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THE WORLD’S PREMIER 8-BIT / CHIPMUSIC FESTIVAL COMES TO DENMARK

For three years running, New York City’s annual Blip Festival has been the world’s biggest event showcasing the cultural phenomenon of chipmusic - the practice of repurposing early-generation home computers and gaming systems, such as the Commodore 64 and Nintendo Game Boy, as musical instruments and motion graphics devices. Now, festival organizers 8bitpeoples and The Tank have teamed up with Danish art and technology venue Platform4 to bring the event to Denmark with Blip Festival Europe, to be held July 24-25 in Aalborg.

The Blip Festival draws its performers and its audience from all around the world, offering an exciting cross section of a stylistically and geographically diverse new movement in audiovisual art. Electronic music die-hards, new media art enthusiasts, and gaming culture aficionados converge by the thousands for the live performance experience of old devices used in new ways. With the Blip Festival’s arrival in Aalborg, European audiences will have the opportunity to experience the chipmusic / 8-bit phenomenon on a large scale, with a festival program that also includes film screenings and workshops, offering audiences insight into the concepts and process of making new art using old technology.

Chipmusic & the 8-bit aesthetic as a global phenomenon

Early generation home computers and video game systems were lent a distinctive audiovisual style by their own technological limitations - the blocky graphics and primitive sound synthesis instantly familiar to anyone who’s played Pac-Man, Space Invaders, or Super Mario Bros. At the time these limitations were a technical necessity; but taken in a modern context, they provide an interesting avenue of exploration for artists choosing to adopt the audiovisual style as a deliberate aesthetic choice. And it’s given rise to a vibrant, decentralized, globe-spanning subculture consisting of musicians, graphic designers, and fans exploring new artistic frontiers within a low-tech framework - a culture manifesting itself through home-brew hardware and software, striking design, and live audio and motion graphics performances done on devices from the 8-bit era of computing.

Blip Festival Europe will be an immensely colorful and tuneful experience, with more than 20 artists hand-selected from all over the world - some of whom are beginning to become recognized as leading the charge, and others which may well be tomorrow’s breakaway superstars.

Details:

Blip Festival Europe is expected to attract people from Scandinavia, Europe, and the rest of the world. The festival program spans two nights - Friday July 24 and Saturday July 25 - supplemented by daytime film screenings and 8-bit / chipmusic workshops. The festival will take place at Platform4, Aalborg Denmark, and tickets are available via Billetlugen (www.billetlugen.dk), and at Cookie Factory locations in Aalborg and Copenhagen. People coming from afar can learn about accommodation options on the festival’s website (europe.blipfestival.org).

• ORGANIZERS

Blip Festival Europe is organized by Platform4; a user-driven multi-purpose venue that experiments with new technological and digital elements in combination with artistic and creative genres ranging from music, theater, contemporary art, design, architecture and more. Focus is not only put on providing audience and users with experiences, but also on creating an optimal framework for budding creative projects and product innovation.

Platform4 is a non-profit organisation, in which users are invited to join in on shaping content within the art and technology frame - in a 3000 sq. meter former warehouse in the Østre Havn harbour area in the city center of Aalborg, Denmark.

Platform4 contain both multi-use performance hall, café and workshops, where users on both longer or shorter basis can foster their projects. The public is always invited inside to satisfy their curiosity, drink coffee in the café and enjoy concerts, exhibitions, innovative projects and much, much more.

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