The Multiplicidade Festival creates a dialogue between sound and image in the fusion of hi- and low-technologies.



International in its perpective and its programme, past and future interconnect in a crossing of artistic research forged in the most advanced hybrid, advanced artistic languages.

The Festival creatives bold, immersive experiments in art and technology, through performances, installations, site-specific events, exhibitions workshops, residencies and debates.

Multiplicidade began in 2005 at Oi Futuro Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro’s first cultural centre dedicated to art and technology. It has staged artistic occupations in some of the city’s most emblematic spaces: teatro Oi Casa Grande for 1000 people, Centro de Artes Hélio Oiticica, Galpão do IAB-RJ, EAV Parque Lage (a 19th century mansion surrounded by mountains and an exotic tropical forest), the Planetarium (which has the 3rd largest dome in the world).

Multiplicidade seeks to create a diverse, plural programme that goes from electronic to acoustic music, from live cinema to reprocessed software. At the end of each year there is a big celebration with dozens of artists from various countries who come together for a week. At this moment, the Festival takes on a more conventional format, with a sequence of attractions over consecutive days.

Over 15 years of continuous activity, the Multiplicidade Festival has produced over 400 events with Brazilian artists such as Tom Zé, Arnaldo Antunes, Fausto Fawcett, Cao Guimarães, Chelpa Ferro, Muti Randolph, Kassin, Jaques Morelenbaum, Vik Muniz, Nana Vasconcelos, SuperUber, Raul Mourão, Eumir Deodato and international artists such as Diplo (EUA), Peter Greenaway (GBR), Spooky (EUA), The Cinematic Orchestra (EUA), Daedelus (EUA), Carlos Casas (ESP), Sebastian Escofet (ARG), Daito Manabe (JAP), Scanner (GBR), ANTIVJ (FRA), Herman Kolgen (CAN), Nonotak (FRA/JAP), When Saints Go Machine (DIN), Søren Kjaergaard (DIN), 1024 Architecture (FRA), Mario Caldato (EUA), amongst others.

Over 800 artists and 126,000 audience have participated in the Festival

Artistic proposals can be submitted throughout the year to curadoria@multiplicidade.com. Please give a detailed description of your project, together with a link to fotos and videos, a technical rider and an indication of the necessary production team.

The Festival’s mission is to expand and develop new panoramas that stimulate a pioneering vision for artists and for the general public.

Batman Zavareze_Curador do Festival Multiplicidade

How does the selection for Festival Multiplicidade happen? _Is there a period for the submission of projects?


We receive submissions throughout the year, we are always open to proposals, and this helps us organize our programme. Works involving technology which somehow dialogue with sounds and images are the focus of our research, without setting limits to understand the variety of artistic expressions. I want to see things that surprise me, and the most complex things are not always the most daring.
Samba or folklore, for example, may flirt with high-tech experiments, why not? With other electronic or analog rhythms, why not?
I keep receiving projects, ideas and proposals under construction to become spectacles. The selection is made through the concept of constellation, promoting the strength of the group, of the collective, of the plural coexistence of artistic proposals throughout the year. Curating is an exercise in sharing views with the other end, the artists and the public, which prompt me to review any previously drawn line to assemble the puzzle of the programme.
Festival Multiplicidade never stops, a bit like the digital zone which is always feeding back. As we build scenarios and offer personalized technologies, we seek deeper experimentation. We want to offer an unusual universe to ourselves, cultural makers (the whole team, coauthors of the festival) and to the artists. The talks begin years or months in advance, just so a unique platform for experimentation can be developed. Recalling that the attractions do not overlap; in this way the stage is free for the scheduled artists, there is more time for rehearsals and technological problems of the riders, that will not be modified during the same day, are minimized.

The festival happens along the each year's second semester. From june to december, with a monthly interleaved programming. A different format exactly to offer to the artists unique possibilities since construction of scenario, customed technical settings, development of technologies and audience generation. The purpose in this first moment is to remain singular at each performance. Beyond that, Festival Multiplicidade is plural in its programming diversity, from electronic to electroacoustics music, from live cinema to perfomances, from computer softwares to gambiarras. In the end of each year takes place a big celebration with dozen of artists from various country, in a sequence of simultaneous pieces throughout a few days.

_After 15 years, what is your conclusion on the Brazilian digital art scene?

