Page 99 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

Storytelling as a method of creating and explaining stories, in whatever medium, has become a signi cant topic for creators in recent years on account of the constant challengeswe face among so many technological and media as well as social changes, but it is also of particular interest in the creative industries and in advertising and marketing.On the subject of digital arts, it should be inevitable to speak of videogames practically as a native art. Throughout their history, temporary exhibition spaces have concentrated more ona sectorial and nancial approach (fairs and conferences), though they also bring togethera large number of enthusiasts. Apart from the famous E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), in Spain we already have Gamepolis Videogames Festival in Malaga, which features as wellas exhibitions and presentations a variety of debates for enthusiasts, concerts (related to the music of videogame culture) and tournaments. There is also Madrid Games Week, in particular the Gamelab Academy, whose lectures bring together the videogames industry, universities o ering formal training, and fans.The notion of digital art and culture goes beyond the eld of technology to explore new ways of doing, seeing and feeling, and therefore, if there is anything these festivals have in common, itis undoubtedly their cross-cutting approach to embracing digital.1.2. Multi-genre festivals that are opening up to new mediaSpeaking of hybrid art is tantamount to speaking of an art in which the sciences and emerging technologies play a major role, so much so that the traditional distinction between arts and sciences is practically non-existent. In a sense it also amounts to speaking of a trend witnessed at least in the past decade for festivals that have emerged to explore and showcase a theme (as opposed to just a style or artistic discipline) andto create an active international hub of ideas materialised into art and objects or projects and people, or festivals that have progressively adopted this perspective over the years, adding new layers of intervention, mutating.The previous section included festivals of this kind, characterised by transdisciplinarity, fusion and merging, which are becoming increasingly less unusual (and will continue to do so). New technologies have played an important role indirectly, in that they have acted as catalysts for part of this merging of disciplines in art and creativity (including the critical blurring of the boundaries between artistic and creative) which enables them to operate in such a technologised and globalised changing world using the languages of today. Ultimately, the point is that the very concept of culture is also changing asa category that goes beyond the material to embody a more anthropological and humanistic sense.We nd theatre productions that use mapping applications, performances that require the use of an app2 to be experienced in full, art that creates on the basis of large amounts of data which we generate among ourselves using a variety of devices and channels (Big Data) and art generated by machines (under the category of so-called glitch art or art of graphic errors in videogames and digital images).But technology is also directly involved in festivals because it is giving rise to new possibilities of expression, exhibition and dissemination. As well as festivals devoted to the merging of arts and technologies, such as the examples mentioned above, we are witnessing the emergence of festivals that are designed ina culturally digital framework and therefore cut across various types of media and formats.We might again include transmediale in this category, for example. But for festivals that embrace many elds, a primary example is SXSW (South by SouthWest). Held every yearAC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 201699Focus: Use of New Digital Technologies at Cultural Festivals