The festival embraces a variety of different fields, including contemporary art, media art, animation, film, photography and etc. It aims to encourage people to think about and discuss new forms of expression and new directions for our future by providing not only opportunities for people to view artworks, but also space for people to participate in image production, relax and talk to others while enjoying views of the port and the ocean around the city.
There are 2 main exhibition spaces. At Bankart Studio NYK, you will see 21 artists participating with installation works. The works in the exhibition questions what we found out in the images with embodied experience and our memory. In the other venue, Shinko Pier, you will find many recorded images which give us different perspectives on our world and new practices of artists and groups of amateurs who tries to investigate the interesting way of using new technologies.
Along with the jury members who are leading figures of diverse domains, this festival’s CREAM competition program aims to propose a brand new visual expression and experience.
CREAM competition craves a new visual expression, or works that cross the borderlines between different genres of art such as contemporary art, film, performing art, music and etc., and therefore inspire and influence the future generations.
A total of 21 programs will be screened over 11 days including the following: artists’ films including the Asian premiere of PEPPERMINTA by Pipilotti Rist; film submissions to the CREAM competition including the award-winning works; a special collection of films by young Japanese directors; films selected by artists and curators from Japan and overseas including China, Egypt, Korea and Great Britain.
Civic project - A support crew of civic volunteers armed with video cameras has been hard at work documenting the artists at work, interviews and the AM (Art & Media) Cruise pre-event, as well as challenging themselves to production of their own programs and broadcasting during the festival.
An opening event organized by a collaboration of young Japanese artists and performers on 31 October and 2 November, joint film screenings and sound and image events are scheduled.
It is vital that we create an appropriate language for talking about media-based expression and communication of the future. This gathering of researchers and artists from Japan and overseas is an opportunity to develop the discussion on this topic.
International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama 2009
CREAM［Creativity for Arts and Media］
From October 31st 2009 to November 29th, 2009
Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall, BankART Studio NYK, and other nearby venues in Yokohama City
The Organizing Committee of the International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama 2009(City of Yokohama, Yokohama Arts Foundation)
Deep Images
Living in this world free of technologically produced images is becoming impossible. In particular, with recent technological developments, chances for many people to see and produce images are rapidly increasing.
The festival embraces a variety of different fields, including contemporary art, media art, animation, film, photography and etc. It aims to encourage people to think about and discuss new forms of expression and new directions for our future by providing not only opportunities for people to view artworks, but also space for people to participate in image production.
Images had also been playing a large role in people making contact with other cultures, movement, or observing nature. Thus images are vital for us to recognize that the world can be seen in diverse ways by shifting our viewpoints. And those images are not just what they call artistic expressions but also recording media which engage with history and memories of our life. Image thus is a technology to be looked at with thoughts on how we interact with the society. Images are displayed usually within a frame, or on screen, but act on the space and our bodies.
Fumihiko Sumitomo, director of International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama
