Chile takes part at Ars Electronica Festival 2020
From September 9 to 13, Linz, Austria –and the world, with remote participation– witnessed a new iteration of the Ars Electronica festival. In Chile, collaboration between the country’s Ministry of Cultures, Heritage, and the Arts and Ministry of Foreign Relations Cultural Affairs Division undertaken in recent months opened the way for Chilean artists and cultural institutions to present proposals and programs for participation in the 2020 festival.
“For the third year running, the Ministry of Cultures, Heritage, and the Arts and the Ministry of Foreign Relations Cultural Affairs Division have worked jointly with the Ars Electronica Festival to provide an opportunity for Chilean artists to apply for support to take part in the Austrian event, which sets out to promote artists and institutions working at the junction point between art, science, and digital culture to take an international stage, seeking new spaces for outreach, meeting, and discussion. This effort forms part of the internationalization strategy on which the two ministries have been working for three years,” said Simón Pérez Wilson, Executive Secretary of Visual Arts, Ministry of Cultures, Heritage, and the Arts.
This year’s festival was titled “In Kepler’s Gardens – A global journey mapping the ‘new’ world” and invited participants to reflect and work on concepts of autonomy, democracy, ecology, technology, reality, uncertainty, and humanity. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Chilean participation in the festival is to come through online channels, with artists and institutions taking their place in the ARS Electronica garden Chile. Five virtual gardens are to serve as local centers of the festival, opening Chile up to the world through specialized media arts institutions, with a global audience and participation network, presenting their works, projects, and files internationally. As well as proposing a participatory program of activities, each institution has invited artists and experts to exhibit a work that will be part of the festival’s official catalog and programming, disseminated across a range of open broadcast channels.
“At the previous two iterations of this collaboration with Ars Electronica, Chile has been represented by delegations totaling more than 20 people, who had a chance to showcase their work and build collaboration and interchange networks with other artists and institutions. This year, the 41st annual festival will be operated as a remote event over digital platforms, representing an interesting challenge amidst the pandemic. This year we are also happy that two of the five selected organizations are from regions of Chile outside Santiago: the Universidad Austral and the Universidad de Valparaíso, not only enhancing the program with a diversity of outlooks but also linking the production of art and knowledge with the university community,” said Pérez Wilson.
“UNESCO sees this kind of initiative as an expression of efforts to open a plan on creativity and innovation linking the culture and science sectors to envision a sustainable future. In this context, our culture division, together with the new media departments at the Ministry of Cultures, Heritage, and the Arts, seeks to highlight the country’s artistic production surrounding the arts, science, technology, and society,” said Nicolás del Valle, Associate Coordinator of the UNESCO Santiago Culture Programme.
The Chilean artistic institutions and teams selected for the 2020 festival are:
- “Valparaíso Brushwood Garden” – Universidad de Valparaíso, Artistic Research Centre
With the participation of: Paul Hernández, Fabián Villalobos, Verónica Francés, Sibila Sotomayor Van Rysseghem, Camilo Lillo, Makis Salomos, Gustavo Celedón, and Adolfo Vera. - “Mutations” – Universidad Austral, School of Art and Architecture
- With the participation of Cristian Jiménez, Jesus Román, Felipe Westermeier, Karla Méndez, Valentina Inostroza, Carolina Ihle, Alejandro Albornoz, Iván Flores Arancibia, and Joaquín Zerené.
- “A Fungus Garden” – Museo del Hongo
- With the participation of: Juan Ferrer, Futuro Fósil aka Elisita Balbontín, José Bidegain, Iván Navarro, Sebastián Calfuqueo, Alexandra Mabes, Nicolás Oyarce, and Ana Rosa Ibáñez.
- “SPACE / EARTH /WATER TRIAD” – Prisma Arte/Ciencia/Tecnología, Universidad de Chile and Pontificia Universidad Católica
- With the participation of Alejandro Jofré, Valentina Serrati, and Jazmin Adler, together with the artists: Luis Guzmán, Nicole L’Huillier, Mauricio Lacrampette, Claudia Müller, Matías Labbé; and the collaboration of: Marcos Díaz, Jenny Blamey, Francisco Aguirre, Héctor Ortiz.
- “Achaeoscillator Toward incorporeal forms of sensing listening and gaze” – Terra Australis Ignota Research Group” in collaboration with the Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art
- With the participation of Nicolás Spencer and the collaboration of Alessandra Burotto, Valentina Montero, Gerd Sielfeld, and Alfredo Prieto.
This participation is made possible through collaboration between the Ars Electronica Festival, the Ministry of Cultures, Heritage, and the Arts via its International Affairs Unit and its Visual Arts Executive Division, and the Ministry of Foreign Relations via its Cultural Affairs Department, promoting the new media through the country’s participation in this leading international event.