NEWS: MMF 2020: CLOSING REMARKS

WE WILL BE BACK, POSSIBLY OFFSCREEN, HOPEFULLY IRL

As the 2020 edition of the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL comes to an end, we would like to express our gratitude to everybody that made this event possible. The list is very long, so please head to this page for more information.

We truly hope to see you again soon in a physical space as well as online: we are already working on the 2021 edition, so keep an eye on this website - plus our Twitter and Instagram accounts - for an open call.

We would love to hear your comments and feedback about the 2020 edition, so don’t be shy and share your thoughts and suggestions with us.

In his closing video remarks, Matteo “MBF” Bittanti, the artistic director of the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL, talks about the imminent return of VRAL, the festival’s recently introduced online platform for showcasing cutting edge machinima from all over the world.

NEWS: IN FOCUS: LARRY ACHIAMPONG AND DAVID BLANDY (MARCH 12 2020)

We are delighted to present Finding Fanon: Gaiden, a six-episode saga created by British artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy with/in Grand Theft Auto V

After introducing Finding Fanon in 2016 - which was featured in GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY - Achiampong and Blandy return to Milan with an ambitious installation. FF: Gaiden is a series of video works created from a process of collaboration between the two artists and wider communities. Together they have used the virtual space of Grand Theft Auto V to explore ideas around the writings of Frantz Fanon, whilst also asking what it means to be human in this supposed moment of globalization. Gaiden (a term synonymous with Japanese anime and videogame culture meaning “sidestory”) expands the artist’s Finding Fanon series as they devise the tools that they used to produce Finding Fanon 2, with the public. By doing this, they give creative agency to wider communities including; working with veterans & prisoners (at FACT, Liverpool) paperless migrants (at the International Artist's Residency PRAKSIS, Oslo), a female refugee group (at New Art Exchange, Nottingham), young people (at Tyneside Gallery, Newcastle), thus allowing them to direct the way in which they share their stories. between the digital realm and IRL (‘In Real Life’). Achiampong and Blandy have worked with various communities to produce video works that combine a plethora of material; script-work based on stories and conversations from the participants concerning contemporary identity, thoughts about how their relationships and identities are formed through the virtual world, and an original, synth-driven soundtrack that contextualises the intense, high definition visuals and stories of the film.

Larry Achiampong (b. 1984, UK) completed a BA in Mixed Media Fine Art at University of Westminster (2005) and an MA in Sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art (2008). His practice uses sound, live performance, and imagery to explore representations of identity in the digital age and the dichotomies found within a world dominated by facebook/tumblr/youtube-based cultures. He crate-digs the vaults of history, splicing audible and visual qualities of the personal and interpersonal archive-as-material, offering multiple dispositions that reveal the socio-political contradictions in contemporary society. Achiampong has exhibited, performed, and presented projects within the UK and abroad including Tate Britain & Modern; London, David Roberts Art Foundation; London, Modern Art Oxford; Oxford, New Art Exchange; Nottingham, SAVVY Contemporary; Berlin, and Bokoor African Popular Music Archives Foundation; Accra. Achiampong lives and works in London.

David Blandy (b. 1976, U.K.) is an artist based in London & Brighton, who works with digital media, including video games. He was educated at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. Blandy produces video, performances and comics that deal with his problematic relationship with popular culture, highlighting the slippage and tension between fantasy and reality in everyday life. Blandy has exhibited at venues nationally and worldwide such as Bloomberg Space, London; Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum, Helsinki; The Baltic, Gateshead; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Spike Island, Bristol; Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany; PS1, New York and Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China. Represented by Seventeen, London. His films are distributed through LUX.

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Siamo felici di presentare Finding Fanon: Gaiden, una saga di sei episodi creata dagli artisti britannici Larry Achiampong e David Blandy con/in Grand Theft Auto V

Dopo il debutto di Finding Fanon nel 2016 - incluso nella mostra GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY - Achiampong e Blandy ritornano a Milano con un’installazione ambiziosa. FF Gaiden consiste in varie opere audiovisive create attraverso un intenso processo di collaborazione tra i due artisti e comunità più ampie. Insieme, hanno utilizzato lo spazio virtuale di Grand Theft Auto V per esplorare concetti e idee formulate da Frantz Fanon, interrogandosi sul significato dell’esistenza in un’era di massima globalizzazione. Gaiden (termine giapponese che indica una storia o narrazione secondaria) è un’espansione della serie Finding Fanon, che mira a condividere con il pubblico le tecniche usate per la realizzazione di Finding Fanon 2. In questo modo, gli artisti hanno offerto un’autonomia creativa a comunità eterogenee che includono veterani e prigionieri (al FACT, Liverpool), migranti privi di documenti (all'International Artist's Residency PRAKSIS, Oslo), un gruppo di rifugiate (al New Art Exchange, Nottingham), giovani (alla Tyneside Gallery, Newcastle), consentendo loro di raccontare le proprie storie in bilico tra la sfera del virtuale e la vita reale (IRL). Achiampong e Blandy hanno lavorato con diverse comunità per realizzare lavori video che assemblano materiali eclettici; un lavoro di sceneggiatura basato su storie e conversazioni dei partecipanti riguardanti l'identità contemporanea, riflessioni su come le loro relazioni e identità si formano attraverso il mondo virtuale e una colonna sonora originale pop che contestualizza le immagini e le vicende narrate nei vari cortometraggi.

Nato nel 1984 nel Regno Unito, Larry Achiampong ha ottenuto una Laurea in Mixed Media Fine Art presso la University of Westminster (2005) e un Master of Arts in Scultura presso la Slade School of Fine Art (2008). Achiampong utilizza suoni, immagini e performance per esplorare il concetto di identità nell’era digitale. L’artista scava negli archivi della storia, appropriandosi dei materiali eterogenei in cui s’imbatte per portare in primo piano le contraddizioni socio-politiche dell’era contemporanea nonché i paradossi di un mondo dominato da Facebook, Tumblr e YouTube. Le sue opere sono state presentate nel Regno Unito e all’estero presso istituzioni come la Tate Britain & Modern di Londra, David Roberts Art Foundation a Londra, Modern Art Oxford a Oxford, New Art Exchange a Nottingham, SAVVY Contemporary a Berlino e Bokoor African Popular Music Archives Foundation ad Accra. Achiampong vive e lavora a Londra.

Nato nel 1976 nel Regno Unito, David Blandy vive e lavora tra Londra e Brighton. Nella sua pratica artistica, Blandy utilizza prevalentemente media digitali, tra cui i videogiochi. Formatosi  presso la Slade School of Fine Art e il Chelsea College of Art and Design di Londra, Blandy ha prodotto video, performance e graphic novel che tematizzano la relazione tra ideologia e popular culture. Affascinato dal corto-circuito tra fantasia e realtà nella vita quotidiana, Blandy collabora spesso con artisti internazionali. Le sue opere sono state presentate presso istituzioni internazionali tra cui Bloomberg Space di Londra, Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum di Helsinki, The Baltic a Gateshead, Turner Contemporary di Margate, Spike Island a Bristol, Künstlerhaus a Stoccarda; PS1 a New York e al Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Shanghai. Blandy è rappresentato da Seventeen, Londra. I suoi film sono distribuiti da LUX.

TRAILER

LOCATION/TIMES

Thursday March 12 2020/Giovedì 11 marzo 2020

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Free Entry

PROGRAMME/PROGRAMMA

FINDING FANON GAIDEN: DELETE

Ultra HD video, color, sound, 16:9, 18’, 2016. United Kingdom.

Commissioned by Praksis Oslo, Norway. In collaboration with Mennisker i Limbo (People in Limbo), in partnership with PNEK, Atelier Nord, and Notam.

FINDING FANON GAIDEN: ALTERNATIVE

Ultra HD video, color, sound, 16:9, 19’ 52”, 2016-2017. United Kingdom.

Commissioned by New Art Exchange, Nottingham for "Untitled: Art on the Conditions of our time", made with Nottingham’s Women’s Cultural Exchange.

FINDING FANON GAIDEN: CONTROL

Ultra HD video, color, sound, 16:9, 21’ 54”, 2016-2017. United Kingdom.

Commissioned and produced by FACT. Supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation. With thanks HMP Altcourse, Keith McDonnell, Tony Connolly and the HMP Altcourse gym team, HMP Liverpool and Partners of Prisoners.

FINDING FANON GAIDEN: ESCAPE

Ultra HD video, color, sound, 16:9, 19’ 52”, 2016-17. United Kingdom.

