AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Digital Fringe 09

*Want some free art content for your screen?*

The Digital Fringe Festival is seeking all sorts of screens across
Australia and the world! Do you have a public screen, projector, TV or
old computer monitor that you would like to play free digital art on?

Digital Fringe is seeking a plethora of public screening venues to
participate in september/october 2009 - urban screens, galleries,
shopping centers, bars, cafes, pubs, retail venues, libraries, salons
and even swimming pools who have a screen of any size, to show our
curated collection of screen based art. Help us to bring cutting edge
digital artworks by local and international artists to the public.

No screen is too large or small - it may be in a back corner of a
library on a computer monitor, part of a shop's window display, a wall
of TV's in an electrical goods shop, a projector in a foyer, or a huge
public screen. We simply want to get this artistic content into as many
nooks and crannies of public space as possible.

*What is Digital Fringe?

*
Digital Fringe is an open access public arts festival that places
contemporary screen based media in public locations. It provides
artists with access to an extensive network of hundreds of public
screens and non-traditional audiences throughout Australia and the
world. Screening venues receive a playlist curated from the diverse
visual works of animation, abstract, video art, short film, machinima,
motion graphics, photography and stills submitted to the Digital Fringe
festival via our website.

In keeping with the Fringe Festival charter, Digital Fringe is open
access and accessible to emerging and established artists, particularly
those working in screen based and new media. Submissions are received
from all around the world: from professional artists to bedroom doodlers
and everybody in between. Screening venues range from busy bars and
cafes, bustling shopping centres, walls of TV's in electrical stores,
State and regional libraries, art galleries, and cultural institutions,
suburban shop fronts and on massive urban screens in public plazas like
Melbourne's Federation Square.

All submissions also play on the Digital Fringe
website

Digital Fringe started in 2006 and runs on the cultural capital of Horse
Bazaar and the contributions of numerous
artists, screen operators and audiences. It has been put together with
generous support from Film Victoria, Melbourne Fringe Festival and other
sponsors.

*How Does it work?

*
As part of The 2009 Melbourne Fringe Festival, Digital Fringe will be
broadcasting a curated playlist of digital art on public screens across
the world. This playlist - the General Stream - consists of digital
artwork that is submitted from all over the world in response to a
massive public callout. This curated playlist is a compilation of
silent, G rated visual works - be they animation, abstract, video art,
short film, motion graphics, or stills. It is the cream of the crop of
1000's of submissions that results from an extensive local, national and
international callout. To reiterate the General Stream is the best of
the best, and its all G rated so you don't have to worry about the
content played.

The General Stream is sent out to all our screen locations on DVDs to
play for your audiences. All you need is a screen of any sort and a DVD
player to play the content.

Screen Venues that sign up to broadcast Digital Fringe entries can play
the content whenever they like during the festival (23 September - 11
October) or at an organised time around these dates. Screening can be
continuous, event focused, fitted in around your normal programming, or
be used if your screen has downtime where nothing is playing.

All locations taking part in broadcasting the Digital Fringe General
Stream will be promoted on the Digital Fringe website, which will
feature a list of screening venues with links to partner websites and
provision for logo placement, as well as be featured on a Google Map of
Digital Fringe Screen locations. Last year we had over 60,000 visits to
the Digital Fringe website, and the main Fringe website had 100,000
visits during the 17 days of the festival. We hope to double that this
year! Screens locations may also feature in press releases.

Any screen playing Digital Fringe artworks during the festival will be
helping to support artists and the promotion of digital screen art in
local communities. Not to mention providing free entertainment to
punters, customers, and your wider community. We encourage screen
venues to promote the festival and our 'call for entries' to their local
artistic communities so that local content from your own communities can
play a part in the artworks that you screen.

If you are interested or would like some further information please
contact me directly on: screens@digitalfringe.com.au

*Festival Statistics & Audience Reach*

The Digital Fringe festival is currently undergoing a massive expansion
thanks to increased assistance from Melbourne Fringe and Film Victoria
this year. Screening venues are spreading into outer urban, regional
centres, interstate and internationally - increasing from the 112 of
last year to over 500. A much wider call for entries will net over 2000
entries, up from 1000 last year. Submissions come in from over 35
countries across 6 continents. And we expect to increase our web traffic
from 60,000 to 120,000 hits through the course of the festival. All this
contributes to a greatly increased festival profile, resulting in a much
greater exposure for festival artworks, and also of course, for Digital
Fringe partners and sponsors.

Last years Digital Fringe festival statistics include:

* over 60 000 unique visits to the Digital Fringe website during the 17
days of the festival. 69% of these hits originated from within Australia.
* over 1000 entries from 35 countries, through out Europe, the
America's, Asia, Africa and the Pacific.
* over 100 public screening venues seen by countless thousands of
punters and passers by in busy bars, retail centres to public plazas
such as Federation Square.

In 2009 the Digital Fringe festival's reach, participation and exposure
will be dramatically expanded as a result of greatly increased resources
and support. We hope that you too can support the festival and benefit
from the association.

--
Simeon Moran
0402 514 017
simeon@horsebazaar.com.au

Horse Bazaar
397 Lt Lonsdale St
Melbourne 3000
03 9670 2329

www.horsebazaar.com.au
www.digitalfringe.com.au

from iota