WHY VIDEO AR(t)MY?

With our model of society in the throes of an identity crisis, MADATAC came as a salutary shock. Embarking on new editions in these volatile times is not only a risky and provocative cultural venture, given the project’s focus, but also represents our tireless determination to continue evolving into a cross-disciplinary springboard, increasing visibility and awareness of the most visionary, least classifiable audio visual art.

The subliminal references to a combat offensive contained within II Edition year’s poster, communication literature and promotional video point to our strategy of establishing a kind of casing – tough, yet at the same time intangible - within which to safeguard the principles and the environment of groundbreaking creativity which MADATAC expounds. With this philosophy, the aim is to maintain an independent profile, respond to the never-ending stimuli provided by new technologies, and challenge the norm though ceaseless exploration in the field of new media art and its different branches, including video art, electronic or sonic-digital art, interactive or multimedia installations.

We also hoped that this approach would provide a visual synthesis of MADATAC diverse content. The range of video creations selected encompasses radical experimentation, reinvented landscape and digital animation; the audiovisual performances are, aesthetically, at the cutting edge; the possibilities opened up by the emergence of 3D are also explored.

There’s a dystopic slant to today’s video creations. Current video art is entropic and metaphysical in nature; it speaks not of an idealised future but rather of a present that has expanded into numerous permutations and interpretations.

The overwhelming banality of the moving image offered by cinema and television induces amnesia in our eidetic memory. MADATAC’s commitment is to make a stand for audiovisual art. It is an art form that may seem inaccessible or unsettling, yet it stirs meaningful memories, capable of recovering our lost sight. Our mass media society backs portable realities, lacks imagination and frustrates the art of seeing what may otherwise go unnoticed. Audiovisual art provides the antidote.

Iury Lech
MADATAC Director