Here is the next in our series of reports on creative dialogues between Future Arts Centres memebers and international partners:

Inspired by a range of European festivals, MAC decided to connect with four different artistic experiences and to meet the international teams that excel in creating hugely energetic arts activities that successfully draw in large numbers of people.

Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica is a digital technology festival based in Linz, Switzerland. It stands for ‘Art, technology, society’ and has been going since 1979. It’s a hot bed of technological know-how where ‘the ideas circulating are innovative, radical, and eccentric in the best sense of that term. They influence our everyday life—our lifestyle, our way of life, every single day!’

The Festival is just one part of a year-long programme based at the Ars Electronic Centre, a fabulous arts centre and geeky playground of exhibitions, research labs and interaction where artists extend their feelers throughout the realms of science and research, art and technology. To quote them – ‘It’s an integrated organism continuously reinventing itself’.

The festival itself attracts a ton of international artists, academics, scientists and producers who showcase their new ideas from robotics to AI to conductive textiles and live art. In October 2018 MAC will present our very first technology festival for children called ‘Little Geeks’, which will include loads of newly commissioning art works. Ars Electronica encouraged us to think more imaginatively, network more extensively and begin to align MAC as a place of incubation and change through lo-fi and hi-tech approaches.

Some cool things we saw included;
· VR theatrical experiences·
· Robotics, AIBO and Japanese concept of anima – the ‘robotic soul’
· Drones – sky signage systems for crowd control in Tokyo
· Future Tech Next Generation children’s workshops
· Wearable technology e.g. Duoskin temporary circuit tattoos
· 3D printing – objects that could not be hand built in other materials
· Artist using electromagnetic fields, soundwaves, light projections, stress sensors

Even if you struggle to switch on the Xbox, I highly recommend you give Ars a go, it is hugely inspirational across all art forms.

Munster Public Art 2017
Munster is an outdoor public art trail in Munster, Germany, that happens every 10 years.
It was interesting to see a range of public artworks (temporary and permanent) dotted around this bustling town, and to understand their interaction with their locality. Place making is an important aspect to MAC’s work – making our venue and outdoor space unique and also to promote us as destination for visitors to spend as much dwell time as possible.

The trip also helped us to envisage what could be done artistically within a park context given our own luscious surroundings. The team came back with a renewed sense of excitement about the opportunities to develop work that spills outside as an alternative to our formal spaces. The artists we met and conversations with external agencies will continue to provide us with greater confidence and ambition.

Indeed since our return we have commissioned artists, Visual Poke, to ‘digitally map’ the exterior of MAC’s building, especially for Halloween that will see ‘real’ spiders and creepy crawlies running across the façade transforming the venue. Perfect for scaring our younger visitors!

Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a key event on the international art calendar. Venice is split into two main exhibition areas – the Arsenale and the Giardini with smaller exhibitions taking place across the whole of Venice. The Giardini is the botanical gardens and mostly covers exhibitions from different countries in their individual pavilions whereas the Arsenale (gigantic harbour warehouses) is one big exhibition with a mix of international artists work. It was intriguing to see how each country had approached their pavilion (galleries) and also to see the innovative approach taken to repurpose existing space, from churches to apartments.

Documenta
Documenta is altogether more traditional, it is a four-month exhibition programme of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany originated in the 60’s by Joseph Beuys. Its spread across five huge museums and warehouses, each curated with a different emphasis. The value was being able to see, not only so much international work but also to meet first-hand gallerists, curators and artists directly onsite. It’s a brilliant opportunity to understand the sense of zeitgeist of the contemporary art world in a snap shot every five years.

Documenta was very political, each artist seemed focus on a strong political agenda from their part of the world (a lot of work touched on borders, identity, conflict) with a high concentration of politically motivated works which made the displays revelatory and thought provoking. Meetings we shared with international curators and potential partners aligns well with MAC’s audiences who have a huge appetite for politics. In this context it was useful to see that the work we are producing is part of a wider international conversation – which felt deeply relevant to MAC’s ambition to make more of international partnerships.

Indeed it is because of this superb trip that we have now commissioned a textile/ activist artist, Aboubakar Fofana from Mali to undertake a residency at MAC in 2020. This will be a catalyst for a bigger season dedicated to African art, music, film and performance.

Debbie Kermode, Director, MAC Birmingham
@deborahkermode