Culturehub: Refest 2015
“Explore what can happen when art & technology collide.” – Time Out NY
Three-day festival passes are available above by clickig BuyTicket . These passes will grant you entry into all of the events listed below. Individual event tickets can be found at the links listed below.
Refest is CultureHub’s annual festival of work that intersects new media, performance, and technology. This year’s festival will explore the ways media, interdisciplinary, and internet-based arts create community locally, nationally, and internationally.
Refest 2015 will mark an exciting development for the festival. In the coming year, CultureHub will begin presenting in a new 4000 square foot multiuse venue featuring an exhibition space, convertible theatre, and community room at the Downstairs at La MaMa, located at 66 East 4th Street. We are thrilled to present Refest 2015 in such a large, flexible venue.
EVENT SCHEDULE
KICK-OFF PARTY AND EXHIBITION LAUNCH (FREE)
Friday, December 11: 7pm–8 pm
Join us on Friday night as we kick-off Refest with a launch party for our artist exhibition! Get a first glance of these exciting new works while mingling over refreshments and discussing the idea of “The Network” and how net-based art can connect global communities. Featuring artists exploring web-based and internet art, this exhibition will be on display the entire weekend for you to check out before seeing your show. No ticket or RSVP is required for this event!
BEAST CODE FEATURING BLEVIN BLECTUM
Friday, December 11: 8:30pm–10:30 pm
Journey into a net-based world as artists Cobenobi & Wookie, Dataf1ow and Blevin Blectum transform The Downstairs with audio and visual responsive elements, live coding, and mechanical & electronic music that plunge your senses into a sea of EDM, J-Pop, Gif-Culture psychedelics, and other sensory adventures.
GHOST KOMUNGOBOT
Saturday, December 12: 8 pm (Performance) and 9 pm (Artist Talkback hosted by Harvestworks)
Jin Hi Kim (Composers Now Creative Resident 2015, Guggenheim Fellowship 2010) is presenting her new original work Ghost Komungobot, a collaboration with acclaimed visualist Benton C Bainbridge (Beastie Boys, MOMA, The Whitney Museum), and sound designer Alex Noyes. This interdisciplinary performance synthesizes Kim’s electric komungo with ghost (virtual robotic instrument) and interactive video in an original, new composition.
Ghost Komungobot is co-produced with Harvestworks.
FAMILY ROBOTICS CLASS WITH BK BOTS
Sunday, December 13: 12pm–3 pm
Our annual, hands-on, family-friendly workshop returns to Refest! This workshop provides a fun, tech-building experience for the whole family! This three-hour robotics class, taught by BK Bots, will introduce young creators to the concepts of robotics and programming by pairing up students while instructing them to build their own robot! After programming their bot, students will test their creations in a playful “Bot Battle!”
Recommended for ages 7-14.
PERFORMING SYSTEMS
Sunday, December 13: 7pm–9 pm
Fast Food Collective, the team behind the Improvised Electronics Round Robin, is excited to bring you Performing Systems this year at Refest. This new series investigates contemporary practices in new cinema and realtime video performance through the use of single channel projections and sound. Each work will guide you through an examination of intersections found when artists combine technical systems, performance, score, and improvisation in new ways.
ABOUT CULTUREHUB
The Intersection of Art & Technology
CultureHub is where art and technology intersect. Founded in 2009 by La MaMa and the Seoul Institute of the Arts, CultureHub has held over 300 events and classes involving more than 500 artists from over 30 different countries. CultureHub is a space for artists and audiences to connect, collaborate, and innovate. CultureHub is building a community for the 21st Century, providing an open forum for art making, creative research, and education.
ABOUT REFEST
2015
Refest is CultureHub’s annual festival celebrating work at the intersection of media, performance, and technology by artists from New York City and around the world. The mission of Refest is to make media art accessible by creating a shared space for media and performing artists to collaborate, experiment, and interact with audiences.
Refest is supported in part by The National Endowments for the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York State Council on the Arts, and the Coca-Cola Foundation.
CultureHub
CultureHub pushes the boundaries of artistic collaboration and experimentation as an incubator for creativity focused on the intersection of art and technology. We serve local and global communities by providing an open space for creative research, artistic exchange and learning.