NEW YORK, April 18, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The New York Electronic Art Festival today announced that New York's largest celebration of electronic music and art will take place from May 12 - June 10, 2007 in a month-long series of concerts, panels, workshops, and exhibitions of the highest quality work in the growing field of art and technology. Presentations will include New York City resident artists as well as the most exciting work from around the globe. Featuring artists from Trimpin to They Might Be Giants, the festival's events promise to draw a huge audience from a wide spectrum of music and art lovers.
At the center of NYEAF is the 2007 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2007), an international event (previously held at IRCAM in Paris) that brings together the leading musical technologists from around the world. The theme of NIME 2007 is "Music and Robotics." Robotics is a large and growing field, and one with a wide popular appeal. Most major contemporary technological events feature robots in a very visible way, including this past year's Wired Nextfest and SIGGRAPH, and fields ranging from sports to gaming to household maintenance have all seen the emergence of robots. NIME 2007 promises to be an incredible draw, as it will combine people's fascination with cutting-edge robotic technology with virtuosic musical performance -- feats of musical athleticism beyond the capacity of even the most amazing human performer.
"New York is very much at the center of musical technology worldwide, so it is appropriate that NYEAF, in its inaugural event, and NIME 2007, in its 7th annual running, join forces in this festival of art and technology, with composers playing videos, video artists composing sounds, and robots performing music," said Carol Parkinson, Harvestworks Executive Director. "We look forward to making NYEAF a major part of the New York art and music scene."
Venues: The New York Electronic Art Festival and NIME 2007 will be held at a broad array of venues, from university halls to cutting-edge clubs, including: Columbia University, New York University, Galapagos Arts Space, Eyebeam, Roulette, Diapason and 3LD Art and Technology Center.
Producing Partners: The New York Electronic Arts Festival and NIME 2007 are produced by Harvestworks and NYU Music Technology and LEMUR; League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, in partnership with: New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program; Columbia University Computer Music Center; Electronic Music Foundation; Diapason; 3LD Art and Technology Center; Institute for Electronic Arts; and Roulette.
Sponsors: Additional support comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, mediaThe foundation, the Experimental TV Center Presentation Program, Cycling 74, Tekserve and Newmark Knight Frank.
ABOUT NYEAF: The New York Electronic Art Festival was created to provide a responsive public context for the appreciation of cutting-edge electronic art work through concerts, panels, workshops, and exhibitions of the highest quality work across the arts and technology spectrum. The NYEAF will plug into a national and international network of electronic art festivals, bringing significant contemporary art and music to the city. NYEAF is produced by Harvestworks, an international digital media arts center with 30 years of experience helping artists to get "inside the electronics" and to develop a hands-on, experimental and explorative approach to making art with technology.
About Harvestworks: Founded in 1977, Harvestworks offers an environment where artists can make work inspired and achieved by electronic media. Harvestworks helps the community at large to understand, assimilate, and make creative use of new and evolving technologies. Harvestworks creates a responsive public context for the appreciation of new work, advances both the art community and the public's "agenda" for the use of technology in art; and brings together innovative practitioners from all branches of the arts by fostering collaborations across electronic media.
The Harvestworks facility is an environment for experimentation where teams of artists, engineers and designers focus on designing, building, and modifying interactive programs and instruments used in creating and performing various art forms. Harvestworks acts as a producer to help identify production needs and organize the team for a project as well as offering advice on funding and distribution, acting as fiscal agent where necessary, and forming partnerships with research facilities or independent experts in the field as needed. Our staff of engineers employs complex engineering concepts in collaboration with our artists, who bring artistic creativity and philosophical enquiry to the process.
For more info: