THEME 2013: SPACES IN BETWEEN

3rd-9th November 2013

In the context of the changing landscape of Dundee, this 2013 NEoN festival explored the ‘spaces in between’. As we moved out of the industrial unionised landscape and created collective cultural cities we explored the space and balance between historic fabric, urban planning and ‘progressive’ design.
Audio art in a swimming pool and digital dance projections were just two of the highlights of the NEoN Digital Arts Festival programme for 2013.

Dundee’s Olympia swimming pool was the location for a spectacular audio performance, Wet Sounds by Joel Cahen, with underwater speakers playing sounds recorded by the public earlier in the same week.
Sound travels 4.5 times faster underwater – revealing an unexpectedly clear, immediate experience for those who were brave enough to bring their swimming costume and jump in!

The festival finale, Forever Falling Nowhere, drew on the psychedelic patterns created by the kaleidoscope, which was invented by Sir David Brewster in Scotland in 1816.

Dance company Smallpetitklein and digital animation experts from Abertay University created a unique work, combining dance, animation and projection mapping.

Clare Brennan, NEoN Festival organiser and Abertay University lecturer, said: “NEoN is Scotland’s only Digital Arts Festival and all the team have been working incredibly hard to make this the most exciting, spectacular week of events yet.

“As all of Dundee gets behind the bid to become UK City of Culture 2017, it’s been a delight to bring together experts in animation, audio art, dance and design to create some very special one-off events here in the city.”

The festival also hosted the latest V&A at Dundee Digital Mash event, bringing together Dundee’s different creative communities, influencing the digital plans for the forthcoming museum.

The Digital Mash event, the fourth in the series, welcomed the V&A’s first-ever Game Designer in Residence, Sophia George, and explored digital interpretation in the museum world – online, on-site and off-site.

Other events included a craft workshop and art walk, a workshop exploring Dundee’s history of creativity, a collection of light-controlled synthesizers playing in a smoke-filled corridor, and an evening of experimental films.