The 17th Audiovisual Arts Festival of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts of the Ionian University ended with great success and large public attendance

The 17th Audiovisual Arts Festival, a central event of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts (AVARTS) of the Ionian University, ended on Sunday (02/06) with great success and large public attendance. For 10 days (May 23 – June 2, 2024) an original program of artistic, scientific and educational events provided the city of Corfu with new cultural experiences, gaining the attention of the academic and the local community.

Some of the main artistic events introduced to the public internationally recognized artists who through their innovative work explore the possibilities of audiovisual media and deal with cutting-edge issues. Central was the exhibition of the virtual reality project “Oedipus in search of Colonus” by Loukia Alavanou, which represented Greece at the 59th Venice Art Biennale. It was held with the support of the Onassis Foundation and brought to the fore issues of immigration, displacement and human rights. Similarly, the hybrid exhibition “The Mutagenic Futures” by bio-artist Ken Rinaldo focused on the destructive consequences of modern industrial society on human life, and beyond.

At the same time, a wide range of events, in various locations of the city and at the premises of the Ionian University, showcased the richness and quality of the artistic work of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts and the Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music Research & Applications (ERHMEE) of the Department of Music Studies, which, like every year, collaborated to organize the festival. Group student exhibitions ("17th Student Photography Exhibition", "Department of Audio & Visual Arts, 20 Years of Creativity", "RETHINK"), the art exhibition of AVARTS teaching staff “Moments of Encounter”, activities with games (table, digital and augmented reality) of the AVARTS Live Game Hub, Luigi Pirandello's performance "Tonight We Improvise" by the student theater group AVARTS THEATRE, the concerts of live electroacoustic music “Akousmata” with works by students and teachers, as well as numerous installations, digital works, radio art and live performances ("Journey Again", "Outdoors Events Honeycomb", "Body and Sound Improvisation"), and screenings (short films, animation, video art, documentaries), created within the framework of the courses of the Undergraduate and Postgraduate curricula of AVARTS or specially for the festival, experimented with new technologies and the possibilities offered by the audiovisual arts while raising key questions about modern societies.

The festival was accompanied by the 6th DCAC International Conference (Digital Cultures & AudioVisual Challenges, 24-25/05) and the open cycle of AV-School seminars and workshops (28-31/05). DCAC took place this year as a joint event with the 3ai international symposium (Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, 26-27/05) emphasizing the hot topic of the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Art, with keynote speakers the leading theorist of new media and digital Arts Lev Manovich and the Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Digital Technology of the Université de Vincennes - Paris 8, Professor Khaldoun Zreik. Under the title "Impressions", the AV-School focused on cinema, art-based research, video games, performance and radio, having a great impact on the public. Major instructors were the internationally renowned academics and/or artists Mark Bond, Jakob Berglund Rogert, Agata Lulkowska and filmmaker Kleoni Flessa.

Important were also this year's collaborations with the Peloponnese International Documentary Festival and the sound artist and musicologist Matt Rogalsky (Queen's University, USA).

The Coordinating Committee of the 17th Audiovisual Arts Festival would like to express its warmest thanks to the students and academic staff of the Ionian University for their volunteer work, as well as to local public and private institutions and sponsors (https: //avarts.ionio.gr/festival/2024/gr/sponsors/). Their support and generous contribution were decisive for the accomplishment of such a complex and demanding project as the festival.

The coordinating committee of the 17th Audiovisual Arts Festival:

Andreas Giannakoulopoulos, Head of the Department of Audio and Visual Arts
Konstantinos Tiligadis, Deputy Head of the Department of Audio and Visual Arts
Hari Marini, Head of Artistic Events
Michalis Panagopoulos, Head of the Scientific Conference
Dalila Honorato, Head of Educational Events
Apostolos Loufopoulos, Head of Musical Events