Arts take international stage in red centre as hundreds arrive in Alice Springs

A total of 950 delegates will meet in the desert town of Alice Springs this week for Regional Arts Australia’s sixth biennial conference – art at the heart – which gets underway at sunset this Thursday evening (2 October).

“This conference has generated enormous excitement with 950 people meeting in Alice Springs this week for three days of art, talk and festival - it’s our largest conference ever,” says the President of Regional Arts Australia, Suzie Haslehurst.

““Alice Springs’ artistic and cultural traditions are recognised the world over so it’s a natural place for artists and arts workers to gather, discuss, perform and celebrate.”

I am pleased to announce that in addition to the existing program, Regional Arts Australia has established a partnership with Urban Screens, which is holding its international large screen and multimedia conference at Federation Square in Melbourne from 3 to 8 October.

“As part of its own conference program, Urban Screens will broadcast highlights from art at the heart to giant screens in up to 50 countries – it is also bringing a big LED screen to Alice Springs Town Council lawns so that locals can relax and enjoy the best of the short films screened at recent Melbourne film festivals, a series of experimental films, documentaries and some great classics,” Ms Haslehurst says.

art at the heart begins on Thursday afternoon with guest speakers including Federal Arts Minister, the Hon Peter Garrett MPand NT Arts Minister Marion Scrymgour, after which the 900 delegates will gather for a sunset ceremony at the Todd River.

Details of the art at the heart program and public events visit www.artattheheart.com.au

Media enquiries: Vivienne Skinner 0411 206 224 and Anja Bretfeld 0401 843 216

The Australian Government supports Regional Arts Australia’s national conferences through the Regional Arts Fund. The Australia Council for the Arts supports the artistic program for the conference. The Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs is supporting Indigenous participation in the conference. The Northern Territory Government is hosting the conference through Arts NT in collaboration with the Alice Springs Town Council.

The Urban Screens Melbourne (USM) 08 Film Program for art at the heart

Thursday 2 October 2008

Friday 3 October 2008

Saturday 04 October 2008

Morning Screening

Looking for a calming start to your day? Our morning screening program with idyllic and opulent images of both real and virtual landscapes may inspire the passer-by to pause, slow down and prolong their entry into the hectic day ahead. Includes: ‘Morning Paradise’, ‘Paradiese Panorama’ - Katrin Schoof (Germany)

Feature Film

‘Bedevil’ (1993) Tracey Moffat (Aus) was the first feature directed by an Australian Aboriginal woman, challenging racial stereotypes in Australian society. The narrative consists of three ‘ghost stories’ which belong to Aboriginal and Anglo/Celtic relatives. These stories are told via a playful bending and blending of generic conventions, providing a meta-narrative of how Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians understand and live with each other.

Documentaries and Digital Story Reports

A diverse range of documentaries and short digital stories selected for their relevance and insights into the exhibition themes: urban screens, community building, multiculturalism and the environment, with a special focus on issues surrounding the topic of water. Includes: ‘Earth’ (2007) BBC Natural History Unit (UK/Germany); ‘River of Dreams’ (1999) John Hughes (Aus); ‘Electric Signs’ (2008) Alice Arnold (USA); ‘Don't Talk about the Drought’ (2007) Stephen Routledge (Aus); ‘Visual Foreign Correspondent’ (2007-08) Nanette Hoogslag (NL); Darfur Darfur (2007) Leslie Thomas, curator (USA).

Shorts Program

‘Water’: These short films explore not only our fascination with underwater worlds but also play with the symbolism and beauty of liquid itself. Artistic exporations of the rising sea level and new interpretation of religious water rituals show the range of interpretations of ‘Water’.

‘Community Today’: Is there ‘community’ in terms of human settlement etymology and geographical relationships turning into metaphors of virtual meta-cities of a new mediatic ‘civilization’? We are still very much bound to our local space and its inhabitants. Common fears, desires, rituals or pleasures determine our integration in the local community, our living condition and distinguish but also connect us in a globalised world.

‘Our Environment’: A selection of short films imagining the seaside within the context of radical climate change: a climatic apocalyptic dreamscape and the sea as a persistent residue of man-made and natural failures resulting in a catastrophe that refuses to die…. And how does a community cope with living on the fastest eroding coastline in Europe?

‘Screens on Screens’: Six different artistic interpretations of a world increasingly influenced and shaped by digital moving images. The city with its nighttime architecture is becoming a screen of light pixels itself. Are the bright LED Screens the symbol of a modern vivid city live or as sign for a threatening gentrification process?

‘Silent shorts’: selection of films that are not necessarily based on being accompanied by sound. Urban Screens in outdoor spaces often have no audio available due to strict restrictions considering urban sound pollution. It is a challenge to create inspiring footage that can be appreciated purely visually.

Next Wave Festival: ‘Our World Writ Large’ – a kaleidoscopic array of observations and ideas about our world today, this curated program from the Next Wave Festival presents a heady mix of narrative styles and artistic tendencies.

Portable Film Festival: a selection of content from the Portable Film Festival, which delivers its content online and through portable video devices such as iPods, mobile phones and laptops – representing the growing democratisation of filmmaking and viewing processes around the world.

Experimenta: Experimenta is respected as Australia’s leading organisation dedicated to commissioning, exhibiting and promoting the most advanced media and technology-based art. For USM08, Experimenta has curated a program of video artworks that emerge from the dynamic subcultures of our urban environment. The works are simultaneously public performances and private moments of personal expression. The program explores the creative potential and impact of curating content specifically for outdoor spaces such as the Big Screen at Federation Square.

Digital Fringe: Part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival (24 September - 12 October 2008), the Digital Fringe provides access to public screens and novel environments for artists working in new media to exhibit their work. The Digital Fringe is providing a curated selection of short film projects.

Electundra: Melbourne’s ‘Loop’ bar/venue, which co-ordinates and delivers the annual Electundra Film Festival is providing USM08 with a program of selected content from past Electundra festivals.

Dark Nights

‘Dark Nights’ is a collection of short films brought together in acknowledgement of the risk that LED screens may create light and noise pollution in public spaces. Aimed at reducing light emission and preventing the flickering of light that is disturbing to many, the films are primarily dark tones and soft transitioning images, and are screened silently.