Independent Arts Festival Looking for Small Press
Posted: Wednesday, August 4, 2004
By: Darren Schroeder
Established in 1988, the aim of the Festival is both to present an overview of independent creativity world wide, performed by communication networks, and to create a meeting place for exchanging the acquired experiences. The Festival mainly focuses on artistic activities performed in scenes such as home-tape, Mail-Art, street art, small press, . On top of that, video, performance and fine art artists do get the possibility to exhibit and perform their creativity. As such, the "Independent Arts"-Festival claims to be unique in its kind, and welcomed between 200 till 250 visitors on its last issue.
The next "Independent Arts"-Festival, issue 17, is planned for Saturday 16 April 2005, and will be held in a cultural centre of the city Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. New for this event will be a large promotion of the Festival and the participating artists in cultural institutions, museums and galleries within Belgium.
The Festival also tries to highlight the comic and zine scene and its artists. In a cosy reading corner visitors will be able to read comics and zines, comic artists and zine publishers will get the chance to come and show or sell their products.
Comic artists and zine publishers are kindly invited to contribute their publications to a reading corner open to visitors. Your comic book and zine contribution is most welcome according to their publicity, and in return they will send you a free catalogue of the Festival with information about the publications. In free booklets available to all visitors on the Festival, as well as on their website, all comics will be mentioned with relevant contact information.
If you are interested in contributing to this Festival, contact the organisers at art@sztuka-fabryka.be
They promise that any question or remark concerning the Festival will be answered with pleasure, or you may visit their website:
http://www.sztuka-fabryka.be/ for more information.
Participants to the Festival will be announced later this month.
Sztuka Fabryka - c/o De Decker Geert - Kerkstraat 290 - 9140 Tielrode - Belgium
Tel & Fax: 03 - 770 84 64 - e-mail: art@sztuka-fabryka.be
MORE INFORMATION:
* . - . * The Festival is about:
-o- Street Art: Stencil graffiti, stickering, postering, ... or any form of personal creativity related to street art.
-o- Fine art: Guest exhibitions from local young artists whom did not have, as yet, the possibility to exhibit their artwork.
-o- Mail-Art: Mail-Art or correspondence art has been part of international arts scene since the 50's by means of aesthetic items as rubberstamps, artistamps, artist trading cards, fluxus bucks, decorated postcards, ...
-o- Small press: A view on the scene of independent publications and small press, comic books or artists books. For many years, zines, or self-edited and self-published magazines, have become an essential communication form in several sub-cultures.
-o- Performance: Performance art is, with its mix of fine art and theatre, an almost unknown form of creativity. Spoken word, literature or poetry reading can undeniably be part of the Festival.
-o- Video: The world of moving images has broadened substantially as video, animation, independent film and documentary have been here for ages, with the internet and web-video becoming its most recent additions.
-o- Home-tape: In the homegrown-tape scene, musicians have been recording their synth stuff on cassette tape from the early 80's onwards, and mailing them directly to anyone interested. Since then slowly moving towards CD-recording and creation of new independent labels.
* . - . * CATALOGUE: All contributing artists to the Festival will get a catalogue / documentation in return. The catalogue is not available to others and will be produced as an artists' book.
* . - . * WEBSITE: A regular update of the Festival programme with full information on the participating artists can be consulted at the website: http://www.sztuka-fabryka.be/
Information about hotel accommodation and the location of the Festival can be found at the website also.
* . - . * WEEKEND PROGRAMME: A selection of trips and activities, both in and outside of the Festival, is being offered to foreign visitors and artists. Starting Friday afternoon and finishing Sunday evening. Participating all trips and activities is not obligatory, please check webpage regularly for latest information.
* . - . * ARCHIVE: We would be glad if contributions to the Festival can enrich the Sztuka Fabryka Archive. It would thus become permanent archive of art, started in 1986 covering activities in the international independent art networks. If not possible please inform us in advance.
* . - . * The "Independent Arts"-Festival is a non-profit event, organised by Sztuka Fabryka and friends on a voluntary base. Unfortunately this implies that we can not be made responsible for any personal or material damage caused during the Festival. Participating to the Festival gives the organisers the right to exhibit and show any contribution free of copyright, during the Festival and for promotion material (website, catalogue, press
map, .). No contribution will be used for any kind of activity with commercial profit in mind. The Festival's goal is the promotion of independent arts and contributing artists, not personal profit.
* . - . * ORGANISERS: The 17th "Independent Arts"-Festival is curated by Sztuka Fabryka in co-operation with the Cultural Centre of the city Sint-Niklaas, the Academy of Fine Arts and O.J.C. Kompas.
* . - . * Please pass on this Festival invitation to your contacts who might be interested in participation to this event.
* . - . * LOCATION: "De Vierkante zaal" - Van Britsomstraat - Sint-Niklaas - Belgium
"De Vierkante zaal" is the exhibition hall of the local Academy of Fine Arts (Stedelijke academie voor schone kunsten), situated in a building complex which also comprises the City Theatre (Stadsschouwburg).
* . - . * BELGIUM The Heart of Europe: Do you plan to visit Europe? Why not in combination with the Festival and discover Belgium. Learn more about Belgium at: http://www.visitbelgium.com/ Sint-Niklaas is located almost in the middle of the Flemish part of Belgium and offers the possibility to visit many cultural cities: the train trip to Antwerp and Ghent takes 30 minutes, to Brussels and Bruges one hour, ... Easy access to other European cities as London, Paris, Amsterdam, .
Sztuka Fabryka - c/o De Decker Geert - Kerkstraat 290 - 9140 Tielrode - Belgium
Tel & Fax: 03 - 770 84 64 - e-mail: art@sztuka-fabryka.be
Address of Residence only available in case of visit
If you have a comment or question about Small Press then feel free to contact me