Commissioned by New Art Exchange, Nottingham for "Untitled: Art on the Conditions of our time", made with Nottingham’s Women’s Cultural Exchange.

FINDING FANON GAIDEN: BLACK DEATH

Ultra HD video, color, sound, 16:9, 9’, 2017. United Kingdom.

Commissioned by Two Queens, Leicester, featured as part of the exhibition Wilderness Way at MIMA. Made in collaboration with Kamile Ofoeme.

FINDING FANON GAIDEN: LEGACY

Ultra HD video, color, sound, 16:9, 15’ 2017. United Kingdom.

Commissioned by Yorkshire Sculpture Park, supported by Arts Council England.

NEWS: IN FOCUS: JACKY CONNOLLY (MARCH 11 2020)

We are proud to present Ariadne, the latest monumental work by American artist Jacky Connolly.

As critic Emily Watlington writes, “Jacky Connolly’s moving image works, made with a video game rather than 3D animation software, speak to the impressionable adolescent mind, focusing on the young suburban woman—her absorption of trauma, her adaptability in learning new technologies, her desire to build worlds. Though conversations touch often on the threat of desensitization via mass media, less often do we speak of their capacity to retraumatize through rehearsal and reenactment; Connolly turns astutely to trauma’s effects rather than its events in her latest film Ariadne“. A full length movie, Ariadne audaciously combines live footage with entire sequences created with Electronic Arts’ The Sims. This groundbreaking assemblage marks Connolly’s return to Milan after her impressive Anhedonia was screened at the 2018 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL.

Jacky Connolly is an American artist based in New York whose practice draws from cinema, literature, transmedia world-making, and storytelling. She began playing The Sims in the early Zeroes and she now uses the game to create a new world for her machinima productions. Among her most celebrated works is Hudson Valley Ruins (2016), a 30-minute video which screened by the Whitney Museum of American Art. Connolly's works has been featured in several international shows, including Post-Apocalyptic Realism at Museum Brandhorst in Munich, Germany, and the film program of Art Cologne in Cologne, Germany. 

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Siamo orgogliosi di presentare Ariadne, L’ultima monumentale opera dell’artista americana Jacky Connolly.

Come ha scritto la critica Emily Watlington, "Le opere a immagine mobile di Jacky Connolly, realizzate con un videogioco piuttosto che con un software di animazione 3D, parlano alla mente impressionabile dell'adolescente, concentrandosi sulla giovane donna di periferia - il suo assorbimento del trauma, la sua adattabilità nell'apprendimento delle nuove tecnologie, il suo desiderio di costruire mondi. Anche se le conversazioni toccano spesso la minaccia della desensibilizzazione attraverso i mass media, meno spesso si parla della loro capacità di ritrattare attraverso le prove e la ricostruzione; Connolly si rivolge con astuzia agli effetti del trauma piuttosto che ai suoi eventi nel suo ultimo film Ariadne". Un vero e proprio lungometraggio, Ariadne combina audacemente riprese dal vivo con intere sequenze create con il popolare videogioco The Sims di Electronic Arts. Questo innovativo assemblage segna il ritorno di Connolly a Milano dopo la proiezione dell’impressionante Anhedonia nel corso del MILANO MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2018.

Jacky Connolly è un’artista statunitense che vive a lavora a New York la cui pratica artistica trae ispirazione dal cinema, dalla letteratura, dalla creazione di mondi immaginari e dalla narrazione. Appassionata di The Sims sin dai primi anni del ventunesimo secolo, Connolly lo utilizza per creare set virtuali per le sue produzioni di machinima. La sua opera più ambiziosa è Hudson Valley Ruins (2016), un video di 30 minuti acquistato dal Whitney Museum of American Art. Le sue opere sono state esibite in numerose mostre internazionali, tra cui Post-Apocalyptic Realism al Museum Brandhorst di Monaco e la sezione cinematografica di Art Cologne a Colonia, in Germania.

TRAILER

LOCATION/TIMES

Wednesday March 11 2020/Mercoledì 11 marzo 2020

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Free entry

PROGRAMME/PROGRAMMA

ARIADNE

digital video/machinima, color, sound, 50’ 13”, 2019. United States of America.

NEWS: FULL LINE-UP REVEAL

We are delighted to announce the full program of the 2020 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL.

