The rapid advancement of technology since the 20th century provided ample creative space for art that reflected on society and culture. From avant-garde to mainstream, Taipei National University of the Arts invites audience to witness and participate in the unstoppable rise of new media art, via "Transjourney". If one projects traces from the past onto dreams for the future, what spectacle and vision will be in the time tunnel? To make the dreams come true,  the journey of imagination--"Transjourney" is going to be held from January 1st through to February 19th, 2012 in Taipei.

The first-ever Future Media Festival kicks off on the New Year's Day, 2012, at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan. In celebration of the flourishing industry of media technology and the art world embracing new media in recent years, "Transjourney", in the broader scope of an art festival, presents the fruitful efforts and ambitions of Taiwan's new media art. A rich and dazzling array of projects created using digital media communicate in diverse formats, including symposiums, works of fine art and interactive applied art, animations, workshops, multi-media and musical performances. The participants consist of both locally and internationally renowned artists, as well as talents and research institutes from the field of applied art and design. The fecundating matrix of art forms and cultural influences looks to spark a series of stimulating conversations in art and aesthetics.

This is the first major event in Taiwan to bring into focus new media art. The exhibition includes works by, amongst others, Nam June Paik, the father of video art, as well as Bill Viola, a leading figure of his generation, casting a critical eye on society with his video installations; pioneering Taiwanese video artist Goang-ming Yuan; LuxuryLogico and Yi Huang, who have rarely used new media in performances; acclaimed young group Ultra Combos, drawing attention with their interactive elements of popular appeal. The Festival, in particular, features animation, which is often an exclusive genre amongst new media arts, in association with the National Film Board of Canada, hand-picking outstanding contemporary productions. It is the intention to introduce to the Taiwanese audience animated works created with wide-ranging techniques and narratives, in a different cultural context and industry environment. Long dedicated to the indigenous development in art and technology, the organizers bring together experts in digital media from home and abroad for the one-day Future Media Symposium, discussing new directions for interdisciplinary explorations and also reflecting on the many paths that digital art has taken in the past, or may take in the future. For those who are interested in the creative process, a workshop with Italian artist Mattia Casalegno will share ideas of Brain-Human Interfaces.

On the opening evening, a unique performance "Train Fragments" will be presented by Canadian artist Herman Kolgen, winner of the Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), together with the percussionists from Taipei National University of the Arts. There will also be ticketed viewings at the TNUA Dance Theatre on January 6-7.

Art Director: Jun-jieh WANG

Exhibition Date: January 1 - February 19, 2012

Exhibition Venue: Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts

Artists:

Herman Kolgen（Canada）+ Teacher and Student Percussion Group, TNUA, Mattia Casalegno & Enzo Varriale(Italy) , Nam June Paik(Korea / US) , Bill Viola(US), Nils Völker(Germany) , Zimoun(Switzerland) , Yung-ta CHANG, Chih-chieh HUANG, Shih-chieh HUANG, I-chen KUO, Akibo LEE, Pey-chwen LIN, Shih-chang LIN, Hua LIU, LuxuryLogico, Shuai-cheng PU, Storynest+ Hsin-chien HUANG, Wei-hao TSENG, Yu-chuan TSENG, Ultra Combos, Chun-kun WANG, Lien-cheng WANG, Chung-han YAO, Goang-ming YUAN, Digital Art Center Taipei, Yi-ping HUNG + ivLab. , Keh-nan LIAO, Pey-chwen LIN + Digital Art Lab., National Taiwan University of Arts, Music Technologies Lab., National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, Center for Art and Technology, Taipei National University of the Arts

Supervisor: Ministry of Education, Program for Promoting Teaching Excellence of Universities

Organizer: Taipei National University of the Arts

Co-Organizer: Taipei Digital Art Center, Goethe-Institute Taipei, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, National Film Board of Canada

Courtesy of the artists, for more information please visit 2012fmf.cat.tnua.edu.tw