Spark Festival of Electronic
Music and Arts 2009
February 17 - 22, 2009
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN.

Doug Geers & Ali Momeni, Artistic Directors
J. Anthony Allen, Producer
James P Hunglemann, Nightlife Curator

CALL FOR WORKS
University of Minnesota West Bank Arts Quarter
In partnership with the American Composers Forum
Announces

2009 Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts
West Bank Arts Quarter, University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus

Minneapolis, MN
February 17 -- February 22

Enter the Online Submission System

CALL FOR ARTISTS, COMPOSERS, and PRESENTERS

Submission Deadline: 11:59pm PST, October 31, 2008 (postmarked)

The University of Minnesota West Bank Arts Quarter and Collaborative Arts Program (COLA) are proud to present the 2009 Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts, February 17-22. The festival will be held on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota (USA) and neighboring Minneapolis performing arts venues, and will feature numerous guest artists to be announced.

Now in its seventh year, the Spark Festival showcases the groundbreaking works of music, art, theater, and dance that feature use of new technologies. Last year's festival included innovative works by over one hundred international composers and artists, including featured guest artists Paul Demarinis, Graffiti Research Lab, Iancu Dumitrescu, and Richard Devine. Leading scholars and technology specialists also presented lectures and panels relating to new technology and creativity. Audiences for the concerts, installations, and lectures last year totaled approximately 4,000 people and garnered multiple articles and reviews in local and national media.

Spark invites submissions of art, dance, theater, and music works incorporating new media, including electroacoustic concert music, experimental electronica, theatrical and dance works, installations, kinetic sculpture, artbots, video, and other non-traditional genres. Although Spark does not force submissions to adhere to a annual theme, we are especially interested this year to feature wearable and mobile technologies, and events will include the first Spark Fashion Show.

Spark also invites submission of scholarly lectures and panel proposals on topics of Collaborative Arts, Interactivity, Cognition, Compositional and Artistic Process, Social and Ethical Issues in the Arts, Art, Music, Video, Film, Animation, Theater, Dance, Innovative Use of Technology in Education, Scientific Visualization, Virtual Reality, intermedia composition, performance, human-computer interaction, software/hardware development, aesthetics, and history and all topics related to the creation of new media art and music. For Spark 2009, we are particularly interested in lectures about wearable and mobile technologies, but submissions on any of the above topics are welcome. All accepted papers will be published as part of the Spark proceedings. Please see http://www.spark.cla.umn.edu/media.html for PDF copies of the Spark 2006, 2007, and 2008 proceedings and program.