and creativity research centres on the Quebecois scene.

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DIGITAL PRACTICES OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Like every other sphere, digital technologies and networks are invading the visual arts. After taking on board photography and video, how are artists responding to this new medium?

Jan Robert Leegte,
Blue Monochrome.com, 2008.

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BERLIN, ARTS TECHNOLOGIES AND EVENTS

In Berlin in winter, two events focus on research and practices between the arts and technology: the Transmediale and the CTM Festival. But it is also an opportunity to have a look at some of the works in the exhibitions at the Hamburger Bahnhof, at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, at the LEAP or Lab for Electronic Arts and Performance, before ending up at the DAM Gallery.

Constant Dullaart,
“Youtube as a sculpture”, 2009.

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SOUND ART @ ZKM, MAC & 104

As far back as the early 1900’s, the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo foresaw sound as a medium by playing “noises” with the instrument he called an ‘Intonarumori’. Since then, numerous artists or sound artists have participated in what today is called Sound Art. Now art centres like ZKM in Karlsruhe, the MAC in Lyon and the Centquatre, in Paris, are echoing this artistic practice.

La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela,
“Dream House”, 2012, photo Blaise Adilon.

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ARS ELECTRONICA 2012

It was precisely September 18th 1979, in Linz that Hannes Leopoldseder, Hubert Bognermayr, Herbert Werner Franke and Ulrich Rützel initiated the first Ars Electronica festival. But who at the time would have thought that an event articulated right from its beginnings around art, technology and society would be so enduring? Christine Schöpf and Gerfried Stocker have taken on the artistic direction again this year.

Seiko Mikami, “Desire of Codes”,
ICC, Tokyo, 2011, Source Keizo Kioku.

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PANORAMA, THE FOURTEENTH

Le Fresnoy, or the National Studio of Contemporary Arts, is structured around a school directed by an artist, Alain Fleischer, who invites others to train still others. This year, the curator of the exhibition, Benjamin Weil, whose international experience is well known, took up the challenge of revealing a common meaning in more than fifty artistic proposals ranging from performance to film through installations and apparatus.

David Rokeby, "Hand-held", 2012,
production Le Fresnoy.

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INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL ARTS BIENNIAL

The first International Digital Arts Biennial began in April 2012 in various locations around Montreal including the Museum of Fine Arts, the Contemporary Art Museum, the DHC and the SAT. Alain Thibault, its founder, is also the artistic director of the Elektra Festival and the instigator of the International Digital Art Market. In May, the Syncretic Transcodings symposium organised by Hexagram CIAM was added to the events taking place in Montreal. Here is a review of some of the highlights.

Ryoichi Kurokawa & Novi_Sad,
"Sirens", 2012.

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ZKM, TRANSMEDIALE, IKEDA AND BARTHOLL

At ZKM in Karlsruhe, the exhibition "The Global Contemporary" recently analysed the effects of globalisation on the world of art while that of the Media Museum, entitled "Digital Art Works", addressed the conservation of digital works. The Transmediale Festival in Berlin meanwhile just celebrated its twenty-fifth year of existence with the exhibition "in/compatible". Last but not least, Bartholl exhibited at the Dam Gallery and Ryoji Ikeda at the Hamburger Bahnhof.

Ryoji Ikeda, "db", 2012, source Uwe Walter,
courtesy Freunde Guter Musik Berlin.

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THE GAITE LYRIQUE - A YEAR ALREADY

We dreamed of it and then waited for it to happen until finally, it opened its doors, as proud in its past history as it was in its renovation. The Gaité Lyrique is now a year old. And yet, it now seems like it was always there, right in the centre of Paris "exploring digital cultures in all their forms". It has also now been comforted by the success of its visits. Lets take a glance at some of the highlights of an eventful year.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, "Apostasis", 2008,
source Maxime Dufour.

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TODAYSART, ALMOST CINEMA AND STRP

This year, the TodaysArt of The Hague and Cimatics of Brussels festivals fused and so last September, TodaysArt Brussels set itself up in several places around the city. The Almost Cinema and STRP festivals on the other hand, which took place respectively in October and November, remained in their regular spots: the Vooruit Theatre in Ghent and the Eindhoven Strijp quarter.

Kathy Hinde, "Piano Migrations",
2008-2010.

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THE ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL IN LINZ

The oldest of digital festivals has returned to its preferred sites at the Ars Electronica Center, the Brucknerhaus, the Lentos and OK Centrum (where another exhibition was being held, the Hohenrausch) after a very brief turn at the Tabakfabrik. Meanwhile, the symposium for this 2011 edition, entitled Origin, was organised in collaboration with the CERN.

Art Orienté Objet, "May the Horse Live in Me", 2011, Source Miha Fras.

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54TH VENICE BIENNIAL

Going to the Venice Biennial implicitly means accepting that you will miss artworks, as there are so many national exhibitions and collateral events. So, one must make choices, without omitting the Arsenal and the ILLUMInazioni exhibition organised by Brice Curiger, the artistic director of this 54th edition. There are also historic pavilions in the gardens and a multitude of museums, palaces and churches that further induce one to lose oneself in Venice.

Christian Boltanski,
"Chance", 2011.

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ELEKTRA, MONTREAL, 2011

The last edition of Elektra was mainly focused on the visualisation of sound through performances given in Usine C. A few partner exhibition spaces, like the Darling Foundry, are associated with this Montreal event. Alain Thibault, the festival's artistic director, is also the initiator of the International Market for Digital Arts that makes it possible to discover the potential of the research laboratories grouped by Hexagram in particular.

Frank Bretschneider, "EXP", 2009,
Source Camil Scorteanu.

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PIXELACHE, HELSINKI, 2011

Juha Huuskonen founded Pixelache in Helsinki in 2002. Since then, a truly international network has emerged around it. The curator, Mathieu Marguerin along with Kevin Bartoli, one of the members of the RYbN group, have prepared the French version, Mal au Pixel, which will take place in Paris next June. But lets first return to the latest edition of the Finnish festival, which was held primarily on the Suomenlinna Islands in March 2011.

Andreas Schmelas & Stefan Stubbe
"Artificial Smile", 2009-2010.

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TRANSMEDIALE, BERLIN, 2011

The Transmediale Festival focuses on the role of digital technologies in our society, while Club Transmediale is devoted to the "adventurous" music and related visual arts. This year, the Schering Foundation and the [DAM] Gallery were associated with these two events in Berlin. And we should not forget the Hamburger Bahnhof which has nothing at all to do with the Transmediale, but which presented the work of a resolutely digital artist.

Daito Manabe & Ei Wada "Face Visualizer",
2008. Source Jonathan Gröger.

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THE STRP FESTIVAL OF EINDHOVEN

The fourth edition of the STRP festival, which is devoted to bringing together music and artistic and technological practices, drew more than 30,000 visitors to its many concerts, performances, exhibitions, conferences and workshops in November 2010. As for the rather strange name for the event, it relates to the industrial site of Eindhoven that used to house the Philips brand before it revolutionised the cultural industry with its inventions.

Lawrence Malstaf, "Boreas", 2007,
Courtesy Fortlaan 17 Gallery.

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ARS ELECTRONICA REPAIRS THE WORLD

The most recent edition of the Ars Elctronica Festival dedicated to art, technology and society, mainly took place in a former tobacco processing plant in Linz, the scope of which impressed all participants. Theoreticians, researchers and artists from around the world met there for a few days to participate in a think-tank, initiated once again by Gerfried Stocker and Christine Schöpf that aimed at "repairing" what is still possible to repair, starting with the environment.

Félix Luque Sánchez,
"Chapter I : The Discovery", 2009.

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