The GOGBOT Festival is an annual four day
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
in
Enschede
Enschede (; known as in the local Twents dialect) is a municipality and city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region. The eastern parts of the urban area reaches the border of the German city of Gronau ...
organized by ''Planetart'', a local group of artists. It was first organized in 2004. The festival revolves around
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
,
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
and
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
and includes a three month exhibition in collaboration with the local Rijksmuseum (RMT), a four day exhibition during the festival, a symposium, a film program, and the Youngblood award for art academy graduates.
History
The festival originates from several events that ''Planetart'' had previously organized in the city center of Enschede, i.e. in empty warehouses, in squares, in music venues, etc. Examples include the Gods must be Crazy, Op Drift, Sociale Dienst, RealAudio, Exploding Digita, and Astro Friezen. Both PlanetArt and GOGBOT were founded by creative director and artist Kees de Groot. Wilja Jurg was managing director from 2004 until 2007. She left to become director of the Enschede based artspace Tetem. Between 2007 and 2015 it was Viola van Alphen, who now works as independent curator. Between 2015 and 2022 Marie Janin, also director of the Sickhouse festival for art and gaming, filled the position. In 2021 Jeffrey Hofman joined the GOGBOT team as financial director.
International recognition
Because of the accessible form and innovative approach, GOGBOT receives international recognition. Therefore, GOGBOT is invited for presentations including the
ISEA in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, Cellsbutton
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, the
Transmediale
Transmediale, stylised as transmediale is an annual festival for art and digital culture in Berlin, usually held over five days at the end of January and the beginning of February. Transmediale takes the form of a conference (sometimes called ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, International Filmfestival
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
World Expo
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
2010,
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition.
Based on judging by ...
2011 and
Techfest
Techfest is the annual science and technology festival of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, consisting of social initiatives and outreach programs throughout the year.
Started in 1998 with the aim of providing a platform for the Indian st ...
2012. In 2011, the festival was awarded the National Innovation Award for being the most innovative festival in the Netherlands.
See also
*
List of electronic music festivals
The following is an incomplete list of music festivals that feature electronic music, which encapsulates music featuring electronic instruments such as electric guitar and keyboards, as well as recent genres such as electronic dance music (EDM ...
*
List of experimental music festivals
The following is an incomplete list of experimental music festivals, which encapsulates music festivals focused on experimental music. Experimental music is a compositional tradition that arose in the mid-20th century, particularly in North Ame ...
References
Report GOGBOT 2009MediaforumCatalogue
ISEA
BLEND magazine about GOGBOT2 p.106
Kunst critic Florian Cramer: there is one festival like a cyberpunk circus
1000s articles on Pussy Riot Protest with Ina Shevchenko in Enschede 2012, first appearance of Ina Shevchenko in the Netherlands
GOGBOT wins national price for being most innovative festival of the Netherlands, 2nd and 3rd are Lowlands en de Vervoering
External links
*
Site of the organizer: PLANETART
{{Experimental music festivals
Arts festivals in the Netherlands
Political art
Experimental music festivals
DIY culture
Electronic music festivals in the Netherlands
Music festivals established in 2003
New media art festivals
Art festivals in the Netherlands