Electrofringe is a festival of digital

Digital art

Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...

, electronic

Electronic art

Electronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media or, more broadly, refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electronic music...

 and new media art

New media art

New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...

s. Its focus is on emergent forms and techniques within media based arts practice and places a particular emphasis on encouraging young and emerging artists to interact with established artists. Electrofringe takes place over 5 days and nights around the September / October change-over in the regional centre of Newcastle, New South Wales

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Electrofringe occurs as part of This Is Not Art

This Is Not Art

This Is Not Art is a national festival of new media and arts organised in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia each year over the October long weekend. Since its humble beginnings in 1998, it has become one of the leading arts festivals in Australia dedicated to the work and ideas of communities...

, Australia's largest annual gathering of young media makers, musicians, artists, activists, writers and commentators. This Is Not Art is the umbrella term for several distinct festivals held over 5 days in October in Newcastle, NSW; these include:

1. Electrofringe
2. Sound Summit
   Sound Summit
   Sound Summit is an annual independent conference / festival focusing on exploratory and innovative independent music that takes place in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia as part of the annual This Is Not Art Festival...
   
    (independent label music conference)
3. National Young Writers' Festival
   National Young Writers' Festival
   The National Young Writers' Festival occurs annually in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, over the New South Wales' Labour Day Holiday Weekend in late September/early October...
   
   
4. National Student Media Conference
5. Critical Animals (a postgraduate conference for new media academics)
6. EAR (Environmental Awareness Raising Conference)

The festival format is one of hands on workshops, panel discussion, masterclasses, presentations, exhibitions and screenings. It brings together artists, media makers, technicians, scientists, academics, cultural commentators, critics and enthusiasts working with a broad range of new media including; interactive video (iCinema, DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

, installation, spatio-temporal projection, CD-ROM

CD-ROM

A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....

), live audio visual performance, streaming media

Streaming media

Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...

 and web content, broadband initiatives, networked collaborations, web mediated events, surround sound practices, gestural interfaces, electronic music, custom electronics, wireless technologies and robotics

Robotics

Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...

.

Electrofringe differs from other media art gatherings and conferences as it takes place outside of academic institutions, enabling open and practical exchange of techniques and concepts for a diverse range of participants.

Conceived primarily for young and emerging new media artists, curators, writers and producers, the festival now actively encourages participation from established artists and media / arts representatives, creating an open environment for information exchange and peer to peer mentoring.

From 2004 to 2008, Electrofringe collborated with The Night Air

The Night Air (radio program)

The Night Air is a weekly ABC Radio National program that remixes a variety of media around different themes. The show is broadcast across Australia and is partly available as a podcast....

, a sound collage program on ABC Radio National

Radio National

ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...

, to remix and showcase content from the festival and, in some years, broadcasting live from the festival.

External links

• Electrofringe Official Website
• This Is Not Art, Electrofringe's Umbrella festival