First, that we cannot give up professional and artistic training; a national cultural calendar and, to conclude, encouraging research (perhaps this last one is intrinsically linked to the other two). We have already achieved an important place, but there is still a lot to be done, especially in the creation of public demand and scientific convergences. Little practice generates vicious formulas and artistic limitations. The experimental possibilities of art and technology are endless. The cultural potential of our country is so rich that it could certainly generate a pioneer and great social transformation.

_What do you see in the future of this field?

Any precise answer would be already past. Everything changes very rapidly, but I am privileged to be able to continue for 15 consecutive years with a project I consider relevant and of impact in the cultural formation of the state of Rio de Janeiro. I believe this happens due to the research and dissemination of those techno-cultural experiences. Digital labs could be an excellent way to further increase our knowledge. The future of digital culture is to expand the access to the net and start a solid dialogue between science and art.

_For some time big shows have already been working with the idea of converging different media. Would you affirm that this is the direction that art will keep on following for a very long time?

Today more than ever, multidisciplinarity is essential. Drums and iPads are equally rich and technological. They are technological powers from totally different times, and each has its own beauty and importance.

Everything is valid. Cultural combinations will help us find original, individual, authentic and creative solutions, in order to search for the necessary innovations.

We live in a period of new literacy of those digital codes.

Perhaps, the speed of information hinders the depth of the artistic movements that surprise and cause some impact, but never before so much has been produced as in the last ten years.

I believe this is the perfect moment to find new ways.

The commercial use of technology is the new sensation, but that does not thrill. At this moment art can take incredible advantages to develop its inventiveness, using the full strength of various media and interactivity not to change the world but to transform our perception, to see it more poetically.

That is the intention of the Festival, to be part of this movement, whatever its contribution may be.

Release

The Multiplicidade Festival creates a dialogue between sound and image in the fusion of hi- and low-technologies.

International in its perpective and its programme, past and future interconnect in a crossing of artistic research forged in the most advanced hybrid, advanced artistic languages.

The Festival creatives bold, immersive experiments in art and technology, through performances, installations, site-specific events, exhibitions workshops, residencies and debates.

Multiplicidade began in 2005 at Oi Futuro Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro’s first cultural centre dedicated to art and technology. It has staged artistic occupations in some of the city’s most emblematic spaces: teatro Oi Casa Grande for 1000 people, Centro de Artes Hélio Oiticica, Galpão do IAB-RJ, EAV Parque Lage (a 19th century mansion surrounded by mountains and an exotic tropical forest), the Planetarium (which has the 3rd largest dome in the world).

In the decade since it was created, the Festival has circulated the world through its international collaborations with England, Scotland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Denmark and other countries.

From the beginning, the Festival has been innovative in its format, taking place during the second half of each year. The unusal format of the Festival offers unique possibilities to artists, from the construction of scenery and personalized technical production to the development of exclusive software. The intention is to create a unique, one-off experience for each performance.

Multiplicidade seeks to create a diverse, plural programme that goes from electronic to acoustic music, from live cinema to reprocessed software.

At the end of each year there is a big celebration with dozens of artists from various countries who come together for a week. At this moment, the Festival takes on a more conventional format, with a sequence of attractions over consecutive days.

Over 15 years of continuous activity, the Multiplicidade Festival has produced over 500 events with Brazilian artists such as Tom Zé, Arnaldo Antunes, Fausto Fawcett, Cao Guimarães, Chelpa Ferro, Muti Randolph, Kassin, Jaques Morelenbaum, Vik Muniz, Nana Vasconcelos, SuperUber, Raul Mourão, Eumir Deodato and international artists such as Diplo (EUA), Peter Greenaway (GBR), Spooky (EUA), The Cinematic Orchestra (EUA), Daedelus (EUA), Carlos Casas (ESP), Sebastian Escofet (ARG), Daito Manabe (JAP), Scanner (GBR), ANTIVJ (FRA), Herman Kolgen (CAN), Nonotak (FRA/JAP), When Saints Go Machine (DIN), Søren Kjaergaard (DIN), 1024 Architecture (FRA), Mario Caldato (EUA), amongst others.

Over 800 artists and 126,000 audience have participated in the Festival Artistic proposals can be submitted throughout the year to curadoria@multiplicidade.com. Please give a detailed description of your project, together with a link to fotos and videos, a technical rider and an indication of the necessary production team.

The Festival’s mission is to expand and develop new panoramas that stimulate a pioneering vision for artists and for the general public.

Batman Zavareze, Curator of Festival Multiplicidade