round corners
curating

Urban Screens Manchester 07

It’s about content!

Manchester Conference: 11 + 12 October 2007
Public art + events programme: 11 - 14 October 2007

Urban Screen Manchester 07 is a two day international conference taking place at Manchester’s Cornerhouse, Manchester‘s international centre for contemporary visual arts and film.

Find a video interview about Urban Screens Manchester 07 here.

With a wide ranging focus, Urban Screens Manchester 07 explored the conditions for urban screens from a multitude of perspectives, making it highly relevant to media specialists, designers, artists, architects, urban planners, broadcasters and theorists. The Manchester conference was a follow-up to the first groundbreaking conference in this area, Urban Screens 2005 in Amsterdam.

The backdrop of urban screens that Ridley Scott envisioned in ‘Blade Runner’ (1981) has become a reality in some parts of the world today. The omnipresence of public displays such as LED, LCD, plasma screens, large scale projections and media facades demands a critical reflection on their impact on the city and on our perception. At the same time, they offer new possibilities for artistic and non-commercial use, for community development and play.

As broadband rates get ever faster, public screens will increasingly display more streamed content and other net based media formats making their programmes more interactive and less mono-directional. Urban Screens Manchester 07 explores the creation of content, commissioning / funding, curatorship and the architectural possibilities of urban screens in the 21st century.

The conference featured 55 inspirational international experts.

The conference was accompanied by a dynamic programme of public events that showed creative content in action in city centre Manchester. The city centre came alive to an exciting range of international art works on public screens ranging from mobile projection, VJ sets, live streaming, video and animation programmes and audiovisual performances.

Urban Screens Manchester has been curated by Dr Susanne Jaschko.
Urban Screens Manchester has been supported by Cornerhouse and BBC. It has been funded by Arts Council England, Manchester City Council, Marketing Manchester, With support from MDDA and Manchester Knowledge Capital.