Image by Mike Lehmann

MULTIMEDIA PROGRAM: CONNECTED COMMUNITIES

Exploring a Liveable Mediated Public Space in the Context of Urban Screens

The Urban Screens Festival series is guiding a worldwide movement that comprehensively approaches the redefinition and extended use of digital screens in public spaces and influences their considerate integration in the urban landscape. The Multimedia Program will present various new forms of networked urban screens, supporting a lively space of creation, discourse and creative education through participation. We want to explore the wide range of possible type of content through engaging with various issues around community and water.

Regional/International Joint Broadcasting Initiative

In conjunction with the exhibition at Federation Square, the festival will engage with selected regional communities around the state of Victoria and across Australia via broadcast screen linkages to temporary large LED screens. Taking place during the weekend, this initiative will explore the potential of networked urban screens, increasing the reach of the event. During a selected shared timeslot we want to extend the broadcast to a worldwide screens network.

While this will be an International event there will be a significant focus (ca. 50%) on nurturing local site specific contributions from Victoria and where possible creating collaborative opportunities between local and international artists.

Projects in the urban media sphere that the festival will feature range from:

Regional/international joint broadcasting A diverse screening program Interactive installations Performance based projects Participatory projects Architectural projections A school exchange project Skype based outdoor presentations A professional development workshop A mobile production unit for documentation

What is a community in times of the high-speed, global flows of the new media scape? We find concepts of transnational communities living in between different locations and finding a common space in the Internet, new community websites form social networks around common interests and offer places for exchange and production of identity. Are we a step closer to the idea of a global community, a global public sphere? On the other hand the real public space is rediscovered in connection with the importance of a local identity and face-to-face interactions. New hybrid projects are emerging, connecting spatial locality and the wide virtual space. Federation Square offers with its big screens a hub for a large urban community as well as the various smaller ethnic communities. What are the places where a community can meet today? The event will explore the various possibilities to engage with Urban Screens for community building.

It is as well essential to consider the sustainability of the development of Urban Screens. Besides questioning the uncontrolled spread of this high-technology throughout sites in our cities, often only chosen in consideration of commercial interests, can we rise the quality of content for the urban society? Can we utilize screens to support the promotion of social and environmental sustainability?

The theme of water is bridging and connecting both concepts. Water is an essential element for a liveable public space. Wells, fountains and riversides are all social meeting places that create an engaging urban environment for all ages, as well as influencing the urban microclimate. Fresh water is essential for human wellbeing but has threatened to become a scare resource. Water links various ecosystems and their increasing imbalance creates threatening storms and floods. The beauty of the underwater worlds can be potentially transferred into violent powers, as it forces huge populations to leave their home. Civilization has historically started to flourish around rivers and major waterways. Water is a symbol for vitality and regeneration and is considered a purifier in most religions. It appears as a central topic in many myths and ancient stories.  We want to explore the diversity of water, the most important element in our history of mankind, essential to the existence of life on earth as we know it.