FILE BELO HORIZONTE 2018 – Electronic art in the disruptive age

FILE BELO HORIZONTE 2018
D I S R U P T I V A – Electronic art in the disruptive age | CCBB BH
January 19 to March 19

FILE Electronic Language International Festival
Electronic art in the disruptive age

The Ministry of Culture and Banco do Brasil present:
FILE – Electronic Language International Festival – Electronic Art in the Disruptive Age.

Since its first edition in 2000, the Festival has organized collective exhibitions which give the visitor the opportunity to view and experience the full range of electronic art. Since it started in São Paulo, the Festival has shown digital works by artists from 32 countries, reinforcing Brazil’s reputation as an important contributor to international discussions and reflections on electronic and digital art.
The exhibition “DISRUPTIVA – Electronic Art in the Disruptive Age” brings innovative works to Belo Horizonte city, showing how artists are currently producing their works in a disruptive context, and providing to the public access to new technologies immersion, interaction with new media, artistic pieces that dialogue with the contemporary life and shared experiences.
In presenting these works, Banco do Brasil reinforces its commitment to informing the public about aspects of the visual arts and encouraging access to culture by giving the public opportunities to have a direct experience of the works of artists who reflect on aspects of contemporary society.

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil

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D I S R U P T I V A
Electronic Art in the Disruptive Age

When we speak of disruptive ages, we are talking about disruptive innovation. The term was coined by Clayton Christensen, inspired by Joseph Schumpeter’s concept of “creative destruction”. Creative destruction is a concept from the field of economics which aims to explain the disruption to a market when a new company introduces a new and innovative technology that it is an overwhelming success, to the extent that it makes competing products completely obsolescent. Disruptive innovations destroy the competition, opening up new markets. They lead to new consumer and user behaviors. Such innovations support the emergence of different behaviors that lead to new forms of society and culture.
An example of this is the smartphone, with its innovative simulations and emulations, such as the fusion of the cellphone with a camera. This digital convergence between the cellphone and the camera led to a massive increase the sharing of personal images on the social media. And something new emerged – the selfie. An example of mass behavior made universal through the social media. Now anyone can take their self-portrait with a selfie.
The camera has an historical role in transforming the world of the arts. When the smartphone camera appeared, it stimulated a search for innovation, for the transformation of the obsolete and the old, in the artistic and cultural vanguards that prevailed as the 19th century became the 20th.
Throughout the 20th century, artistic research and manifestos sought innovative means of expression. From the point of view of artistic production, the interdisciplinary relationship between arts and technology led to achievements which have effectively transformed the creative process and the way in which art is exhibited. Whether it be the relationship between the work and the public or that between the public and the exhibition space.
Today electronic art has a fundamental role in the contemporary world, because it is one of the few art forms that not only addresses technological innovation but also the diversity of new behaviors which are part of contemporary society.

For 18 years, FILE – Electronic Language International Festival – has presented contemporary electronic arts research and works from artists all over the world. It has always sought to incorporate the new behaviors that have emerged during this innovative process in its conceptual approach. This has resulted in a diverse selection of works being shown which have given the public the opportunity to experience artistic works which seek to express the aesthetics of contemporary society and which have, at times, supported the possibility of new behaviors in the exhibition space.
For the events that will occur at Banco do Brasil Cultural Centers in Brasília, Belo Horizonte, and Rio de Janeiro, FILE has chosen the theme “Electronic art in the disruptive age”. These exhibitions purpose a rupture at the traditional form of art appreciation, here the visitors can experience: new sensations and perceptions; senses the relationship between real and digital movement; interact with the works and immerse themselves into virtual reality.

Ricardo Barreto e Paula Perissinotto
Conception and Organization of FILE

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FILE GAMES BELO HORIZONTE 2018:
Voluntary Discontrol

The curatorial concept behind FILE Games considers the experiences which motivate players, reflecting on their interaction with the games and exploring their aesthetic impact, seeking to discover meaning in the tension between voluntarily handing over control and the primitive urge for response.
Digital games have the potential to not only express representations as a collection of images, text, and sounds, but as a dynamic behavioral system which evolves and transforms organically.
These transformations, which are both caused and experienced by the player as they communicate mechanically, on account of the digital nature of the communication – with a virtual system, in fact, establish a second and deeper layer of dialog between the expressions of the author, who is the conductor who unifies and directs systems and rules that emerge as latent experiences for the player; and the user interacting with their avatar in the system which becomes both a reflection of the expression of the player and part of the channel which maintains a dialog with the immaterial voice of the implicit author of the game.
The feeling of control given to the player, which is sometimes sophisticatedly false, is carefully maintained by the voluntary suspension of disbelief which sustains this fantasy world, where this ephemeral and mutating dialog is rebuilt and slips away at every decision the player makes as part of their game-playing. This pulse between domination and uncertainly is, perhaps, the artistic culmination of a gaming system as an aesthetic element.
This interaction is fueled by the intentional imbalance between the satisfaction derived from power of choice and the conflict caused by abstaining from control. This inconstancy facilitates the dialog that is at the heart of the gaming experience. The communication goes beyond the immediate representation of the impulses emanating from the interface, as introspective meanings are unfolded with the discovery of meanings which are assumed to be uniquely belonging to the author. The player becomes empowered not by controlling the exchange, but by their ability to perceive the creative intentions of the author. The expressive intent behind the game now belongs to the player.
This inversion of responsibilities is an epiphany in “Inside”, which discusses the relationship involved in control, drawing parallels with the young protagonist chased by a sinister dystopian state. This same boy exercises telepathic control over other human beings; and, perhaps, acts as a meta-player, challenging the assumption of user interaction.
In “Old man’s Journey”, the player moves mountains to help the protagonist on his journey of reconciliation, while revealing the loving and painful narrative of his past. The journey through the landscapes is a meditative process shared between the protagonist and the player, and exposes the weakness of both, by opposing the power to remake the world to the inevitable passage through life.
“Everything” is a contemplative game which explores the sense of “being” in a multiplicity of forms and scales. The player takes control of creatures, objects, quantum particles, heavenly bodies or of the cosmos, in a casually philosophical exercise of reflection and curiosity. Participation in the game demands the recognition of a certain interconnectivity between all the beings that make up the universe while, at the same time, dissolving the notion of the individual as the player “jumps” between entities.

Daniel Moori
FILE GAMES Curator

GAMES PROGRAM:
1. Bed Time Digital Games – Back to Bed – Denmark
2. Broken Rules – Old Man’s Journey – Austria
3. David O’Reilly – Everything – United States
4. Dinosaur Polo Club – Mini Metro – New Zealand
5. Geert Nellen – Metrico+ – Netherlands
6. Playdead – Inside – Denmark
7. Plastic Studios – Bound – Poland
8. Tomorrow.gy: Agustin Abreu, Pablo Bounous & Ignacio Platas – Kid Nano – Uruguay
9. XXIIVV – Oquonie – Canada
10. Oculus Story Studio – Dear Angelica – United States

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FILE Belo Horizonte 2018
January 19 to March 19

Wednesday to Monday 9 am to 9 pm

Free entrance
No age restrictions

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil | Belo Horizonte
Praça da Liberdade, 450 – Funcionários
CEP 30140 010 | Belo Horizonte (MG)
(31) 3431 9400
ccbbbh@bb.com.br