FIBER Festival completes programme with young makers and leading design studios.

The Amsterdam based FIBER just added sixteen new names and three new collaboration partners to the festival programme. In the main festival location de Brakke Grond FIBER presents two conferences and numerous presentations and talks by young and upcoming designers, artists and scientists that use innovative technologies to question and redefine the relation between men, nature and technology. On Saturday night the underground club Shelter hosts a full programme of multisensory performances and concerts. Together with film institute EYE, the festival organizes a screening about film and alchemy.

Conference

In the main conference programme at de Brakke Grond a series of accomplished thinkers and speakers discuss various angles of the festival’s theme alchemy. Besides the main conference programme, FIBER has dedicated 2 areas to young talent working the same fields. They will enrich the conference public with new ideas on the topics. Among them, the international research project Thingsclash, which critically reflects user articles that are connected tot he internet, the Amsterdam 3D print architects UTOPIA blu* and the Berlin design studio onformative, makers of complex data driven interactive installations. The Rotterdam media lab V2 presents two sessions in which young artists and designers pitch their projects and the panel discussion Art & Commerce talks about the possibilities of making money making art, without having wealthy parents.

Collaboration partners Shelter, EYE and Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee

Nightclub Shelter, since October situated in the basement of the A’DAM Tower, is the host for the Saturday night programme on the 13th of May. This night showcases three audiovisual performances by young female artist and producer SKY H1, techno duo Sendai from Belgium and the British sound artist TVO. Film institute EYE screens a night full of experimental films on the 9^th of May that zoom into the matter of todays natural and digital habitat. Online radio programme Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee will report the festival live from the de Brakke Grond location with their radio show.

FIBER Festival 2017 Prima Materia

Prima Materia shows the work of artists and designers who question and reimagine the relationship between man, technology and matter. Technology has a profound effect on nature and can help us find a sustainable and emotional relation with the earth. At the same time it is getting harder and harder to predict our future as a human race in the context of fast technological developments of things like artificial intelligence, big data and decentralised networks - developments that feel almost like organic, all-encompassing forces of nature. The human scale and the tools that we use to interpret the world with are being radically transformed. We seem to be caught in the middle of invisible forces.

Back in the day alchemists speculatively worked with matter to understand the design of the universe. Their main focus was reaching the mythical Prima Materia, the metaphysical matter that would connect everything in the cosmos. For a long time alchemy was considered a mystical pseudoscience, but it now becomes unmistakably clear that it is a precursor for contemporary science and the development of our knowledge about matter. FIBER points out extraordinary similarities between the work of alchemists and the modern interdisciplinary artists, designers, programmers and engineers.

FESTIVAL LINEUP (Per category in alphabetical order)

Exhibition

Artificial Afterlife (2016), Amy Whittle (NL) | Brume (2016), Sebastian Wolf (DE) & Michael Kugler (US/DE) | The PRESAGE™ Range (2017), David Benqué (UK) | Liquid Solid (2016), Nicky Assmann & Joris Srijbos (NL) | MATERIAL WANT (2016), JODI (NL) & MPF (UK) | Random Access Memory (2016), Ralf Baecker (DE) | Satelitten (2015), Quadrature (DE) | States of Matter (2017), Studenten Digital Media at the University of the Arts Bremen (DE) | STONES (2016), Quadrature (DE) | TerraEconomics (2016 - 2017), Monique Grimond (US/NL) | Terra0 (2017), Paul Seidler, Paul Kolling, Max Hampshire (DE) | The Aerographer (2016), Luiz Zanotello | The Modelling (2017), Michiel Pijpe (NL) | Where Shapes Come From (2016), Semiconductor (UK) | 12 Bit Alchemy (2017), Waltz Binaire (DE) | Origin: Sustained (2017), Mischa Daams (NL)

Commissioned work

Waltz Binaire (DE)

Origin: Sustained (2017), Mischa Daams (NL)

The Modelling (2017), Michiel Pijpe (NL)

AV & Music Performances

Ali Wade (UK) - live | Arif (DE/NL) – DJ |CO2RO (NL) |ENA (JP) – DJ | Izabel (AUS) – DJ |Joris Strijbos & Daan Johan (Macular) (NL) - live AV | Mattikk (NL) – DJ | Merites (NL) – DJ |natural/electronic.system (IT) - live | Pan Daijing (CH) - live | Paul Prudence (UK) - live AV | Pierce Warnecke & Yair Elazar Glotman (DE) - live| Pita (AU) - live | Recent Arts (DE) - live AV | Sébastien Robert (FR) – DJ | Sendai (BE) - live | Sky H1 (BE) - live | TM404 (SE) - live |TVO (UK) - live

