Despite all the upheavals that 2020 will have been the arena of, this year will have had the merit of having been conducive to reflection. To introspection. We have hence thought about our history, reconsidered the history of Mapping Festival, our desires, our ambitions, and our role – with artists, with the public, as well as with politics from time to time. It is true that we had started this process before the avatars of 2020 – besides liters of hand sanitiser – poured over us: confinements, quarantines and other forms of distancing (only social by name). However, the confinement of the festival, which prevented us from meeting up with you in May , came to nourish this reflection. From it arose a need to reinvent ourselves, to redefine the strategy to pursue in order to fulfill the festival’s mission: to support the development of critical and innovative artistic approaches in the field of technological, audiovisual and deviant arts
It is thus precisely in order to remain deviant that Mapping has to deviate from its trajectory: today the Mapping Festival association becomes PPING. We understand this deviation in the sense of a situationist diversion; as an act aiming at repurposing, rearranging pre-existing elements in a new way, so as to regain and restore meaning. And thus to valorise our experience, and yours.
We shall nonetheless still continue to passionately organise the Mapping Festival every year. And this is actually the main reason for these few lines: to inform you that we are proud, happy – and above all very lucky – to invite you to our 2020 micro-edition.
Needless to say the possibility of switching to a virtual edition occurred to us; however, after living behind our screens for months, being delighted by the immensity of what digital technologies have to offer in this context, in awe in front of the abundance of artistic and cultural initiatives online, we yearned for a tangible reconnection to technology. A collective need to bring to an end this potentially infinite individual wandering of the web.
The new constraints – of time, space, as well as financial – proved to be too much for part of our programme. But they did not in the least bit demean its relevance. Many of the art works selected at the beginning of the year make all the more sense today, in light of our recent experience of connected confinement. 2020 has also prompted us to reassess the frantic cadence of our lives and the need to continually produce; our micro-edition fits into this philosophy, embracing the opposite stance of the abundance inherent to the “festival” format. Although nothing can probably replace the fabulous emulation of the festival as we understand it, this time, this lighter format allows us to pay close attention to each project, making sure each gets all the light it deserves. This format also allows us to avoid cross-cannibalisation between projects and so, for once, you will be able to see and attend everything. No more FOMO.
2020 may end up being just a glitch, an annoying general bug that may eventually speed up the game by revealing an alternative path. We invite you to come and feel your way forward with us at Le Common, following an artistic path plunged in the dark. Just as this year has been for the world of culture and night.
Finally, we are also taking advantage of this edition to reconnect with the DIY origins of the festival, by offering workshops to an audience of all ages and all levels. DIY operateshere as a real means of deconstructing and reflecting on the evolution of technological tools and cultures – digital or analog.
We are looking forward to seeing you, masked but unfalteringly smiling, from November 19th to 29th, 2020!
After 15 years organising Mapping Festival, PPING is happy to introduce this year’s micro edition from November 19th to 29th, 2020 !
Upon its creation in 2005, Mapping Festival revolved around VJing – the creation or manipulation of images, projected in real time, usually in a clubbing context of electronic music shows.
The event was founded by Boris Edelstein, creator of Modul8. The VJing computer programme has since then become an emblematic software used by thousands of people around the world. As for the festival, it was an immediate success and flourished very quickly.
Mapping Festival encourages spectators to discover, experiment and feel artworks that can be encountered and lived in new ways. Unlike contemplative experiences, here the audience is invited to interact with the work, to participate in its deployment and to contribute to its very functioning. With technological arts, the public becomes an actor, a player, an instigator. All at the same time.
Technology allows to integrate playful, entertaining features in artistic endeavours. However, in a context that promotes uninterrupted innovation, it is also important to reflect critically about those attractive technologies. We must question the use of these technologies, omnipresent in our lives. We need to understand the cultural, social and political implications at stake.
For the past 15 years, Mapping Festival has been a multidisciplinary festival dedicated to electronic and deviant cultures. It has established itself as a benchmark throughout the world, thanks to the richness and quality of its programming, as well as its pioneering spirit and the unique space for experimentation it offers. It is considered as a key event and meeting point in the audiovisual field, a place where to create and exchange.
The 16th edition represents a turning point, the result of a critical reflection on the movement that the festival has helped to build and support. Always attached to its primary goal – promoting the avant-garde of the technological and audiovisual art scene – the festival is transforming itself, reconnecting with its DIY origins and its ambition to be a pioneering force for electronic and deviant cultures. One of the specificities of technological creation is its intrinsic ability to cross and mix disciplines, be it music, visual arts, performing arts, IT, science, design, architecture etc. This multidisciplinarity has always been at the heart of Mapping Festival, and is reflected each year through its eclectic and varied programme, which allows to present a wide range of artistic proposals in the form of audiovisual installations and performances, workshops, exhibitions, conferences and round tables. These activities are targeted both towards a public of new media professionals and of curious passers-by, keen on learning more about these practices – now accessible to all.
The festival therefore aims to reach an increasingly large audience, insiders as well as enthusiasts, both local and international. After 15 years organising Mapping Festival, PPING is happy to introduce this year’s micro edition from November 19th to 29th, 2020 !
