DigiFest, a design conference hosted annually at George Brown College, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the theme “Phygital- The Physical and Digital places that connect us”. DigiFest has been organized by the School of Design at GBC. This year’s DigiFest will be a one-day virtual event tomorrow November 19th, broadcasted on DigiFest’s official YouTube channel.
DigiFest first came into existence in 1990s but was discontinued. After being restarted in 2011. Since then, it has been an annual event at the School of Design that combines the love for art and technology together.
As this year’s event explores the connection between physical and digital, it brings several interesting exhibits. The event will showcase riveting presentations like Public Poetry Gallery where the poems will come alive.
“We’re kind of letting people see and experience poems in a different way. We are taking it into virtual rooms where you can see poetry spinning around, coming down the ceiling. So, you’re experiencing poems in a different way that you wouldn’t normally think of, in a more immersive type of environment” says Alice Lee, the director of DigiFest.
The poetry gallery is not the only exciting presentation in this year’s event. Audiences can experience history and music with an On-Foot App by local multimedia company Pop Sandbox which will take you back in time with its Distillery District Ghost Tour along with Musical Tours with its Augmented and Virtual reality simulations. As well as this, Digifest will also have Philip Beesley, a Toronto-based architect and media artist presenting with a Keynote Talk and The Grove Project, with its perfect blend of architecture, music, and AR. The exhibition is presented at the Venice Biennale for Architecture.
When asked about organizing the event, Lee said it has been a learning curve for them. As most of the things have gone hybrid, she admits that hybrid is not here to go away.
“I think it is definitely going to stay and we are going to be looking at more hybrid experiences in the future and the theme will change next year, just like it does every year,” said Lee on the event’s future prospects.
For the lovers of music, the SoundMorphosis, a musical performance will be held which will bring sound to life as the sound will be visualized on screen by the Italian interactive media artist, Paolo Scoppola while the music will be played by Danilo Rea.
One thing that sets Digifest apart is the reach of its audience. The past events were only attended by a limited audience in Toronto; however, this year’s event is transcending borders as it will have an audience from Milan as well as Toronto.
“We hope to have a more global audience not just in Canada, but in Italy perhaps other parts of Europe,” said Lee about the expectations for this year’s event.
Students can register themselves for everything Digifest has to offer at Digifest’s official site.
