The democratisation of access in the digital age, we know can completely reimagine the potential for an artist of creative to reach an audience. The Creators Project embodies the potential for the new globalised culture industry, creativity without borders – the ‘ground’ events are taking place not only in New York and London, but also Seoul and BRIC economies Brazil (Sao Paulo) and China (Beijing) where the events series culminates in a three-day ‘explosion’ in September.
The partnership behind it all? Intel – the technology lurking behind almost every computer or electronic device we use – and Vice. Now a creative-alterna-party-stalwart, Vice-the-magazine was created in response to a frustration with the generic, irrelevant voice of mainstream media. Thanks to the innovations in desktop publishing in the 1990s vice Magazine was made a reality and, continuing that self-made success through the canny use of digital video technologies and online distribution, the unrivalled VBS.TV was born.
The Creators themselves work across music, film, art, design, gaming and fashion, with an eye-watering roll-call of the famous (see: Mark Ronson, Spike Jonze), the established (Diplo, United Visual Artists) and the you-really-should-know-about-already (take note: Mira Calix, Ricardo Carioba, Ladj Ly) – everyone has a profile, an interview and, most interestingly, a list of the technology they call upon to make their work. The Creators Project is both a media channel for a new digital age, and a content creation studio, in their own words ‘an arts foundation of sorts that will facilitate the production and dissemination of new work with these artists and their collaborators’. Brands such as Intel and Honda (The Dream Factory) working with individual artists and building platforms around them perhaps signals a new trend moving away from the traditional sponsorship support of arts organisations to a new era of digital community building and curated communities of innovators whose creativity speaks to the brands involved.
The future is bright indeed – see you at the London launch, July 17th.
