Video Art, Experimental Films and Music from the extreme remoteness of Papa Westray

Papay Gyro Nights Art Festival 2014: Hong Kong, one of the city’s most monumental events of media and contemporary art, is making its third annual return next month. Originated in a remote Scottish island named Papa Westray, Papay Gyro Nights is an annual celebration that reflects on the folktale, heritage, ritual and ancient tradition, interpreted by new media art. Riding along this theme, this year’s Hong Kong edition will comprise a diverse range of activities, including curators talks, video art exhibitions, experimental film screenings, and live performances delivered by more than 10 internationally renowned artists.

The Hong Kong edition of the festival is co-organized by Videotage and  Papay Gyro Nights Art Festival (Orkney), in collaboration with NOVA (Northern Video Art Network), 700IS (Iceland), SKOGUL GONDUL (Norway) and FixC (Finland).

Featured Artist

Ryo Ikeshiro
is a UK-based Japanese artist. He recently completed his PhD in the Department of Music and the Department of Computing in Goldsmiths, University of London. His output ranges from live audiovisual performances and interactive installations to generative works and scored compositions, and have been published by Sedition. He is featured in the Electronic Music volume of the Cambridge Introductions to Music series. He has presented his works internationally at media art and music festivals, as well as at academic conferences. He was originally trained as a classical musician, but then branched out into electronic music and other genres. The meeting of these two worlds informs his practice.

Juha van Ingen
is a Helsinki-based visual artist and cultural operator. Van Ingen utilizes various mediums in his works ranging from objects and spaces to moving image and sound and they have been  exhibited/screened  in various venues since 1989  including Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki,  Casino Luxembourg – Forum D’art Contemporain, Luxemburg, Bonn Videonale, Arnolfini Centre For The Contemporary Arts , Bristol, Galician Center of Contemporary Arts CGAC, Santiago de Compostela, Stuttgartter Filmwinter and City of Paris Museum of Modern Art. His curatorial practice includes among others HEART, Helsinki environmental art project  in European Capitals of Culture 2000.  Van Ingen is a founding member of FixC artists cooperative (founded in 2007) and the initiator of NOVA Northern Video Art Network.

Featured Programmes

04 April (FRI) – Grand Opening @Cattle Depot Artist Village

2-3pm @Frog King Studio: Frog King Book Launch
3-6pm @Videotage: Screening + Curator’s talk
– Selection of Video Art from NOVA (Northern Video Art Network), Papay Gyro Nights (Orkney), 700IS (Iceland) and SKOGUL GONDUL (Norway).
– Speakers: Ivanov, Chan and Juha van Ingen
7-11pm @Videotage: Screening + Performance
– Selection of Video Art from FixC (Finland)
– Performance: Inter_Active
An interactive lo-tech computer-aided installation inspired by snakes and ladders in an ancient board game in India.
– Performance: Open Karaoke
Participants freely interpret (by talking, singing or playing a musical instrument) a projected video with a rhythmic soundtrack.

06 April (SUN) – Talk: Bonfire Architecture
6pm @M1052, 1/F, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (how to get there?)
Curators Ivanov and Chan will talk about burning constructions and architectural activism.

10 April (THU) – Party: Papa Westray – Cheung Chau
8pm – 1am @Secret Location in Cheung Chau
Curator’s Talk + Screening + Performance

11 April (FRI) – Live Performance: Construction in Kneading by Ryo Ikeshiro
8pm @Videotage
An absolute highlight of this year’s festival! In Ryo’s experimental “live audiovisualizaion”, the audio and visuals are generated from the same data and process and are thus perceived as a combined audiovisual entity.

12 April (SAT) – Screening: Incoherent Cinema
8pm @Secret Location in Sham Shui Po
Film installations, films and film projects based on the International Incoherence Manifest.

13 April (SUN) – Workshop by Ryo Ikeshiro
1 – 2:30pm @Videotage
Ryo will introduce Max/MSP/Jitter, a patch-based programming environment for artists.

15 April (TUE) – Lecture by Ryo Ikeshiro
5 – 6:30pm @M6094 Future Cinema, 6/F, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (how to get there?)
Ryo will be talking about Live Audiovisualisation using Emergent Generative Systems.

18 April (FRI) – Closing Screening: Elasticita by Katrín Ólafsdóttir 7 – 9pm @Videotage
A collection of erotic poems built from archival Super8 materials. Elasticita creates a world of tactile sensations perceptible by sight.

5 – 18 April: Selection of Nordic Video Art & Experimental Films @Videotage
12noon – 7pm

– Anders Weberg: AMBIENCE
– Rammatik: AMOHR + MARRAN + KARMOK
– Sigurður Guðjónsson: DISTANCE
– Kari Yli Annala: A FORM OF COMMUNICATION

5 – 16 April: Selection of Nordic Video Art & Experimental Films @6/F Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre
10am – 10pm

– NOVA / PAPAY GYRO NIGHTS / FIXC / 700IS: Dodda Maggy: DE-CORE / SKOGUL GONDUL