- Özgür Töre
Organized by Mezo Digital with the support of Türkiye's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and sponsored by PASHA Bank, Istanbul Digital Art Festival (IDAF) kicked off at Ataturk Cultural Center.
Taking place 2-5 June, the event will feature artists from various countries, including Azerbaijani artificial intelligence artist Shusha, whose name is inspired by the Azerbaijani city of Shusha. It is being curated by Avind, Türkiye's first artificial intelligence curator, along with Julie Walsh and Esra Ozkan.
It will be organized based on questions asked about digital art and will feature kinetic art, bio-art, algorithmic art and different areas of new media.
The festival will also showcase quality artwork by international artists, emphasizing the potential of digital art to bridge cultural diversity and bring people together.
During the opening event, Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz, the Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister of Türkiye, commented that the world is rapidly embracing digitalization and art is no exception to this trend. Yavuz pointed out that this trend has intensified even further during the global pandemic, with digital platforms increasingly being used in the presentation of art, along with shaping its content, language, and style. Yavuz also stressed that digital art allows artists to collaborate with other fields such as science and technology, expanding their horizons and resulting in striking and mind-opening works.
It will also feature workshops and panels that cover diverse subjects such as NFT developments, the influence of bio-art and bio-design on the future, the impact of robotics and software on art, and artificial intelligence and emerging artificial algorithms.
“Unlike other exhibitions, the festival will bring together works that would not normally come together and seek what kind of contributions different disciplines can make to each other. Thus, it will encourage the audience to think about the relationship between different disciplines,” according to the festival organizers. (AA)
