[artinfo] Master Multimedia Prize 2008 /open international call

[Erika Katalina Pasztor (perika)]

Open Call: Master Multimedia Prize 2008
http://www.mmm.unifi.it/prize/

DIGITAL LOVE
SAVE THE PLANET... CHOOSE LIGHT INTELLIGENCE

_submission deadline: June 15, 2008_


THEME A

The theme of the first edition of the Master in Multimedia Prize is 
"Digital Love". Proposing this as the subject of a video or interactive 
video work is aimed at promoting the elaboration of an electronic 
language which can communicate feelings, and in particular, transmit an 
immediate and evocative expression of the feeling of love. This is the 
reason we have chosen to look to the language of art. This is a language 
which has great poetic scope and offers fantastic possibilities.
We are not looking for works which explore the feeling of love in a 
descriptive way, but rather works which are evocative, suggestive or - 
in the words of Italo Calvino - able to stimulate the "visual 
imagination [...], the power of evoking images of things that are not 
there". By way of inspiration, a verse by the poet Alfonso Gatto: "to 
smile at you is perhaps to die,/ offering a word/ to that easy land/ to 
the whispering seashell/ to the evening sky/ to all things which are 
alone/ and which you love with your own heart" (A. Gatto, Poesie 
d'amore, Milan, Mondadori, 1973, p. 24). In this light: "Digital Love" 
seeks to express the feeling of love through the language of electronic 
technology. This also brings up the literature related to cyborgs, the 
love of androids expressed by Philip K Dick: "I love you -- said Rachel" 
(Dick, Philip K. (1968). Do androids dream of electric sheep? New York: 
Ballantine Books, 1996). In this sense "Digital Love" indicates both a 
love for both the electronic and for the digital (or rather for the 
particular sphere of beauty which this area can bring into being) and 
the changes which this emotion is experiencing: that is, the evocative 
developments and widening of meaning which the sphere of "love" is 
undergoing. In order to pin down the evocative, poetic and artistic 
intents of "Digital Love", we should consider the words of Zygmunt 
Bauman in his essay, Liquid Love: "Not having indissoluble ties given 
once and for all [...] the inhabitants of our liquid, modern society 
[...] are forced to make any connection that they intend to use as a 
link to the rest of humanity using their own skills and dedication. 
Disconnected from everything, they must connect themselves [...]" (Z. 
Bauman, Liquid Love. On the Frailty of Human Bonds, Cambridge, Polity 
Press). Considered in this light the theme "Digital Love" has emotional 
relationships as a connected field, that is entering an emotional 
relationship with someone. Whatever the figurative choice (relational 
networks, world of relationships, internet as a network, etc) "liquid 
love" as an aspect of "Digital Love" calls up an emotionally powerful 
and involving relationship existing inside relationships which are 
precarious, unstable and open, and in particular those which are still 
taking shape. "Digital Love", love in the electronic age therefore 
implies and requires a visual effort, an effort of the imagination, to 
evoke the future of love, avoiding depicting it, simply pinning it down 
to what already exists. It becomes digital hope, "Digital Beauty".

THEME B

Even Low Energy Light Bulbs waste electricity in an empty room -- 
statistics show that on average 60% of energy is wasted. "Intelligent" 
lighting systems switch themselves off if nobody is around to benefit 
from their brilliance, whether at home, at work or on the streets, 
saving money and the environment. Use lighting system intelligence so 
you don't have to use yours! The video, length between 60'' and 120'', 
must have the theme: SAVE THE PLANET... CHOOSE LIGHT INTELLIGENCE

*TERMS*

The projects must be submitted by June 15th at 00.00 GMT; the 
documentation must be sent by mail on digital support (DVD-ROM), with a 
report of max. 20 pages attached, including personal data (first and 
last name, institution, mail address and phone number). The projects 
will be published on this website, further information regarding 
submissions and awards will be sent by email after registration in the 
same website.

Projects must be delivered to:

Master in Multimedia -- Universita` degli Studi di Firenze
RAI Sede Regionale Toscana
Largo de Gasperi, 1
50136 Florence -- Italy

for more detaliled info please visit the website:
http://www.mmm.unifi.it/prize/