Microwave International New Media Arts Festival
(
Chinese
:
微波國際新媒體藝術節
) is a
new media
art festival based in
Hong Kong
. It began in 1996 as the annual
video art
festival for local video art collective
Videotage
.
In 2006, it became independent from Videotage and in 2007 it officially became fully independent as the government's previous "presenter" role was handed over to Microwave.
[1]
The government remains the main sponsor of the Festival, although many more sponsors are sought for each year's Festival.
The annual festival generally includes a main exhibition at the Hong Kong City Hall, a smaller scale and usually more alternative exhibition in a separate venue, a keynote conference, performances, screening programmes and other special events organised each year.
In 2007, the performance by US art collective
Graffiti Research Lab
that "hacked the city" with their
L.A.S.E.R.T.A.G
along with the participation of local graffiti artist
MC Yan
, they achieved a record-breaking tag
[2]
1,200 metres
across
Victoria Harbour
(
James Powderly
and MC Yan tagging from Central ferry, with
Evan Roth
and the local crew controlling the set up in front of the
Cultural Centre
in Tsim Sha Tsui).
In its first extended event outside of the annual November Festival, Microwave also held the "A-Glow-Glow" Macro Interactive Media Art Exhibition in April 2008, which was funded by the
Hong Kong Arts Development Council
and aimed for more mass appeal. Two large-scale interactive
LED
artworks were placed by the
Tsim Sha Tsui
waterfront, right across the harbour from the
Hong Kong City Hall
, where the annual festival main exhibition is held.
Microwave's festival design, by local design partner
Milkxhake
, also consistently wins design awards almost every year since their partnership commenced.
History and connection with Videotage
[
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]
Microwave International New Media Arts Festival began as an annual
video art
festival for the Hong Kong-based
non-profit organisation
Videotage
in 1996. As new technologies became more accessible and were used in new forms of art production, the festival expanded to include a wider range of new media art. It was the first art festival in Hong Kong dedicated to the development and presentation of new media art, and has since steadily grown into a well-established festival that combine exhibitions of new media art with keynote conferences, video screenings and other programmes to nurture emerging media artists and develop the media arts community in Hong Kong.
Microwave Festival '97
was directed by the artist, curator and researcher
Ellen Pau
, and invited artists from Germany, the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, and Denmark. The festival was held at the Exhibition Hall at Hong Kong City Hall. It included screenings of 4 video artworks ('Signal-techno', 'Culture interface', 'Loco-motion', 'Superman and Wonderwoman'), a 'Being Digital' CD-Rom Exhibition, a conference, seminar, and workshop.
[3]
This edition of the festival explored the possibilities of the CD-ROM as a medium for storage and distribution and elucidated strategies employed by artists to re-think the "interface" as an intimate space between screens and their users.
Festival 2009
[
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]
Nature Transformer
(自然反)
[4]
Festival 2008
[
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]
Transient Creatures
(異生界)
[5]
Extended exhibition - April 2008
[
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]
"A-Glow-Glow" Macro Interactive Media Art Exhibition
"A-Glow-Glow"
[6]
was held by the waterfront in
Tsim Sha Tsui
(
Kowloon Peninsula
), with two interactive LED installations by two artist groups:
Festival 2007
[
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]
Luminous Echo
(形光譜)
[9]
References
[
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]