Submissions
Submissions to the 2007 Spark Festival must be done through the online submission system. Please follow the instructions carefully.
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Spark Festival of Electronic
Music and Arts 2008
Doug Geers & Ali Momeni, Artistic DirectorsJ. Anthony Allen, Programming Director
Zachary Crockett & Christopher Baker, Assistant Directors
CALL FOR WORKS
University of Minnesota West Bank Arts Quarter Announces
2008 Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art
West Bank Arts Quarter, University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus
Minneapolis, MN February 26 - March 2
CALL FOR ARTISTS, COMPOSERS, and PRESENTERS
Submission Deadline: 11:59pm PST, October 26, 2007 (postmarked)
The University of Minnesota West Bank Arts Quarter is proud to present the 2008 Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art, February 26-March 2. The festival will be held on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota (USA) and neighboring Minneapolis performing arts venues, and will feature guest artists Iancu Dumitrescu, Anna-Maria Avram, Richard Devine, Paul Demarinis, and others to be announced. Starting this year, Spark is cosponsored by the University of Minnesota’s new Interdisciplinary Program in Collaborative Arts (IPCA), a new initiative that encourages and invites cross-genre works in the University arts community.
Now in its sixth year, the Spark Festival showcases the newest groundbreaking works of digital music and art. Last year's festival included innovative works by over one hundred international composers and artists, including featured guest artists Morton Subotnick, Paul Birken, and Zeitgeist. Leading scholars and technology specialists also presented papers relating to new technology and creativity. Audiences for the concerts, installations, and lectures last year totaled approximately 4,000 people and garnered multiple mentions in local and national media.
Spark invites submissions of art, dance, theater, and music works incorporating new media, including electroacoustic concert music, experimental electronica, theatrical and dance works, installations, kinetic sculpture, artbots, video, and other non-traditional genres.
Spark also invites submission of scholarly papers on Collaborative Arts, Interactivity, Cognition, Compositional and Artistic Process, Social and Ethical Issues in the Arts, Art, Music, Video, Film, Animation, Theater, Dance, Innovative Use of Technology in Education, Scientific Visualization, Virtual Reality , intermedia composition, performance, human-computer interaction, software/hardware development, aesthetics, and history and all topics related to the creation of new media art and music. For Spark 2008, we are particularly interested in papers discussing collaborative and interdisciplinary work; but submissions outside this topic are also welcome. All accepted papers will be published as part of the Spark proceedings. Please see http://www.spark.cla.umn.edu/media.html for PDF copies of the Spark 2006 and 2007 proceedings and program.
DANCE/THEATER SUBMISSIONS
Dance/Theater works will be accepted in two categories:
1. Staged works: A number of theatrical and dance works incorporating new technologies will be programmed at Spark 2008, with a special interest in shorter works (up to fifteen minutes) that can be integrated into programs with music and video works. In addition, although not confirmed as of this writing, we hope to produce at least one performance in a dance theater with video projection and an Internet 2 connection. Please include performance venue and technical requirements with submissions.
2. Guerilla-style works: Spark is very interested in alternative performances that take place outside traditional venues, especially work that could engage passers-by on the University of Minnesota campus or outside other performance venues. Among the many possibilities, we are particularly interested in live-video works to be projected onto buildings in the West Bank Arts Quarter.
VISUAL ART WORKS
Submissions will be accepted in two categories:
1. Installations and gallery works: A number of installation and gallery exhibitions will be mounted in various spaces on the UMN campus, including the Weisman Art Museum, and possibly at other performance venues. Please include technical and space requirements with submission. Installations may be physical objects, video and/or sound projections, or combinations thereof. Artists will likely be required to provide at least some, and possibly all, of the necessary technology to mount installations.
2. Video: Experimental video works will be screened at multiple Spark events. Videos featuring digital music compositions (two-channel or Dolby 5.1) are welcome, but this is not required. Although there is no strict limit of duration, pieces of twelve minutes or less are encouraged. Please submit on DVD (NTSC) or DVD data disk in mpg, mov, or avi file format. Also note that Spark is particularly interested in live-video works to be projected onto buildings in the West Bank Arts Quarter.
