Kurye International Video Festival :: June 2-12, 2009 :: Speech by Stelarc: June 5; 7:00 pm :: Body,Technology and Art Panel: June 6; 12:00 pm :: Istanbul.

Kurye International Video Festival is preparing to draw Istanbul’s attention to video art and new media with a wide selection international of videos and extensive parallel events. The guest of honor will be the renowned Australian artist Stelarc, who utilizes medical monitoring technologies, prosthetics, robotics and virtual reality in his works. Setting out to examine the limits of the human body and gaining renown with his works that bring together human body and art with technology and medicine, Stelarc will open up new horizons for the people of Istanbul with his speech on June 5, 2009 at Akbank Sanat.

From among more than three hundred videos submitted for the festival, Kurye team chose works by 60 artists from 22 countries for screening. These videos, grouped under the main headings of animation, music videos and performance videos, will be screened in seven different sessions (Kurye Animation Selections, Kurye Music Videos and Experimental Works, Kurye Performance Video Selections, Kurye Video Selections) while the festival will also feature selections from numerous international video festivals and organizations.

Animations and music videos from the 2009 selection of the biggest digital film festival of the world, One Dot Zero festival, extending its activities to cover 60 countries since its inception in 1999; 2008 selection of Upgrade International, a network operating in 29 countries, curated by Başak Şenova; 2008 selection of the only synchronized short film festival of the world taking bringing together prestigious film festivals and art venues from Europe and beyond, Betting on Shorts; selection entitled Essence/Borders prepared specifically for Kurye Video Festival by Art Expo; selections from a young festival from Ukraine, Wiz-art Festival are all among the screenings devoted to our global partners.

The festival will also feature special screenings devoted to Czech Republic and Sweden. Works from the renowned Czech animation and cinema institution, Film School Zlin and Swedish animations selected by Swedish Film Institut will give the audience a chance to focus on the animation scene of these two countries.

One of the most colorful guests of the festival will be Cie Mulleras Dance Company. One of the first representatives of dance on internet, Mulleras Dance Company will present its new project synthesizing dance, music, video and multimedia, “Traces 96 Details”. The event will be realized in collaboration with boDig.

One of the leading countries of the world in the field of animation, Czech Republic will be presented by workshops given by instructors and students from the prestigious Film School Zlin. The seminar on “Body, Technology and Art”, which will be realized with the attendance of Gary Hall, Kirk Woolford, Lanfranco Aceti, Tuna Erdem and Stelarc will be yet another highlight of the festival. Kurye International Video Festival will last 11 days and will take place in Akbank Sanat, Bilgi University Santral Campus and Talimhane Theater.

About Kurye Video Organization: Kurye Video Organization is the only independent and international organization focusing exclusively on video in Turkey. Operating as an archive, Kurye Video Organization also works as an agency both locally and internationally. Currently, the archive includes 620 videos by 250 artists from 42 countries. Over the past three years, Kurye organized numerous exhibitions, special screenings and AV events alongside three international video festivals.