BLAST! FOR THE DIGITAL GENERATION

A media art exhibition curated by Davide Quadrio and Xiaowen Zhu

Opening: Thursday, September 14th 2017 from 16:00 Duration: September 15th – October 8th, 2017 10:00-18:00 Venue: Hima Art Space, 6F, Himalayas Center, No. 869, Yinghua Rd., Pudong District, Shanghai

Art In The City’s BLAST! 2017 is coming! By expanding the open call to everyone, the special project provides a larger platform for digital media creativity – consciously reaching out to professionals beyond the field of art. In the age of the Internet, everyone has the necessary tools to realize quality content. The Open Call will explore how this intersection between accessibility and artistic intention affects contemporary digital art in Asia.

BLAST! is disseminated through an array of multidisciplinary platforms and pertinent social media channels. BLAST! Visions seeks cutting-edge moving image, animation, cartoon, and computer-generated video, capable of cultivating interactivity and more. BLAST! Sounds explores new music, including: acoustic, electronic, experimental, noise, pop, rock, found or environmental—anything goes.

BLAST! 2016 was presented at chi K11 art museum, M50 Creative Park, MoCA Pavilion, and alternative venues across Shanghai. After last year’s success, BLAST! 2017 is taking place from September 15 to October 8 at Hima Art Space. The open call is devoted to creating a more compressive stage for audiences to discover the emerging multi-media talents of creators in the 21st century.

BLAST! 2017 Opening at Hima Art Space Video by FLATMIND

This year BLAST! jury has been increased with an amazing group of professionals coming from everywhere and representing institutions and professionals at the core of innovation and experimentation. BLAST! 2017 was chaired by Davide Quadrio – Curator and Arthub Founder; Christopher Doyle –Filmmaker; Massimo Torrigiani – Curator and Shaway Yeh – Group Style Editorial Director, Modern Media. Jury Members include: aaajiao (aka. Xu Wenkai) – New Media Artist; Cao Dan – Publisher of LEAP /The Art Newspaper China; Martino Coffa – Recipient.cc Founder and Director; Colin Siyuan Chinnery – Curator and Artist; N+N Corsino – Choreographers and Researchers; Gao Jiafeng – Musician and Music Producer; Roberto Gianstefani – Founder and Director of Flatmind; Guo Hongwei – Artist; Julian F. Krueger – Executive Creative Director of The Marmalade; Alvin Li – Writer, Translator and Queer Activist; Antonio Scoccimarro ¬– Editor of Mousse; Fito Segrera – Head of Research /Creation of Chronus Art Center; Maria Taniguchi – Artist; Matthias Winckelmann – Design Director and Head of 3D of ManvsMachine; Wu Junyong ¬– Artist; You Mi ¬– Curator and Researcher; Zhu Xiaowen – Media Artist.

The Details Are Invented, 2017, dual-channel video installation, Xiaowen Zhu, installation view

In the BLAST! exhibition some of the jury members, being artists, will present their original works to the audience: feature artists among others will be: Zhu Xiaowen, Matthias Winckelmann, Gao Jiafeng, Guo Hongwei, Wu Junyong. Two installations by artists Donato Piccolo (Italy) and MANA’s recommended artist Xie Xin (China) will be also presented as special projects which create a tridimensional pause in the flow of digital presentations in the show. And FUMO presentation introduces some of the world’s best motion design studios and designers in China for the first time. These studios and designers include ManvsMachine (London / Los Angeles), SOMEI (Shanghai), Buda (Buenos Aires), Tendril (Toronto), Future Deluxe (London), Method Studios (New York), Vitaly Grossmann & Vincent Schwenk (Hamburg), Zeitguised (Berlin), CATK (Berlin), foam.studio (Berlin), Panoply (London), Raoul Marks (Melbourne), Aixsponza (Munich).

Fumo presentation and talk

BLAST! In the center of this exploration:

Art In The City 2017 brings, after the success of the first two editions, BLAST! as the core presentation and main exhibition. In the last two editions we realized that BLAST! provides not only a larger platform for digital media creativity – consciously reaching out to professionals beyond the field of art- but also brings to the attention of the general public a fresh, unexpected sight on what is new in the digital and creative world. In the age of the Internet, everyone has the necessary tools to realize quality content. BLAST! explores how this intersection between accessibility and artistic intention affects contemporary digital art in Asia and the rest of the world. From this year on, everyone will be called to be part of this adventure and this year we are happy to say that we had contributions from over 22 countries. The BLAST! exhibition 2017 will show in a special, sensorial environment the previous years’ winners works together with an original presentation of this year’s winners and some outstanding works by jury members, FUMO’s and MANA’s networks. MANA and FUMO, which enter into a new collaboration with Art In The City this year, provide inspirational content and a fresh look into social design and creativity.

BLAST! is organized by Shanghai International Culture Association, co-organized by Art In The City, Arthub, Flatmind, and Hima Art space, with the collaboration of FUMO, MANA and Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel.

Installation and opening shots