VAFA 2016, organised by AFA and Orient Foundation, brings back the only Macau international video art festival dedicated to the media expression in the contemporary arts field. With a record of 266 submissions, this year’s open call provided the festival with an extensive variety of artworks by artists with different origins and backgrounds. The event will be held at The Orient Foundation at Casa Garden from November 5 to 30.
The quality and new visions provided in the works submitted prove that video art is very much alive and one of the most democratic and creative art forms at the moment. In order to create more recognition for the work of the artists that submitted to the open call, VAFA added four honourable mentions besides the winner’s prize, extending the range of artists awarded to five.
This year’s open call also received a record number of submissions from female artists, bringing a much desired balance to the genre of arts practitioners. Furthermore, of the eight finalists, all five awards this year are going to female artists (Belgium, China, Germany, Brazil and Sweden) breaking with the past and showing everyone that their voices are rich in content and novelty.
On this fifth edition of VAFA, the festival continues its collaboration with similar festivals around the world, with a special conversation in a screening prepared by videoclub (UK) and Videotage (HK). In the past VAFA has also collaborated with Videobrasil (Brazil), FUSO (Lisbon, Portugal), Proyector (Madrid, Spain), Danube Video Art (Austria).
The last edition of VAFA also introduced the mode of direct invitation to artists, which made it possible to show in Macau for the first time, video art and film legends such as John Baldessari, Lawrence Weiner, William Wegman, Harun Farocki and Zhang Huang, among others.
The highlight of this year’s invitation artists is the work of the Russian collective AES+F, with two screenings and a talk by Tatiana Arzamasova – the A in AES+F. The events are made possible through collaboration with Art Statements gallery (Tokyo, HK).
VAFA aims to transform the video art and film experience in Macau into a laboratory of emotions and perceptions made with moving images. With VAFA, the viewer is part of the magical world of expanded cinema, being offered the opportunity to discover and explore the interplay between the senses and new forms of communication.
