​Voyage Video Program / International Media Festival VIDEOFORMES (France)

Curator Gabriel V. Soucheyre (France)  

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November 18, 18:30—19:30

Mirzoyan Library, 10 Mher Mkrtchyan St.

 

Humanity has always imagined the future as a journey towardtowards a better, smoother life, like asomething like a somehow utopian paradise on Earthearth. It’s been and still is a long way to go, especially when so many singularities find it challengingdifficult to match with each other in a world thatwhich extends to the infinite in its digital dimension and experimentations. What is left of humanity, then? Does it belong to memories of long-gone feelings?

 

Should we imagine a cold future, wherein which where human relationships are reduced to a minimum, where the machine is privileged for a smoother dialogue or stuffed with artifacts that fill the need for sweetness and serenity? Are we able to imagine a future when we find it difficult to remember, to stimulate used feelings? These selected works offer a panel to discussfor discussion about our human dimension and contradictions.

 

Gabriel V. Soucheyre is the artistic director at VIDEOFORMES, Hybrid and Digital International Arts Festival, Independent Curator, art director, producer in video and digital art, video maker.

 

Francesca Fini (Italy), Binary Blues, 11 min. 4 sec., 2023

Úrsula San Cristóbal (Spain), A Half-Dreamed Memory, 6 min. 26 sec., 2021

Mattia Bioli (Italy), In Memory of, 5 min. 54 sec., 2021

Brecht De Cock (Belgium), Artifacts of you, artifacts of me, 9 min., 2022

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Beyond interfaces—Taiwanese Video Program

Curator Mu Tuan (Taiwan)

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November 18, 19:30 —21:00

Mirzoyan Library, 10 Mher Mkrtchyan St.

 

Beyond Interfaces—Taiwanese Video program is inspired by CYFEST 16’s curatorial theme of Archive of Feelings. A Journey. Through the perspective of seven groups of Taiwanese artists, with the diverse viewpoints of historical memory, cartography, alchemy, nostalgia, virtual relationship and gaming disorders, “Beyond Interfaces” will examine the connection between technological objects and human emotions.

 

As a medium of data exchange between two physical entities, the interface, more than merely possessing the function of enabling transmission of information between software, hardware, and external devices, holds as much significance in its interweaving of human emotions and technology, generating complex modes of communications as a result. Through the course of each interaction, it transforms our language, thinking and bodily perception into information, allowing our emotions to seemingly move beyond the interface, and buildbuilding behind it, a field of emotions.

 

Tuan Mu is an independent curator and visual artist based in Taipei. He attentively focuses on the potential of cross-cultural study and identity issues in contemporary contexts. His curatorial practices often engage curators, artists, and local people in fieldwork. During this he contemplates how exhibitions are constructed, recalibrating curatorial expectations and ideals. His curatorial proposals have been selected for the SLY Art Space Emerge Curator Project, NCAF Curator’s Incubator Program, and nominated for the Taishin Art Award. His curatorial projects include the exhibition Home: Foundation, Wall Cancer, Skin, and Shelter (2023, Taitung Art Museum) and Humus (2023, MoCA Taipei).

 

lololol (Xia Lin (Taiwan) & Sheryl Cheung (Сanada)), Clear Calm Free Human, 6 min. 45 sec., 2024

Jiun-Ting Lai (Taiwan), Dimension of Sea—Keelung, 2 min. 58 sec., 2024

Yen-Cheng Chen (Taiwan), ICING, 7 min., 2024

Chen Chen (Taiwan), Imitation Training, 7 min., 2024

Poyuan Juan (Taiwan), It Was Just a Virtual Kiss, 7 min., 2024

Margot Guillemot (France) & Chiehsen Chiu (Taiwan), Jakarta Event Book, 7 min., 2024

Ya-Lun Tao (Taiwan), Wandering Ghost No.4, 3 min. 52 sec., 2020

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СYLAND Video Archive

Program

Curator Victoria Ilyushkina

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November 19—21, 18:00—21:00

Varpet, 35v Tumanyan St.

 

The presented program explores various approaches that artists take to preserve, understand, and transform different types of information: individual, social, historical, socio-cultural, biological, and technological, both analogue and digital. The film by Heejeong Jeong is created using deeply personal documentary photosphoto and video materials, which are transformed through the author's techniques. Gagik Ghazareh's work utilizes found documentary footage, re-edited to reflect the author's decision to reject personalization, instead identifying a shared temporal pattern (the spirit of the era). Daria Belova’s feature film explores historical memory and the memory of place. In her performance, Liza Dandy raises questions about the differences between the physical and virtual existence of the human body, using a costume inspired by the design tool "Opacity." JML (José Man Lius) synthesizes themes of museum storage, DNA secrets, and the emergence of avant-garde bio-architecture with the help of AI in his project. Collectively, these works illustrate the diverse perspectives of contemporary artists on the global issue of preserving human memory, which remains critically crucially important today.

 

Victoria Ilyushkina is an artist and curator with a diploma in Art History and Theory of the Academy of Fine Arts and in New Media Programs from the Pro Arte Institute; St. Petersburg, Curated Videoforma International Video Art Festival at the Sergey Kuryokhin Art Centre, St. Petersburg. In 2023, 2024 сo-curator Gyumri Art Week, Republic of Armenia. She was part of the jury in several international film and video festivals. She is currently the program curator of the CYLAND Video Archive and International СYFEST  video programs. Her curatorial research interests are aimed at studying the mutual influence and transition from analogue media in film and video art to digital media and its further transformation with using 3D and AI technologies in time-based art.

 

Gagik Ghazareh (Armenia), Time to Live, 8 min., 2012

Daria Belova (Germany), Come and Play, 30 min., 2012 

Heejeong Jeong (South Korea), House of Wind, 8 min., 2023

JML (France), MÜ. Protean Architectures, 3 min. 50 sec., 2024  

Liza Dandy (Russia), Opacity, 2 min. 5 sec., 2024

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​Special Program at the HayArt Centre—Korean VR & Video Program

​Curator Seungah Lee (South Korea)

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November 16—December 1

HayArt Centre, 7a Mashtots Ave.

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The special section of CYFEST 16 explores how Korean artists express their collective experiences shared from the past, as well as individual memories and emotions regarding specific events or current situations, in line with this year's festival theme, Archives of Feelings, Journey, within the rapidly changing technological era.

 

There are five works. Kim Anna's Invisible Cities: <OPIM> demonstrates artistic experiments that break free from the constraints of the physical body while blurring the boundaries between reality and the virtual. Studio MBUS703 (Chiwook NHo)’s The Time Capsule reflects on cultural heritage archives driven by common human desires. Jeonghan Kim's BirdMan’s Journey seeks a symbiotic direction for self-recognition through the perceptions of others. YeSeung Lee's A Glassy Vision: DongDong expands the audience's perception at the intersection of virtual and reality by reinterpreting the future through the integration of technology and sensory experiences. Kira Kim's Blind and Mute invites reflection on the relationship between individuals and society by exploring historical events, emotions, and memories, fostering a shared understanding of the zeitgeist. What deserves attention is the “subtle sensitivity” of the artists (humans) that forms the basis of the works, grounded in memories and information beyond new technology. I expect that this intriguing journey will allow us to encounter the interaction of “human senses and various emotions” that underpins empathy and communication between art and technology in virtual space. — Seungah Lee