About

MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES is is a biannual Festival of Creative Technology that takes place in Cardiff. Developed between Bloc (Creative Technology Wales) and Chapter.

The Festival was launched in 2005 and saw a three-day programme of events being held across the capital including a two-day conference, new commissions, residencies, screenings, and artists’ projects in public sites across the city.

The inaugural Festival explored the ways in which artists are increasingly engaged with or inspired by digital technology - utliising consumer and communication technologies such as the worldwide web, mobile networks, file sharing, and computer gaming. Because digital technology is a participatory medium with global reach, artists tend to explore digital technology in the context of public and shared spheres. Often digital art is situated somewhere between public art and street culture where the technology itself is used as a ‘site’ for the production and presentation of art works. Although digital technology is often claimed to go beyond physical limitations, engagement with technology is always embedded in real spaces, whether this is explored from a user or network perspective.

Artists included: Blast Theory, Anri Sala, Grennan & Sperandio, TJ Wilcox, Jen Southern & Jen Hamilton, Scanner, Sarah Morris, Michelle Teran, Eddo Stern, Stefhan Caddick, Nina Pope & Karen Guthrie, Tim Davies, Rosalind Nashashibi, Tennantspin, Andy Fung, Paddy Jolley, Mircea Cantor, STAR Radio, Valérie Jouve, Chris Evans, Mike Mills, Artstation, and many more.

A two day conference was live-streamed and looked at locative media and emplacement (day 1), and gaming (day 2) and speakers included Professor Michael Corris, Head of Art & Photography, University of Newport; Claire Doherty, Director, Situations; Nina Pope, artist; Heath Bunting, artist; Giles Lane, Proboscis; Martin Flintham, Professor in Collaborative Computing, University of Nottingham; Dr Sarah Green, Social Anthropologist, University of Manchester; Jen Southern & Jen Hamilton, residency artists.

Day 2 saw contributions from Ju Row Farr, participating artist, Blast Theory; Stuart Nolan, researcher; Christopher Sperandio, residency artist; Eddo Stern, artist; David Surman, Lecturer in Computer Games Design, University of Newport; Emma Westecott, Games Producer & Director.

The next Festival will take place in October 2007. Please check this website for further details, or register your email address on our home page to make sure that you receive up-to-date information on future events and activity.