ENGLISH TRANSLATION (GOOGLE)
Art and technology come to Cali to tell stories with the Colombo Americano Media Arts Month
Attendees at this event will be able to participate in creative workshops and discussions with prominent graphic designers and illustrators who have completed important projects locally and internationally.
The event is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Colombia and the American Spaces office | Photo: Courtesy of the Colombo Americano
Sergio Molina Ramos
August 16, 2023, 7:18 a.m.
Updated December 20, 2024, 10:35 a.m.
During the month of August, Cali residents will be able to enjoy the stories of their city told through art and technology, a creative form that comes with the Media Arts Month season, an event developed by the Colombo-American Cultural Center in partnership with the United States Embassy in Colombia and the American Spaces office.
In addition, the creative event is partnered with the Cali Media Arts UNESCO Council, the Faculty of Integrated Arts of the University of Valle, and the Cultural Department of the Bank of the Republic in Cali.
This season, which kicks off with a series of environmental films as part of the fifth edition of the Cali International Film Festival (Fincali), Media Arts Month brings an agenda dedicated to art in the digital world, video games, film, comics, and encounters with leading figures in these fields through workshops, discussions, and an international exhibition.
This season, which kicks off with a series of environmental films as part of the fifth edition of the Cali International Film Festival (Fincali), Media Arts Month brings an agenda dedicated to art in the digital world, video games, film, comics, and encounters with leading figures in these fields through workshops, discussions, and an international exhibition.
Creative workshops
As part of the Media Arts Month program, Comics, Video Games and Animation Week will take place from August 22 to 26. This event includes creative workshops and discussions featuring everything from creative communities to prominent graphic artists and illustrators who have created important artistic projects locally and internationally.
The event is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Colombia and the American Spaces office | Photo: Courtesy of the Colombo Americano
On Tuesday, August 22nd and Wednesday, August 23rd, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the Animation and Augmented Reality workshop will be held in association with the Universidad del Valle.
In this activity, led by visual artist Alexis Fernández, participants will have the opportunity to explore augmented reality technology by creating paper characters.
The creative journey will continue on August 22 and 23 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. with the Photography and Cosplay Lab led by artist and cosplayer Marisol Ferreira, known as “Lady Black,” and photographer Daniel Bucheli, who will teach attendees different photography tools for cosplay and how to compete and monetize this art.
On Saturday, August 26th, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the Intensive Workshop on Characters for Comics, Video Games, and Animation will be held, led by renowned Cali-born illustrator and animator Steven Cárdenas, who has worked as a character designer for the series “Villanous” on the animated television channel Cartoon Network and as a professor in the Character Creation for Animation diploma program at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali.
Children, youth, and adults will be able to enjoy a wide range of workshops and educational events related to learning. | Photo: Colombo-American Cultural Center / Courtesy of El País
At this event, participants will learn about illustration and character design tools for various formats.
All workshops will be held at the Idealab Makerspace at the North Campus of the Colombian-American Cultural Center. Free registration is required to participate at the following link: https://bit.ly/3rQIQvk
Series of Conversations
Artificial intelligence, film, video games, and comics will be central topics of the series of discussions taking place on Thursday, August 24th, in the Earle Sherman Auditorium at the Colombo Americano North Campus, with a lineup of special guests. These gatherings seek to strengthen the creative communities of artists and designers in our region.
The event will begin at 10:00 a.m. with a talk titled “Fantastic Literature: A Mechanism for Creating Video Games and Animations,” led by Erickfranck Núñez, a prominent digital art programmer and animator who has distinguished himself as the creator of the popular Webtoon “Draw My Code” and as a popularizer of multimedia art and design.
At 2:00 p.m., the series will continue with the topic “How to make animation in Colombia and not die trying?” a discussion led by Silvia Prietov, director of Lucy Animation Studio, a company that has worked with major names in animation production such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Marvel.
Photo: Instagram @mrwoodyking | Photo: Photo: Instagram @mrwoodykingComics, architecture, and film join the conversation at 4:00 pm with architect and illustrator Keco Olano, co-author of the graphic novels “Satan,” “The Last Day on Earth,” “Kaópolis,” and “The Fugitives” by Colombian writer and journalist Mario Mendoza.
Finally, at 6:30 p.m., Erickfranck Núñez, Silvia Prietov, and Keco Olano will join forces to close the series of discussions with the forum “Artificial Intelligence and Art: Perspectives on the Future of the Creative Industries,” a space where attendees can learn about the challenges that artificial intelligence brings to the artistic field.
“Told Hold” Exhibition
The Media Arts Month program will close on Thursday, August 31st at 7:00 pm with the opening of the exhibition “Told Hold,” a digital, interactive, and immersive work presented by the Colombo Americano in association with the Economic Development Secretariat of the Mayor’s Office of Cali, the Bibliotec Foundation, and the UNESCO Global Network of Creative Cities.
The event is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Colombia and the American Spaces office | Photo: Courtesy of the Colombo Americano
The work, created by artists Eliot Gray Fisher and Erica "EG" Gionfriddo (United States); Meiyan Chen (Germany); and Taeheon Lee (England), will kick off the Cali Media Arts Circuit, which will run from August to December 2023 with a series of media arts events as part of the designation of the capital of Valle del Cauca as a Creative Media Arts City by UNESCO.
The opening of the exhibition will feature a virtual conversation between the artists and curator Margarita Ariza Aguilar, which will be broadcast in the Earle Sherman auditorium of the Colombo Americano, north campus, where they will discuss the experiences surrounding this work that invites us to cross geographical borders through collectively constructed stories, which demonstrate the encounter between art and technology.