After the success of prior editions in 2008 and 2009, where we surveyed current successful projects from very diverse backgrounds and fields of knowledge, and rehearsed strategic approaches, we will dedicate FUTUREPLACES 2010 to long-term thinking

FUTUREPLACES takes place in Porto, Portugal, where the challenges and potential of digital http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/media to transform the social and cultural fabric are very evident. Join us for a week of exhibitions, films, performances, concerts, lectures, parties and workshops – and bring your ideas and your stories!

Digital Media and Local Cultures

The FUTUREPLACES Festival is an international event fostering digital http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/media work currently being produced around the world. We want to explore the impact of new technologies in life, communities, social well-being, cultural development and accessibility. futureplaces asks a fundamental question: how can new technology build local communities, create new identities, new narratives, new forms of public interaction? How can creative projects foster cultural development?

We want to answer this with the help of a generation of creators who are breaking conventions. We are addressing this call to those who are blurring the lines not only between disciplines, but between the real and the virtual and between the commercial, the artistic, and the academic arenas.

Rather than focusing on particular technologies, we want to focus on content. Therefore, the festival encourages submissions of work developed in the most varied http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/media: web, digital video, installation, electronic music, 3D graphics, cell phone art and productions related to locative http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/media, games and hybrid http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/http://www.vitruvius.es/media.

The submitted works will be subject to a selection by an international panel of experts, whose names will be announced shortly at futureplaces.org. The selected submissions will be exhibited during the festival, receiving international exposure and recognition.

Entries selected as finalists may receive up to $2000 USD in travel support, with reimbursement dependent upon receipts. More details regarding the travel awards will be posted on the festival website.

The festival will be preceded by workshops during October 12 and 13, which aim to bring together members of the digital arts communities, including people involved in research and production, to creatively explore the potential of digital and hybrid art. Other activities during the festival will include concerts, residencies, panel discussions, informal talks, radio shows and parties.

Both the workshops and the panels will be facilitated by national and international figures in the field; names will be announced in June. For updates check futureplaces.org.

Eligibility:

The submission of entries is open to all those who work in the Digital Media field. No particular nationality or academic affiliation is required.

Rules:

1) Submissions must be made by uploading a description of the project. This description may be a written statement with accompanying images illustrating the proposal, or a video file.

If a video is submitted, it must include a verbal description, and may also include a demonstration and/or footage of the project. The maximum length of the video is 5 minutes.

If a written statement is submitted, it should not exceed 500 words.

All submissions must be made in either English or Portuguese.

2) Submissions must be sent to futureplacesfestival@gmail.com. If attachments are too heavy for email–larger than 25MB–they can be uploaded at an address of the entrant´s choice. One-click hosts such as drop.io may also be used. We request that content no heavier than 1GB be submitted.

Additionally, a submission form must be filled here. The information provided at the submission form should include the links to additional content (video, images, etc.), when available. Each applicant is responsible for ensuring that the links to his or her content are consistently functional.

3) Entries should refer to work produced between 2008 and 2010.

4) Any works currently in production may be submitted as rough cuts or drafts. However, if selected, authors must provide work in final form by September 25th, 2010. Works that have been selected but whose authors have not sent work in their final form by September 25th will be excluded from the festival.

In the case of installations or performances, “final form” refers to photos, illustrative of the project.

5) Submissions sent after 11:59pm on June 13, Portugal local time, will not be considered.

6) A jury composed by three independent commissioners will select close to 10 final projects that will be exhibited and will compete at the festival.

7) The decision of the judges is final.

8) Material not selected will not be used in any way by futureplaces.

9) The futureplaces festival retains the right to display accepted submissions, as well as photographs, sound recordings, and videos of accepted submissions, both online and offline. These displays will be non-commercial, and may be used to promote the festival and its organization.

10) Any questions or difficulties may be answered at futureplacesfestival@gmail.com