Fancy checking out some brilliant new up and coming Irish acts, digital art exhibitions, boundary pushing dramatic performances, collaborations between classical artists and DJs and, most importantly, watching loads of internet cat videos with lots of other people who love watching loads of internet cat videos?
Then CultureTECH is the perfect festival for you.
This week sees the launch of CultureTECH, an intimate and unique gathering of speakers, artists, performers and industry professionals from digital media, technology, music and the arts. Itʼs interesting people doing interesting things, coming together to learn, share and basically have a brilliantly creative time.
The festival is taking place in weird and wonderful locations across Derry City, runs from 9th until 15th September and is centred primarily around celebrating the crossover between culture and technology. We’re still not sure how they came up with that festival name though…
The Elephant Calf – they’ll be ticking both the culture & tech boxes in their performance on Sat 14th at 3pm
Now in its second year, the event is even bigger and better this time round and, if you’re heading in Derry’s general direction this week (and you most definitely should), be prepared as CultureTECH takes over the city with 170 events and sessions that will have over 30,000 attendees.
Speaking to BBC News, festival director Mark Nagurski said “this year’s festival will be huge, the programme is jam-packed. We tried to do a pilot last year, but we have gone all out this year. The local people have taken the reins and are showcasing what they can really do. We have got around 1,000 delegates arriving in the city and we have artists that have been painting all their lives. This week, however, they will paint on screen.”
Mr Nagurski added: “We’ve worked very closely this year with City of London Tech City, The Barbican, YouTube, the New York Philharmonic and the Tate. It’s been a big success in terms of carrying relationships through from last year to this City Of Culture year. The internet cat video festival has caused a lot of interest. These are cat videos from YouTube that people have been watching for years. This time everyone will watch them in a room together. It’s more of a social experiment.”
The city-wide events will feature exciting artists, performers and industry pros from across the world and put them in coffee shops, bars, restaurants, historic buildings and unloved retail spaces throughout the city centre – so you can actually meet and spend time with them. Additionally, there will be a huge gaming presence in the city with a three day video games tournament and expo including a giant Minecraft tournament and vintage arcade machines.
And one of the best things about the festival? There is a limited ‘Pay What It’s Worth’ ticketing option – a system which focuses on CultureTECH being accessible to anyone and everyone. Much of the programme is completely free and open to the public and, where there is a cost, it’s a small price to pay for the quality of artistry that is on display.
For more information you can visit the CultureTECH website here where you’ll find a complete schedule of all of the upcoming events.
Website: www.culturetech.co
Facebook: ‘CultureTechFest’
Twitter: @culturetechfest
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