Conference

Cecilia Jonsson (SW/NR) | Cedric Kiefer [onformative] (DE) | Cis van Heertum [Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica] (NL) | Daniël Erasmus (ZA/NL) | Darius Kazemi (US) | David Benqué (FR/UK) | Denisa Kera (CZ) | Dr. Janneke Wesseling (Leiden University) [Critical Making], Florian Cramer, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer (Het Nieuwe Instituut), Lucas Evers (Waag Society) en Marie-José Sondereijker (West Den Haag) (NL) | Elisa Giaccardi [TUDelft] (IT/NL) | Els Viaene (BE)| Femke Herregraven (NL) | Füsun Türetken (TR/NL) | Hackers & Designers (NL) | Hannah Davis (US) | Jussi Parikka (FI/UK) | Maaike Bleeker [UU] (NL) | Martin Howse (UK/DE) | Memo Akten (TR/UK) | Michelle Kasprzak (CA/NL) | Nick Ervinck (BE) | Nick Verstand (NL) | Nicolas Nova (FR/CH) | Paul Prudence (UK) | Quadrature (DE) | Ralf Baecker (DE) | Refik Anadol (TR/US) | Gaby Wijers [LIMA] (NL) | Raphaël de Courville (FR/DE) | Ruairi Glynn [Bartlett School of Architecture - Design for Performance & Interaction] (UK) | ScanLAB Projects (UK) | Scott de Lahunta [Motionbank] (DE) | Semiconductor (UK) | Stefanie Wüschitz (AT) | Tamar Shafrir (IL/NL) | Thijs Hagendijk [UU] (NL) | Though Collider (NL/UK) | Thingclash [Changeist] (US/NL) | Tobias Revell (UK) | UTOPIA blu* (UK/NL) | Valery Vermeulen (BE) | Waltz Binaire (DE) | Yoni van den Eede [Culture, Emancipation, Media & Society Vrije Universiteit Brussel] (BE)

LABS

De Brakke Grond & FIBER invites: Choreographic Coding Lab [Motion Bank], Refik Anadol [UCLA] (TR/US) , Darius Kazemi (US) |Denisa Kera [SFIS, Arizona State University] (CZ/US) & Yair Reshef {TAMI & Shenkar college of art & design] (IL)

WATCH THE FESTIVAL TRAILER HERE

FIBER FESTIVAL

FIBER Festival attracts over 50 participating speakers and artists, 2500 visitors and a wide selection of local companies and organizations, who will connect in the city of Amsterdam to create a dense program of audiovisual performances, live/DJ sets, installations, conference talks and labs. FIBER connects with both a local and international audience of young, professional creators and enthusiasts who are operating at the frontiers of digital technology, to create or consume immersive and mind-bending experiences.

Through the lens of cutting-edge artistic works, FIBER explores the impact of technology on culture, society and nature. The festival gathers artists, thinkers and an adventurous crowd to experience new narratives that give insight to complex topics like artificial intelligence, bots, digital production techniques, hybrid materials and questions how technology can influence the future.

Theme FIBER Festival 2017 Prima Materia

The FIBER team retrieved its inspiration by fascinating over connections between todays experimental art and a renewed interest in the ancient field of alchemy. Through an extensive program of conference talks, a public exhibition, AV performances, and live electronic music, the festival explores the theme Prima Materia; alchemical thinking and making in art, design and music.

Prima Materia shows the work of artists and designers who question and reimagine the relationship between man, technology and matter. Technology has a profound effect on nature and can help us find a sustainable and emotional relation with the earth. At the same time it is getting harder and harder to predict our future as a human race in the context of fast technological developments of things like artificial intelligence, big data and decentralised networks - developments that feel almost like organic, all-encompassing forces of nature. The human scale and the tools that we use to interpret the world with are being radically transformed. We seem to be caught in the middle of invisible forces.

Back in the day alchemists speculatively worked with matter to understand the design of the universe. Their main focus was reaching the mythical Prima Materia, the metaphysical matter that would connect everything in the cosmos. For a long time alchemy was considered a mystical pseudoscience, but it now becomes unmistakably clear that it is a precursor for contemporary science and the development of our knowledge about matter. FIBER points out extraordinary similarities between the work of alchemists and the modern interdisciplinary artists, designers, programmers and engineers.

Tickets

The Early Bird passe-partouts are all sold out.

Regular tickets can only be purchased online through this link: https://fiberfestival.eventbrite.nl

Confirmed Partners

Funding Partners: FIBER is kindly sponsored by

• Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
• Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst
• VSBfonds
• Fonds21
• Fonds Podiumkunsten
• Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds
• Goethe Instituut Nederland
• Het Nieuwe Instituut
• Tsjechisch Centrum Rotterdam

Sponsors

• Warsteiner
• Clinq
• Volkshotel
• Creative Applications / HOLO
• Creators / VICE
• We are Public

Mediapartners

Creative Partners: Location and Program partners

• De Brakke Grond (NL)
• Shelter (NL)
• Looiersgracht 60 (NL)
• University of Utrecht (NL)
• Bartlett School of Architecture (UK)
• LIMA (NL)
• ICK (NL)
• UCLA (US)
• Het Nieuwe Instituut (NL)
• Artefact Festival – STUK (BE)
• Digital Media Bremen (DE)
• Makerveristy (NL)
• Motion Bank (DE)
• Mirage Festival (FR)
• KIKK Festival (BE)
• Retune Festival (DE)
• Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee (NL)
• STEIM
• V2
• Waag Society

Note for the editorial team (not for publication):

De FIBER pressroom can be reached through this link. There you will find all previous press releases. Relevant images can be downloaded here

The FIBER logo can be downloaded here

Please apply here for a press accreditation

For more information please contact:
Sandra van Beers, Marketing & Communications / sandra@fiber-space.nl / +31(0)646220363

Jarl Schulp, Director / jarl@fiber-space.nl / +31(0)641235624