[NetBehaviour] CONFLUX FESTIVAL 2008.

[marc garrett]

CONFLUX FESTIVAL 2008.

SEPT 11-14.
CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE, NYC.

http://confluxfestival.org

Conflux is the annual New York festival for contemporary 
psychogeography, the investigation of everyday urban life through 
emerging artistic, technological and social practice. At Conflux, visual 
and sound artists, writers, urban adventurers and the public gather for 
four days to explore their urban environment.

People from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures come together at 
the festival to re-imagine the city as a playground, a space for 
positive change and an opportunity for civic engagement. The Village 
Voice describes Conflux as a âEURoenetwork of maverick artists and 
unorthodox urban investigatorsâEUR¦making fresh, if underground, 
contributions to pedestrian life in New York City, and upping the ante 
on todayâEUR(TM)s fight for the soul of high-density metropolises.

 From architects to skateboarders, Conflux participants have an 
enthusiasm for the city thatâEUR(TM)s contagious. Over the course of the 
long weekend the sidewalks are literally transformed into a mobile 
laboratory for creative action. With tools ranging from traditional 
paper maps to high-tech mobile devices, artists present walking tours, 
public installations and interactive performance, as well as bike and 
subway expeditions, workshops, a lecture series, a film program and live 
music performances at night.

Conflux is produced by Glowlab, an independent, Brooklyn-based 
production and publishing studio with a gallery in Williamsburg and a 
web-based magazine at glowlab.com. WeâEUR(TM)ve worked with arts 
organizations including Eyebeam, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the 
Van Alen Institute and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, as well as 
local universities such as New York University, Hunter College and 
Parsons. Conflux has been reviewed in publications including the New 
York Times, the Village Voice Flash Art and Art Review Magazine and 
covered on numerous arts blogs and cultural websites such as Flavorpill, 
Nylon, Rhizome and Gothamist.

Conflux is an event attended by people of differing backgrounds who 
share a common desire to understand, explore, and ultimately heighten 
their enjoyment of the urban environment while learning how to sustain 
and improve it. Conflux visitors are introduced to the ways cutting-edge 
artists utilize performance, visual art and music to address topics 
including the environment, sustainable development, the increased 
presence of technology in cities, emerging trends in social/local 
networking and ways we can humanize the urban experience by encouraging 
dialogue amongst communities.

As a fiscally-sponsored project of the Brooklyn Arts Council, Conflux 
has received support from the New York State Council on the Arts, 
Artists Space, the Puffin Foundation and the Independence Community 
Foundation.