18th Athens Digital Arts Festival – Highlights

“FutuRetro”

25 – 29 May 2022

Kotzia Square – Building complex of  former notoshome

The 18th Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) successfully took place on 25-29 May 2022. The physical edition of the hybrid festival welcomed more than 17,000 visitors, who had the opportunity to live a unique digital art experience in the heart of the Historic Center of Athens, in Kotzia Square and in the former notoshome building complex.

This year’s festival explored the theme “FutuRetro”, inviting us to see the future through the eyes of the past, and the past through the eyes of the future.

Following the announcement of the open call in March, where more than 5,700 artists from Greece and all over the world submitted their works and proposals, the curatorial team of the festival made a final selection of 600 exciting works of digital art in the following categories: video art, installation, live performance, animation, virtual, augmented and extended reality (VR / AR / XR), projects, games, digital image, web art, creative workshops, talks and ADAF KIDS, a program specially curated for the younger audience of the festival.

In Kotzia Square, we witnessed the moon ‘’landing’’ on Earth with the impressive outdoor installation Museum of the Moon, by the British artist Luke Jerram.

The visitors also had the chance to admire Squidsoup’s Wave installation, a light experiment in the form of a dynamic wave sculpture, and enjoy the ADAF MUSIC program.

ADAF Stage was set up in Kotzia Square to host unique performances along with an impressive Projection Mapping Show on the facade of the Athens City Hall, a visual experience supported by EPSON. The What’s Up Music Doubles presented renowned artists such as:  Lena Platonos and Die Arkitekt, Marina Satti and Jeph Vanger, Katie Garbi and Someone who isn’t me, Nikos Touliatos and Stelios Giannoulakis, Katia Paschou and DJ Rico ft. NEVMA, IOTA PHI and VASSIŁINA, as well as good job nicky performing on stage along with visual artist Misogi. These unexpected and unique collaborations between musicians coming from different musical genres and eras led to the creation of a live dialogue between different contemporary musical references of Greece and offered to the audience an unforgettable experience.

The building complex of the former notoshome hosted the main exhibition of the 18th Athens Digital Arts Festival, with an exuberant program presented in the nine floors of the building. While entering the basement, we questioned our sense of reality by coming across Lumen II, a unique immersive experience by Poland’s IP Group that defied the concept of space by creating illusions.

We, also, had the chance to examine the surface of the planet Mars as drawn by an AI, in Benjamin Vedrenne’s Orbis Tertius.

Lukas Truninger presented Distributive intelligence | A group mind, a mesmerizing dance floor for robots, while Yuki Anai invited us to dance in front of his interactive installation, Refilter.

The ADAF workshops offered a cultivating insight into the latest breakthroughs in the field of technology and art, such as the creation of NFT artworks and the fusion of dramaturgy and technology as presented by the music Open Lab.

Last but not least, the ADAF Kids category presented an exciting program for children including animation movies, projects full of colors, digital adventures around the world, workshops, installations, games, 3D virtual reality environments, friendly robots, and an interactive 360° fairy tale for kids.

Every year ADAF aspires in cultivating bridges of communication and the exchange of ideas on global trends in the field of digital arts among festivals and Institutions worldwide. This year the festival collaborated with the Athens International Children’s Film Festival presenting screenings on the environment, with the Festival of Animation Berlin hosting inspiring animated films, the Artist Lab – Open Art by the Ionian University and Chengchi University of Taiwan, presenting digital artworks under the curation of Prof. Ya-Lun Tao. In addition, the festival’s AR program was selected through an exciting collaboration between ADAF and the Polish Patchlab Digital Art Festival of the Photon Foundation.

ADAF renews its appointment for its digital edition, which will take place in autumn 2022 on the festival’s online platform.

Stay tuned for the full program of digital artworks and online events, which will be available through live stream with free access for everyone worldwide.

#ADAF2022 #ADAFgreece #TheNewRetro #Futuretro #Futurology #Sci-Fi #Retrofuturism

Τhe 18th Athens Digital Arts Festival is co-financed by the Hellenic Republic and the European Union through the Regional Operational Program “Attica” in the framework of NSRF 2014-2020, performs under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Region of Attica and the City of Athens.

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