The event takes place between March 09-13 2020 at IULM University in two separate locations: the Contemporary Exhibition Hall and the Sala dei 146, both located in the IULM Open Space building. Both venues are open to the public, but we kindly encourage attendees to register for the screening on Friday March 13 2020 in the Sala dei 146 as seats are limited.

Each day features a different program. The festival is bookended by two sections titled GAME VIDEO ESSAY A (March 09 2020) and B (March 13 2020), after a successful run in the 2019 event of the same title. From Tuesday until Thursday we will present an indepth look at four artists whose daring, groundbreaking, unclassifiable work has redefined the aesthetics of machinima: Larry Achiampong, David Blandy, Jacky Connolly, and Oscar Wagenmans in the context of the Contemporary Exhibition Hall. These works have never been presented before in Italy.

The festival concludes on Friday March 13 with The Weird, The Eerie, and The Unreal, which includes a selection of the most impressive works submitted this year and evaluated by our international jurors. During the screening, we will announce the 2020 Critics’ Award.

SCHEDULE

Monday March 09 2020

GAME VIDEO ESSAY A

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Free Entry

Tuesday March 10 2020

FOCUS: SAVEME OH

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Free Entry

Wednesday March 11 2020

FOCUS: JACKY CONNOLLY

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Free Entry

Thursday March 12 2020

FOCUS: LARRY ACHIAMPONG & DAVID BLANDY

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Free Entry

Friday March 13 2020

GAME VIDEO ESSAY B

Sala dei 146 (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Free Entry

Friday March 13 2020

THE WEIRD, THE EERIE, THE UNREAL

Sala dei 146 (IULM OPEN SPACE)

18:00 - 20:00 Please RSVP

Click here to read the full program

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Siamo lieti di annunciare il programma completo del MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2020.

L'evento si svolge dal 09 al 13 marzo 2020 presso l'Università IULM in due sedi separate: la Contemporary Exhibition Hall e la Sala dei 146, entrambe situate nell'edificio IULM Open Space. Le sedi sono aperte al pubblico, ma invitiamo i visitatori a registrarsi per la proiezione di venerdì 13 marzo 2020 nella Sala dei 146, poiché i posti sono limitati. Si prega di notare che ogni giorno è previsto un programma diverso. Il festival è incorniciato da GAME VIDEO ESSAY A (09 marzo 2020) e B (13 marzo 2020), dopo il successo dell'esperienza nel 2019.

Da martedì a giovedì presenteremo uno sguardo approfondito su quattro artisti il cui lavoro innovativo ha ridefinito l'estetica del machinima: Larry Achiampong, David Blandy, Jacky Connolly e Oscar Wagenmans nel contesto della Contemporary Exhibition Hall. Queste opere non sono mai state presentate in Italia prima d’ora.

Il festival si conclude venerdì 13 marzo con The Weird, The Eerie e The Unreal, che comprende una selezione delle opere più significative presentate quest'anno e valutate dai nostri giurati internazionali. Durante la proiezione, verrà annunciato il Premio della Critica 2020.

CALENDARIO

Lunedì 09 marzo 2020

GAME VIDEO ESSAY A

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Ingresso gratuito

Martedì 10 marzo 2020

FOCUS: SAVEME OH

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Ingresso gratuito

Mercoledì 11 marzo 2020

FOCUS: JACKY CONNOLLY

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Ingresso gratuito

Giovedì 12 marzo 2020

FOCUS: LARRY ACHIAMPONG & DAVID BLANDY

Contemporary Exhibition Hall (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Ingresso gratuito

Venerdì 13 marzo 2020

GAME VIDEO ESSAY B

Sala dei 146 (IULM OPEN SPACE)

09:00 - 19:00 Ingresso gratuito

Venerdì 13 marzo 2020

THE WEIRD, THE EERIE, THE UNREAL

Sala dei 146 (IULM OPEN SPACE)

18:00 - 20:00 Registrazione richiesta

Cliccate qui per leggere il programma completo

NEWS: MEET OUR JURORS: MARCO DE MUTIIS

WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THE FIFTH JUROR OF THE 2020 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL: MARCO DE MUTIIS

Marco De Mutiis is Digital Curator at Fotomuseum Winterthur and an artist working with different media and technologies and with an interest in issues of perception and communication. Often re­-engineering and transforming old analog and mechanical devices, De Mutiis creates kinetic installations that concern with communication, language and physicality. Graduated with distinction from the MFA program at the School of Creative Media (City University of Hong Kong), he has shown his works internationally in festivals and galleries. He has been the recipient of the Bloomberg Digital Arts Initiative in 2013. He has worked as a senior research associate and part-time lecturer at City University of Hong Kong and he is pursuing a Doctorate Program.