MUSIC SUBMISSIONS
Music submissions will be accepted in five categories:
1. Concert works: Interactive works for acoustic instruments and electroacoustics (performance forces are available, TBA) and electroacoustic works with and without performers. Performance venues will accommodate 2-8 channel works and works with video. Although there is no strict limit of duration, pieces of fifteen minutes or less are strongly encouraged. Note that this year the Cantiamo String Quartet will be in residence, and works for string quartet with electronics are encouraged.
2. "Spark Nitelife": Experimental electronic performances in a "club-style" venue. Performers of various styles will be considered, including those influenced by IDM, hip-hop, glitch, jazz, etc. Selected performers will be given sets of 15-30 minutes. Performance venue will accommodate stereo sound and video. (Note that this venue is literally a pub—If your work requires a quiet atmosphere, please submit under the concert works category.)
3. Installations: [See "Art Works" above]
4. Music with video [See "Art Works" above]
5. Special Submission Category: Found Sounds: Audio Appropriation. For artists who appropriate devices and sounds in a way different from the intended use of the sound or device. This includes sound collage, found sounds, video games, curcuit bending, D.I.Y. electronics, etc.
PAPERS
Technical papers, lecture/demonstration, and workshop submissions that deal with topics relating to creating arts and music with new technology are encouraged, including Collaborative Arts, Interactivity, Aesthetics, History, Cognition, Compositional and Artistic Process, Innovative Use of Technology in Education, Social and Ethical Issues in the Arts, Art, Music, Video, Film, Animation, Theater, Dance, Scientific Visualization, Virtual Reality, Intermedia Composition, Performance, Human-Computer interaction, Software/Hardware Development. For Spark 2008, we are particularly interested in papers discussing collaborative and interdisciplinary work; but submissions outside this topic are also welcome. Paper presentations will consist of a twenty-minute presentation and five minutes of Q/A, and all accepted authors must attend to present their papers.
Submissions should consist of a two-page abstract with bibliography. Camera-ready papers will be due on December 10, 2007.
Individuals may submit a maximum of one paper and one lecture/demonstration, and these will be submitted online. More information about the paper submission process will be available soon on the Spark 2008 website when the online submission procedure has been activated. All accepted papers will be published as part of the Spark proceedings.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Applicants are invited to submit one work per category in up to three categories for consideration. All applicants must complete an online submission form on the Spark Festival website and include their submission number(s) with any physical media sent via postal mail. However applicants are encouraged to post submission materials to their own websites or other online media resources (e.g. YouTube, FreeSound…) and submit a URL with the online form, rather than sending via post (Spark does not accept submissions as email attachments). This will greatly help the Spark juries view submissions and make decisions in the most timely fashion. The submissions website is at http://spark.cla.umn.edu/submissions.html and is now open for applications.
Regarding music and other performance works: Performing resources will be drawn from the University of Minnesota and Twin Cities area musicians. However, availability of musicians will be taken into consideration when selecting works, and therefore applicants are encouraged to bring their own performers when possible. More information about available performers will be posted on http://www.sparkfestival.org when known.
Composers and artists whose works are selected for inclusion are strongly encouraged to attend the festival. Scholars whose papers or demonstrations are accepted will be required to attend Spark to deliver their presentation.
Spark is also looking for works that fit into the “Twin Cities Showcase Concerts” that happen as the introduction to the festival. To be considered for these events, please indicate in the comments section of the online application that you are a Twin Cities artist interested in this category.
Please note that Spark requires documentation of work in order for it to be selected. Spark does not program works from proposals or descriptions of works in-progress. Also note that, regretfully, Spark does not have financial resources to fund selected artists.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Selected works will be announced by November 30, and travel and accommodations information will be posted on http://www.sparkfestival.org by the same date. If an artist requires notification information sooner (for funding applications, for instance), s/he should email sparkfst@umn.edu to inquire about possible early notification.
Submission deadline is 11:59pm (PST), October 26 2007 (postmarked)
All submissions for Spark 2008 must be initiated via the online submissions procedure on the Spark 2008 website at http://www.sparkfestival.org. More details about Spark 2008 will posted there soon. Questions can be directed to the Spark hosts at sparkfst@umn.edu.
If mailing submissions by postal mail, please use the following address:
University of Minnesota, School of Music
100 Ferguson Hall
2106 Fourth Street South
Minneapolis, MN. 55455
Note: You must complete the online registration form prior to mailing works. All works need to have their unique submission code on the outside of the pachage.
We apologize for the short submission timeline. We were unsure until recently whether resources were available to mount the festival in 2008.