Les Bains Numeriques: what is it?

(Editor’s note: We recently met Lara Sedbon, a Frenchwoman who has worked with Les Bain Numeriques.  We asked her to write a guest post for our blog).

Les Bains Numeriques, meaning literally “Digital Baths”, is a top French digital art festival organized by centre des arts d’Enghien-les-Bains, a public art center based at a 30-minute drive from Paris. When created 6 years ago, Les Bains Numeriques consisted of a festival devoted to professionals wanting to establish a common definition of digital arts. Today, Les Bains Numeriques is open to public.

Last June and July 2010, for the fifth edition, centre des arts collaborated with Korea, as a guest country. 15 Korean artists were invited to the art center to show their technically modern, attached to the past, art works. So Korea would participate physically, centre des arts organized an opening night with a telepresence reception.  People in Korea and France were able to communicate with a simple interface: a screen blurring physical borders between the two remote countries, allowing guests to share a meal.

Concerts (Laurent Garnier, Yuksek and Moderat, digital emerging artists) and exhibitions in public spaces where spectators played a capital role (wherever they wandered, they were able to trigger images, sounds and “play” with the art works) shaped the digital city during the festival. A digital village was also part of the picture, prototypes were presented and the last studies were explained to the public.

In October 2011, Bains Numeriques #6 will be featured in Korea. – Lara Sedbon

Manifiesto Mandrilista- Manifeste poétique proclamé par un poète-danseur et ses avatars vidéo sur le thème de la condition humaine versus son animalité. Photo Credit: Dominique Roland