*/ 11th ADAF | 21 – 24 May  2015
8.000 visitors
Diplareios School, 3 Theatre Square, 10552, Athens / Theatre Square / Monastiraki Square / St. Eirini Square -Historic Centre of Athens
*/ Partcipation: 2.000 artists’ submissions / 150 artists / 40 countries

*/

Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) has successfully completed its 11th edition in the early hours on Monday, May 25. Under the theme of Public Space_s, the Festival expanded in various public spots in the city and highlighted the notion of public space, one of the most controversial concepts of our days. By triggering our experience and relationship to public spaces, the festival explored the critical language and aesthetics of the digital medium.

In the course of 4 days, from May 21 to May 24, the festival hosted the works of 150 artists from Greece and abroad in Diplareios School, Monastiraki square and St. Eirini square. The presented artists shared their own narratives with the audience, redefining the notion of public space both in the digital environment and urban space.

The 11^th Athens Digital Arts Festival, through the unique language of new technologies, sound, space, information networks, and communication technologies, created a dynamic public space highlighting several aspects of digital creativity.

In our times, the notion of public space appears to be one of the most contradictory concepts. With the rise of network and communication technologies, our experience of public space has changed. Public space is not only characterized by physical space and architecture but also by networks and knowledge distribution.

While public space is mainly being interpreted through urban planning, digital public space is organized through IP locations, URLs and protocols. Their cartographies, as distinct as they may seem, are both informed by network dynamics that add new layers of interpretation. Squares, parks, streets and the Internet are all potential public spaces that are activated through participation and engagement in order to acquire meaning.

The multiple interconnected spaces within which we act have redefined and affected our perception of everyday life as well as our social and cultural imaginaries. On the other hand, real-time data circulation and information exchange have created new patterns of communication allowing communities to surpass their localities and explore new modes of engagement and collaboration.

However, inhabiting at the same time a plethora of spaces that are potentially public the question that arises is: how open and free are these spaces? Have the visions regarding open access to public space and eventually public data been fulfilled?