FILE+BLIP

There’s two chipmusic festivals in the Americas coming up soon. Tomorrow already, there is a festival called FILE Hypersonica 8 Bit Gaming People (or something like that)  in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Performing artists: Bit Shifter, Covox, Random, Bubblyfish, Sabrepulse, Henry Homesweet, Notendo and Pulselooper. The event is part of a larger festival of electronic arts with research presentations and art works. For example, Machiko Kusahara will talk about device art, which she describes as an interesting alternative to the Western idea that media art should be serious, (capitalist) critical, and centered around authors and original works. In Japan art, commodities and play is more intertwined. That also seems to relate to my previous ideas about the absence of “critical” uses of the NES soundchip in Japan.

In December, Blip Festival returns to New York after its appearance in Aalborg a few months ago. This is the largest chipmusic festival known to human animals, and there are about 30 artists announced so far. The list includes for example little-scale, David Sugar, Trash Can Man, the J. Arthur Keenes Band, Disasterpeace, Paris, C-Men, and Rosa Menkman. So, Blip offers another good line-up while still maintaining their principal of not repeating any non-US artists.