What does it mean to be human in the age of technology? And does digital technology adapt to our real aspirations and needs or is it the other way around? These are questions that this edition of ArtFutura will try to address. ArtFutura is a festival of Digital Culture and Creativity, that since 1990 has been exploring the most interesting projects and ideas that have come up on the international panorama of New Media, Virtual Reality, Interactive Design and Digital Animation. And this month its 29th  edition kicks off in more than 20 cities, with special activities in cities like Alicante, Buenos Aires, London, Madrid, México, Montevideo and Shanghai.

With the technological revolution, the Internet and social networks, we have fostered the intimate possibilities of the self, but we have also developed technologies such as Virtual Reality or Mixed Reality that may allow us to create extended, more perfect, compassionate and empathetic communication networks between people. And to understand this new symbiosis between humanity and technology, art is a crucial element. The network of artists and researchers Collaboration for Humane Technologies affirms that ‘at the heart of our creative action is the conviction that to generate viable futures we must critically rethink technological progress in favour of a posthumanism that is neither anti-human nor exclusively to sustain the human life, as we know it today’. And the team of ArtFutura are bringing us a whole festival revolving around Humanized Technology. According to Alejandro Sacristan: Humanized Technology is the technology that responds and adapts to how humans learn, think and create, and what humans need to thrive in a digital society. With the technological revolution of the Internet and social networks, we have fostered the intimate possibilities of self and individualism, but we have also developed technologies such as Virtual Reality or Mixed Reality that will allow us to create extended, more perfect, compassionate and empathic communication networks among people.

For the London kick off event (22-24 Novembre) there’ll be the usual premiere on the opening night of the festival that includes selections of the best and most impressive works of the program in the different categories: 3D Futura Show, Futura Graphics, Artworks, Behind the Scenes and Schools. AV and virtual reality shows and also talks and workshops. Artist and speakers include  Paul Friedlander, Estela Oliva, Claude Heiland-Allen, Christian Duka & Marco Maldarella, Mowgli and the Slate Pipe Banjo Draggers, TeamLab and h0nh1m.

More info and London programme

Text by CLOT Magazine (Twitter @clotmagazine)