International festival of electronic cultures and new art forms, the Emergences festival has become since six years a rendez-vous that can't be ignored.
The Emergences festival brings together every year in Paris the French and international actors of digital creation, around an ambitious programme, at the forefront of new practices and technological innovation, design, multimedia and music. Emergences has formed part of the "Biennale internationale Villette Numérique" until 2006. Professionals as the audience are supporting this event : more than 45 000 spectators have been attending this festival.
Everything goes for best to the best of the worlds? Not so sure, unfortunately. Although having received in 2008 the labels of the European Year of the intercultural dialogue, the French Presidency of the European Union and Paris Europe awarded by the City of Paris, the festival has to face severe money troubles, due to the decline or to the suspension of helps granted by the State.
Such measures penalize not only Emergences but also France, very late in a sector - the digital technology - rapidly growing. In this difficult context, otherwise hostile, the festival is anxious more than ever to reaffirm its commitment in favour of the multimedia creation and enters in dissidence...
Emergences 2008 takes place determinedly under the sign of the urban artistic activism, in the sphere of influence of committed troublemakers such as the'"Clan of the Neon', 'the Yes Men', 'the collective of Déboulonneurs' or still the first ones 'Situationnistes'. Vital lead: SmartCity, European artistic project introduced by Dedale to investigate new forms of artistic intervention in urban space.
Introduced in 2007 during a first international encounter, SmartCity gives place this year to a first series of worshops and artistic experiment, led during September on the territory of the 'Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris' (CIUP). Several composite teams come from all Europe, involving artists, technicians, town planners and researchers, dive into this territory with singular characteristics. They study urban and human territories up and down, imagining and transforming them.
First results of these workshops are presented to the public on the occasion of an event organized on Tuesday, September 30th at the Cité Internationale. An international conference presenting artistic projects among the most innovative, PicNic and artistic route in urban space are programmed...
For all that, the works don't stop, far needs: brought to go on and to branch out in all Europe, SmartCity is only beginning...