After experiencing great success in 2011, bi-annual digital art and culture event, Frequency Festival, made an inspiring return to the buildings, highways and byways of Lincoln in again this year.
The Festival, which ran from the eighteenth until the twenty-sixth of October, featured pieces of artwork designed to thrill, inspire, enlighten and unnerve. The theme was “Revolution”, and there was a grand total of forty-four exhibits, each, exploring the artistic nuances of the digital uprising.
¼ Mulch, by artistic trio James Hubble, Ross Oliver and Joana Cifre, was an installation which utilized microphones, compost, desk-cabinets stacked into pillars, magnetic tape and a rig of up to 100 salvaged speakers. The outcome was a strange aural and visual experience in a space where you felt everything was somehow alive.
We have a lot of back and forward low end going on from today’s experiments. A bit like resting in the nostril of a dragon. @frequency_fest
— 1/4 MULCH (@QuarterInMulch) October 24, 2013
Eerie!
Another fascinating interpretation of the revolution theme was the work of artistic duo Trope, with their audio-visual piece Conversio (Latin for “conversion” or “change”). They combined synchronised sounds with screen-less animation in the depths of Posterngate, to create a strange, otherworldly piece of digital art.
Conversio by TROPE from Diasynchronoscope on Vimeo.
Exploring this year’s festival, it became apparent that the theme of Revolution could be interpreted in so many different ways via a wide variety of different technologies. Frequency Festival 2013 had a vibrancy and diversity that helps it pertain to its purpose.
The good people behind the festival have always had a clear view of what they wanted to achieve, it seems. We spoke to organiser Barry Hale, of Threshold Studios, who said:“If you want to encourage people to engage with art, that they don’t normally engage [with], make it as easy as possible for them [to do so].”
Frequency Festival is certainly unique among digital arts festivals, as it doesn’t target the learned aficionado of digital artistry as so many others do. “Let’s open it up to as many people as possible”, Barry said.
This year the festival has drawn in artists from as far away as Cuba, as well as artists from across Europe. Barry told AltLinc that artists have been pushed in new directions by their experiences here in Lincoln and that the spaces here in Lincoln have changed the way they create their art.
The folk behind Frequency Festival have enjoyed a brilliant 2013 – the last festival was supported by fifty-two volunteers, however, this year it has been supported by one hundred and fifty volunteers.
All in all, Frequency Festival has been a runaway success. Roll on 2015!
Do you agree? @alternativelincoln #AltFrequency