NEWS: MEET OUR JURORS: VALENTINO CATRICALÀ

Valentino Catricalà

We are thrilled to announce the second juror of the 2020 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL: Valentino Catricalà!

A scholar and curator of contemporary art, Valentino is interested in the relationship between art, technology, and media. He is the Director of the Art section of the European edition of Maker Faire, Europe's largest fair of creativity and innovation and also a Consultant at Paris Sony CS Lab and principal investigator for London Serpentine Gallery’s STAR LAB. Valentino was previously in charge of the Media Art Festival of Rome (MAXXI Museum) and Program Manager of Fondazione Mondo Digitale’s art programs.He is also the curator of the Kunstraum Goethe (Art Space) for the Goethe Institut in Rome and a member of the Hyphen Hub Community in New York.

He received a Ph.D. from the Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts - University of Roma Tre. He has been PostDoctoral visiting scholar at ZKM-Center for Arts and Media (Karlsruhe, Germany), University of Dundee (Scotland), Tate Modern (London). He has been a PostDoctoral Research Fellow at University of Roma Tre and adjunct professor at Mercatorum University. 

He founded and was artistic director of the Rome Media Art Festival (MAXXI Museum) and Art Project Coordinator at Fondazione Mondo Digitale. Valentino is also the curator of the Kunstraum Goethe (the art space of the Goethe institut Rome). His most recent publications are Media Art. Prospettive delle arti verso il XXI secolo. Storie, teorie, preservazione (Mimesis, 2016) and Art as Inventor (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).

Valentino’s curatorial practice includes exhibitions in major museums and international institutions. Among others, Minnesota Street Project (San Francisco), Ermitage (St. Petersburg), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome), MAXXI (Rome), Museo Riso (Palermo), Media Center (New York ), Stelline (Milan), Istituto Italiano di Cultura Nuova Dheli (India), Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), Ca’ Foscari (Venice), Centrale Idrodinamica (Trieste), Museo Centrale Montemartini (Rome).

Read more about Valentino Catricalà

NEWS: MEET OUR JURORS: HENRY LOWOOD

Henry Lowood, Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections and Film & Media Collections in the Stanford University Libraries (Image courtesy The Library of Congress, 2013)

We are thrilled to announce the first juror of the 2020 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL: Henry Lowood!

Henry Lowood is Curator for Germanic Collections and Harold C. Hohbach Curator, History of Science & Technology Collections in the Stanford University Libraries. As a curator, he is part of the Humanities Research Group in Green Library, the Department best known for the Lane Reading Room and a wonderful group of colleagues. Henry Lowood has written several essays on such topics as game studies, game preservation, and machinima.

Among his most recent books are The Machinima Reader (2012) with Michael Nitsche and Debugging Game History (2016) with Raiford Guins, both published by MIT Press and Machinima! Teorie, pratiche, dialoghi with Matteo Bittanti in 2013, published by Edizioni Unicopli. Along with Guins, Lowood is now editing a new series for MIT Press about the history and culture of gaming.

Since 2000, Lowood has headed a project first funded by the Stanford Humanities Laboratory and, since the demise of SHL, continued in the Libraries. Almost twenty years late it is called How They Got Game: The History and Culture of Interactive Simulations and Videogames. Among the results of this project are courses such as History of Computer Game Design or The Consumer as Creator in Contemporary Media. The main focus of the project is the history and preservation of digital games, virtual worlds and interactive simulations as emerging new media forms. Among other projects, Lowood curated the Machinima Archive for the Internet Archive, which is dedicated to the academic investigation and historical preservation of the emerging art form known as machinima..

From 2008 to 2013, Lowood led the HTGG Stanford group in a project first funded by the U.S. Library of Congress called "Preserving Virtual Worlds." We worked with the University of Illinois, University of Maryland, Rochester Institute of Technology, Linden Lab, the Internet Archive, and others on this exciting project.

For some twenty years, Lowood was editor of the "Current Bibliography in the History of Technology" of the Society for the History of Technology. This bibliography is one of the components of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine database available through the Libraries' database page.

Read more about Henry Lowood