With focus on the artistic forms of video, the Cultural Tourism Directorate of the Municipality of Thessaloniki – Municipal Gallery Department organizes for the second year the International Festival “Video Art Projects” in collaboration with the New Media Laboratory of the Department of Visual and Applied Arts of the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The theme of this year’s event is “Place”. The place, both physical and spiritual, has been of concern to artists throughout time. The place that determines attitudes, develops abilities, creates relationships.

The 2nd Video Art Projects will take place at the premises of the Municipal Gallery (182 V. Olga & Th. Sofouli) from 26 to 28 May 2023 from 12:00 to 20:00.

This year’s event will be attended by renowned artists and academics from Greece and 26 foreign countries and will present works awarded in major events and festivals around the world. Among them are historical figures such as Kirk Tougas, iconic figure of experimental film and video in Canada and founder of the Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver, the Australian neuroscientist, academic, poet and new media artist Ian Gibbins, internationally recognized for both his scientific and multifaceted artistic work, the award-winning Japanese artist and professor Hiroya Sakurai, while a renowned figure in contemporary dance, Wim Vandekeybus, is involved as producer in a Belgian videodance project directed by Pieter Desmet.

The programme of the 2nd Video Art Projects includes:

Presentation of foreign artists through the panorama entitled Around the world, which is a visual tour around the world with works from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, India, Iran, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Morocco/France, Korea/Germany, Italy, Tunisia, China, Morocco/Germany, Italy, Tunisia and Congo. Contrast 2 features German artist Wolfrgang Oelze.

Presenting contemporary Greek artists such as Yannis Pappas (who lives in Berlin and is among the five artists worldwide chosen by Marina Abramovic to be featured in WePresent), Antonis Volanakis, the multi-award-winning Fenia Kotsopoulou, Katerina Katsifaraki, Fani Sofologi and many others, including several academics.

Special tributes

Future memories – digital world: artificial intelligence and the digital future. Participating artists from Norway, Belgium, Austria, Canada, Belgium, Austria and Greece, with works that have been exhibited or awarded in major events such as Ars Electronica (Austria) or the newly established Biennale of Artificial Intelligence in Latin America (BILIA) in Mexico.

Presentation by Mario Gutiérrez Cru, artistic director of the Madrid-based Spanish digital arts festival PROYECTOR, of a special pre-selection from the upcoming edition of the festival, scheduled for September 2023 in Madrid. 11 artists from: Taiwan, France, France, Portugal, Spain, Spain, Greece and Argentina.

Video Art Meden from Kalamata, with the participation of schools of Fine Arts and Audiovisual Arts from Greece.

Student Tribute: This year’s event focuses on young artists and especially on student creation, presenting works by more than 170 students and student groups, giving a platform to the new generation of artists, highlighting the work of Fine Arts and Audiovisual Arts schools in Greece.

Presentations and workshops by Greek and foreign creators and theorists

Mario Gutiérrez Cru – Artistic director, PROYECTOR Plataforma de Videoarte

Wolfgang Oelze – Video artist

Dr. Grigorios Vlassas – Professor at the University of West Attica, Director of the postgraduate program “Video Production, Audiovisual Media & Motion Graphics”

Antonis Volanakis – Visual Artist, Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Cyprus University of Technology

Vassilios Papaioannou – Video artist, Assistant Professor at the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Howard University, Washington DC

Manthos Santorinaios – Artist, New Media Researcher, Professor at ASFA (2000 – 2021), Director of FournosLab, Professor Emeritus, ASFA

Dr. Manos Stefanidis – Art Historian, Professor Emeritus, H.C.P.A.

George Katsaggelos, Director of the New Media Visual Arts Laboratory, ASFA, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Municipal Art Gallery of Thessaloniki

Yurios Nikolaos, Art Gallery of Thessaloniki, 182 Vass. Olga & Them. Sofouli, Thessaloniki

Friday 26, Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 May 2023

12:00 -20:00 (the sections of each day will play in continuous repetition).

Free entrance